Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It started when Victor saw an Octoling on the street.

Their tentacles were long, worn up in a seaponytail - a practical tentastyle for anyone, really, but there was something different about them that made him curious.

The Octoling didn’t have the pointy ‘lashes’ that female Octolings did. And that made Victor wonder.

Made him wonder so much, in fact, that he asked his parents if he could grow out his own tentacles, usually worn in a short seaponytail that young Inklings like him often wore. Thankfully, he was able to pass it off as a passing fad, some trend that others his age often engaged in. 

So, he let his tentacles grow; past his ears, past his chin, and eventually down to his shoulders. And he was happy, for a while. He hung out with his friends, went to school, and helped out at home.

(Despite the yelling, despite the harsh comments, despite the sharp movements that made him flinch. Despite all this, he helped his family. What else was he supposed to do?)

Then, one day during lunch break at school, someone in a class above him - a young lionfish, cocky and gutsy - pushed him aside in the lunch line.

“Oops,” said the lionfish. “Sorry, thought you were one of the lunch ladies, the way you’ve got your tentacles styled like that!” he mocked, his friends sniggering behind him. He shoved past Victor again, lunch tray in hand and lackeys close behind.

And so once again, Victor was left to wonder.

-

About three days later, after school - in one of the fields, plentiful in the countryside where his family lived - he sat with one of his friends, a sand-coloured seahorse he’d known since he was a little inkfish in his first year of school.

“I heard what that lionfish kid said to you the other day,” his seahorse friend said. “You okay? I know how your family can be, especially after the whole thing with your cousin a few years back.”

“...Yeah. I’m doing okay, I guess,” Victor mumbled. “It’s just… it made me think.”

“Uh oh. Sounds dangerous.” his friend joked, nudging him with a fin.

“Dude. c’mon, I’m serious.” he huffed. “I just… want to try something.”

“I’m not kissing you, if that’s it. I already got a girlfriend, man.”

“Look, if you’re not gonna take this shit seriously I’m just gonna go home, okay?”

“Wait wait wait, no,” the seahorse begged. “I’m totally serious about this, I promise.”

Victor looked at his friend, then sighed. “Fine.” he glanced away. “...Could you… I don’t fuckin’ know, call me a girl or something? I want to test something.”

His friend looked at him for a moment, silent. “Uh, okay,” he began awkwardly. “Hey girl, I like your braid, you do it yourself or something?”

It was a pretty stupid comment, sure, and kind of forced - but it still did the trick.

Victor felt a small, vague flicker of something . Something that his family would despise .

“Shit,” he said, holding his head in his hands. “ Shit . That wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“You okay?”

“No!” Victor said, voice strained. “Dude, I think I am a girl! If my family finds out, I’m fucked! ” He got up and started to pace. “If they find out, I’ll end up like Sango!”

His friend was quiet again for a moment. “... Your fam can’t know about this, V. Sango… don’t your family think he’s dead? I mean, he left for Inkopolis when you were, like, eight. You barely remember him, right?”

“Been six years since he left, and radio silence ever since,” Victor nodded. “And… yeah. They think he’s like, dead in an alleyway or some shit. Inkopolis isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, y’know?”

The seahorse looked at his watch. “It’s getting late - sun’s going down too.” He got up and briefly wrapped Victor in a hug. “Stay safe after dark, V.”

“... I’ll try. See you tomorrow, dude.”

And with that, they parted ways.

-

“You’re late home.”

Victor flinched at the harsh voice. “Sorry, mom.”

“It’s dark. You better have a damn good excuse.”

“I was studying with a friend after school. Lost track of time.”

His mother was silent for a moment. Victor looked at the floor.

“Hmph. Whatever,” she said. “You were supposed to do a run for us at six, remember? Your father had to go instead, since you were a no-show.”

Victor’s ears pinned back. “I’m sorry. I’ll do two next time, I promise.”

“You better. Your father’s going to be furious when he gets back.”

He nodded, and then went to leave, but was stopped by a rough grab on his arm.

“Not so fast. We need to talk.” His mother said, tone deadly serious. “Go up and change, and then back down here, and quickly .”

Fear lanced through Victor’s chest. He nodded, and then bolted up the stairs.

He changed into a pair of black shorts and an old shirt, switching out his school shoes for a pair of his favourite boots before going back downstairs.

His mother sat at the kitchen table, arms crossed and her phone laying on the wooden surface. She nodded her head at the seat opposite her. 

“Sit.”

He sat.

“Victor,” She began, voice dangerously quiet. “I’m sure you’re aware of our family’s connections in this town, yes?”

Victor nodded.

“So you know that nothing gets by in this town without me and your father knowing about it, correct?”

He nodded again.

“Good.” Her eyes narrowed. “I heard that three days ago one of your classmates confronted you about something. Mind elaborating?”

Victor swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t act dumb, Victor. You’re a smart young man.” His mother picked up her phone, switching it on and swiping to a text message, and then showed it to him.

smth r/ vic @ school - sm1 said v = girl? Said the text, sent from an unknown number.

Shit.

“I won’t ask again, Victor.” she said, switching her phone off and setting back down on the table. “Would you mind elaborating?”

His mouth was dry. He swallowed again, taking a breath. “Some kid at school took the piss out of my tentastyle. I didn’t want to start a fight, so I just left it be.” Not technically a lie. Victor hoped she didn’t press further. 

To his immense relief, she didn’t. She hummed, as if displeased, and then got up from her seat.

“Dinner is at eight,” his mother said. “Don’t piss your father off more than he already is when he gets back.”

Victor nodded. He scrambled up from his seat, and quickly went back upstairs to his room.

-

Dinner was tense, to say the very least.

Victor’s parents didn’t mention anything about the situation, and they all ate dinner in silence, broken only by the clinking of the cutlery on the dishware. He didn’t even pay attention to what he was eating - he just stared at the middle of the table and ate whatever his mother had put on his plate, trying not to rush so he could go back upstairs and into his room.

Once dinner was done, Victor all but bolted up the stairs.

Hours passed as he distracted himself - with his phone, with his laptop, with the ancient games console hooked up to his even more ancient TV. Soon enough, it was past midnight, and he decided to take a break if he wanted to be anywhere near functioning tomorrow at school. Quietly, he opened his bedroom door, trying not to make too much noise.

He got to the top of the stairs when he heard talking - his parents’ voices, barely audible over whatever late-night show the TV was playing.

“So, about Victor,” He heard his father say, a deep rumble. “I got that message from our connection at the school, too.”

His mother hummed. “Yes. We have to be careful and make sure he doesn’t end up like Sango .” The name was spat out, like a piece of spoiled food. “I’m glad he fucked off to Inkopolis and went silent. I hope we don’t get any news from him, if only so we can pretend he’s dead and out of our lives for good.”

“Mm. People like that aren’t quite the kind of people we want in our business,” His father grumbled. “None of that confused talk; made him look insane, when I heard it back then.”

A harsh, short laugh from his mother. “Imagine! There’s a very specific way us lot are made, and going against that just ain’t right.”

Silence, for a short while, and then his mother started talking again. 

“You know, I got real suspicious when Victor asked if he could grow out his tentacles. He told us it was just a fad, but I ain’t seen any other boys his age wearing theirs like that, y’know?”

“Yes, yes, I thought so too.” Victor heard shifting, and his hearts began to pound - but it must’ve just been his father readjusting on the couch. “Need to check his room some time soon, just in case. You got a run booked for him?”

“Two of them. Said he’d make up for the one he missed in the afternoon.” His mother sneered. “Said he was studying with a friend after school.”

“Is that so,” Said his father. Victor could hear the cold steel in his voice. “Well. Sounds like I need to take that up with the school faculty, see if there’s any… bad influences .”

No no no no no no-

As quickly and as quietly as he could, Victor snuck back into his room, and started to pack his backpack with anything he could find; his phone, the charger, his wallet, a few sets of underwear, another set of shorts and a shirt were all shoved into his bag messily.

Once finished, he slung the bag over his shoulder, opened his bedroom door - 

And came face-to-face with his father.

He had a thunderous look on his face, worthy of the Great Zapfish itself. Victor felt the ink drain from his face and run cold.

“You headed somewhere, boy?”

He heard his blood rushing in his ears, and his body moved on its own - he ducked past his father, who grabbed for him. There was the sound of tearing cloth - his shirt, he realised - and he was briefly yanked backwards from the force.

A rough hand grabbed one of his tentacles and pulled , and Victor cried out in pain. His father jerked him backwards, and a hand connected harshly with his mouth, splitting his lip open. The same hand grabbed his chin, pulling him towards his father.

“ You, ” He spat, unnervingly close to Victor’s face. “Aren’t going anywhere .”

Victor flailed, trying to get away. He managed to get a leg stable, and swung the other as hard as he could into his father’s groin.

The grip on his chin and tentacle disappeared as his father doubled over in pain with a groan, and Victor scrambled away. His legs were shaky with adrenaline, however, and he ended up stumbling down the stairs and falling into a dazed bundle at the bottom. He barely had time to react when he was suddenly dragged up by the collar of his shirt, and then pain exploded across the left side of his face as he was punched in the eye. 

He blearily opened his eyes - it was his mother who had punched him. She’d been waiting at the bottom of the stairs, he realised. Of course she would be.

“You ungrateful, ” A second punch, directly on his nose - he felt warm wetness leak from his nostrils. “ Waste of fucking ink- ” She pulled her fist back for a third hit, but Victor managed to get his arms up in time to block the blow. Her fist glanced off the side of his arm, and he managed to grab one, pull it close to his mouth, and bit.  

His mother cried out in pain, and he bit down harder, breaking the skin and tasting bitter ink-blood. He got his legs under her body, and pushed her backwards - she was sent tumbling against the wall, and Victor made a break for it.

He bolted towards the front door - always unlocked until his parents went upstairs to bed - and scrambled to open it.

He flung the door open so hard the handle smashed against the wall, and he started running.

“ Victor! ” His mother screeched behind him, as he ran into the darkness. “ Victor! ”

Victor kept running, until he could barely hear the last thing his mother screamed into the night.

“ If you come back here, you’re dead !”

-

Victor’s chest ached by the time he got to the nearest train station.

It was deathly quiet, being on the outskirts of town, and only a couple of the streetlights were lit, casting an orange-yellow shadow on the concrete and train tracks.

He looked around him, anxious, but he couldn’t hear anything - no car engines, no footsteps, no yelling.

Victor was safe - for now. 

Heaving a sigh of relief, he shuffled his tired body over to a nearby bench. His legs burned with exertion, and his face ached horribly. He could feel his blood drying on his lips, and his nose still dripped freely, blue blood leaking onto the front of his shirt. He was pretty sure he’d have a nasty blue-eye soon, if he didn’t already.

“Um, excuse me?”

Victor flinched violently. He’d been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed someone coming up to him.

An Octoling with a button-up shirt and red headphones stood before him.

“I saw you running here,” he said. “Are you okay?” His blue-orange eyes were filled with concern.

“Uh.” Victor said, dumbstruck.

“Can I sit here?”

“...Sure?”

“Thanks,” said the Octoling. He had blue tentacles, styled in a masculine way, and they looked almost purple under the yellow streetlight. “Where are you headed?”

“Away from here.” Victor said, voice shaky. “I can’t stay here anymore.”

The Octoling nodded. He stuck his hand out. “My name is Hiro. You?”

“I… I don’t know. My name was Victor, but…”

“That’s okay.” Hiro wiped under his eyes, and…

Oh.

Hiro had pointed eyemasks.

“It’s okay if you don’t know who you are yet. Cool if I call you V for now?”

V nodded. 

“Cool. Here, I have some tissues for your nose.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a battered but unopened pack of tissues and handed them over. V opened them, pulling one out and wiping gingerly under his nose. He didn’t think the cartilage was broken, but he didn’t want to risk it. “Can’t go on a train looking like you just lost a fight with a Cohock, eh?”

“I wish I did fight a Cohock, if I’m being honest.” V said, voice nasally from the clotting blood blocking it. “Would’ve been gentler than my fuckin’ parents, at least.”

“Ah.” Hiro said, going quiet. He glanced down the train tracks both ways.

Silence filled the air as V wiped away the blood and tried to make himself look presentable.

“Hey,” Hiro began, turning back to V. “I’m headed over to Splatsville - my parents let me move out if I wanted, and I did, so I packed up and came here. Train’s too busy in the daytime.” He chuckled a little. “And since you can’t stay here anymore… wanna come with? We can split rent if we get an apartment.”

V took in a deep breath through his mouth. “You sure? You don’t even know me.”

“I know,” Hiro said simply, smiling. “But I’d really like to, if you’d let me.”

Hiro held out his hand again, gently extending the offer.

V stared at his hand, looked back towards the town, and then down the train tracks behind Hiro.

Fuck it.

V took Hiro’s hand, shaking it. His palm was warm, and slightly calloused, and he had a firm grip.

“Deal.” V said, with a sharp nod.

Hiro grinned. “In that case,” He stood up, dusting off his shorts. “My name is Hiro Otto-Kian, a humble Turf-War wannabe hoping to make it big in the Splatlands. May I know your name, dear friend?”

V smiled, letting out a soft breath.

“Veronika,” she said, her chest feeling lighter than it had in years . “My name is Veronika.”

Hiro gave her a gentle smile. “Nice to meet you, Veronika.” He gestured to her tentacles. “I like your braid. You do it yourself?”

Chapter Text

“So why Splatsville?”

The train cabin was silent, except for the muffled clack-clack of the wheels on the rails. It was only the two of them sitting there, but Veronika still felt anxious speaking at normal volume - and after today, she didn’t really want anything to do with loud noises.

Hiro shifted in his seat, a jacket from his bag draped over him like a blanket. “I have a cousin there who said I could meet up with her, said she’d help me out with getting my own apartment until I can pay rent by myself,” He grinned at Veronika. “But, well. Now I got a tag-along, heh. I already updated her though, don’t worry. I think you two would get along kinda well.”

Veronika nodded. “Have you ever been there before? To Splatsville, I mean.”

“Eh… a couple times, when I was a lil’ kid. Can barely remember most of it other than how warm it is, being in the middle of the desert ‘n all.”

“Hm.”

“What, can’t handle the heat?”

“No, just… unused to it. Haven’t been anywhere warm in a while, that’s all.”

“Fair enough. I thought you would’ve been more of an Inkopolis kinda squid, to be honest.”

Veronika shuddered. “No, not a fan of Inkopolis.”

Hiro raised an eyebrow. “Too busy for ya?”

“...Among other reasons.” Sango… She thought, mind drifting.

Clack-clack, clack-clack.

“Thanks.” Veronika found herself saying suddenly.

“What for?”

“All…” She waved a hand around vaguely. “This. You didn’t have to help out some beat-up stranger you found at a train station at Cod-knows-when at night. But you did.”

“I think it's mostly because it's common decency to help someone out,” Hiro chuckled. “But even if I didn’t invite you to Splatsville with me, I would’ve at least given you some cash so you could get somewhere safe and have food for the night, y’know?”

Veronika’s face warmed. Or maybe it was her blue-eye acting up, now that the adrenaline had completely worn off. “My parents would think you’re too stupid for your own good.”

“Yikes, what were they like ?”

“The kind of people that ruled the house with an iron tentacle and had connections in the entire fuckin’ village, that’s who.” Veronika mumbled. “They took in my cousin Sango after his parents ditched him to leave Inkadia, but something happened when I was a kid and then my parents kicked him out too.” She sighed. “Last I heard, he left for Inkopolis. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. They thought he’d died or something, because even all their contacts in the big city haven’t found jack-squit about him since he went missing.”

“Oh.” Hiro said awkwardly. He glanced out the window, then back at Veronika. “So that’s why you don’t like Inkopolis.”

“Sorry. That was a lot to just… dump on you like that. I mean, I just met you like, what, a couple of hours ago?” Veronika leaned her head back against the wall of the train cabin, letting the movement of the train rattle her head for a moment. “A great first impression; a busted nose, a blue-eye, and barely anything to my name and nowhere to go.”

“Hey, it's not all doom and gloom!” Hiro nudged her shoulder gently. “I like to think I make great company on roadtrips.” He winked cheekily at her. 

Veronika huffed out a laugh, then winced when it made her nose ache. 

“Hey, does your sister know how to reset busted cartilage, by any chance?”

-

The pair made it to Splatsville about a couple of hours before sunrise, the sky dark but beginning to brighten at the edges like a piece of paper being set alight. It was cold, no clouds to trap the daytime heat in, and Veronika shuddered at the change in temperature. 

“Hey, you want my jacket for a bit?” Hiro asked, offering it to her.

“No no, I’m.. I’m good. Thanks though.” She waved away his hand, shaking her head.

“Alright.” He shrugged, stuffing it messily into his bag. “I texted my cousin like half an hour before we got off the train, so she should be arriving any minute now. Hopefully, I mean. She was never good with keeping time.”

Veronika nodded. “Where will we be staying? Like a hotel, or something?”

“Nah, she said we could stay at hers for a bit until we get on our feet here.”  Hiro started walking to the station exit, the pair of them lightly jogging down the steps that led to the street. “Like I said, she told me she’s got a spare room for us to use and that she’d help us out, but it’s gonna take a lil’ while ‘cause she needs to call in a few favours ‘n stuff.”

“I see,” Veronika said nervously. “And you’re sure she’s alright with me staying too?”

“Duh!” The two of them walked through an automatic door. “Once I told her about you she got all excited ‘n shit, said she couldn’t wait to meet ya!”

Veronika hummed. “Alright.” She followed Hiro through the train station, noting that even at such an early hour it was still pretty busy, jellyfish and inklings and octolings and even a great big coconut crab walking past.

Hiro looked back at her with a smile. “Wait until you see outside.”

They walked through a final set of doors, being blasted with cool air from a wheezing air conditioner unit, and Veronika stopped in her tracks.

In front of her, in all its chilly, early-morning glory, lay Splatsville.

“ Woah… ” 

“I know, right?” Hiro grabbed her by the wrist. “And it only gets busier during the day. This place never really sleeps - always something goin’ on in Splatsville!”

“Oh-!” Veronika squeaked, suddenly being pulled along by the excited octoling. She stumbled a little, since Hiro was shorter than her and going at a quick pace, but she managed to stay upright.

Hiro pulled her through the early morning crowd, weaving expertly between passengers and station staff alike. Despite the aching around her eye and the cold air stinging her lungs, Veronika felt the rush of adrenaline, pumping through her blood.

She felt alive .

-

“Okay, my cuz says she’s waitin’ by the stairs, and then it’s a short walk from there to her place.” Hiro looked up from his phone. “That cool with you?”

Veronika nodded, looking up at the buildings around her. They were so tall, so densely packed together, that she could barely tell separate buildings apart. A tower, the largest she could see, stretched high up into the sky - a Great Zapfish curled around it, eyes closed as it slept despite the noise of the city.

“Oh- she’s calling me, hold on a sec.” He swiped on his phone, then raised it to his ear. “Yeah? Hey cuz! Yeah, we’re outside the station, d’you wanna walk up or should we come down to you- you’ll come up? Cool, cool, uh, you’re probably gonna have a better time seeing my friend before ya see me, I ain’t got any taller over the years, heh. Yeah yeah, she’s tall, got yellow tentacles, one of ‘em in a braid. Cool? Cool, see ya in a hot sec, then!”

“Who am I looking for?”

“Octoling, light purple tentacles up in a seaponytail,” Hiro said, hanging up the call. “Said she’s got a denim jacket on, if it helps.”

Veronika squinted into the crowd. “I think I see her,” She said, seeing a flash of purple. “What’s her eye colour?”

“Same as mine!”

“Yeah, I see her. Should I wave?”

“Nah, I got it, Cover ya ears real quick, ‘kay?”

Veronika nodded, pressing her hands against her ears.

“ Yo, Hei! ” Hiro bellowed, audible even through her muffled ears. “ Over here, cuz! ” He waved his arms wildly, jumping up and down like a child.

An octoling with lavender tentacles turned towards them in the crowd, beaming. She began to make her way towards the pair, pushing through the crowd. Eventually she made it, panting slightly.

“Cuz!” Hei grinned, leaning down to hug Hiro. “How’s my lil’ Hiro?”

“Doin’ good, doin’ good!” Hiro smiled, giving her a light punch in the arm. “Only a few minutes late this time, heh.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Hei rolled her eyes. She turned to Veronika. “You must be Hiro’s friend, right?”

Veronika nodded, suddenly nervous. 

Hei smiled gently. “Hiro filled me in. I ain’t gonna pry, but I gotta admit, I got a few questions as to why you’re lookin’ like you got mashed up by a truck.”

“It’s a long story,” Hiro butted in, half- stepping in between them. “One that’s probably better told over some food? Couldn’t get breakfast on the way here, and I dunno when the last time Veronika ate somethin’.”

Hiro’s cousin sighed. “Alright, alright. Good thing my place ain’t that far from here. Follow me.”

-

A ten minute walk later, the trio ended up at a cramped-looking apartment block that in all honesty looked like it had been forced between the buildings on either side of it.

Hei fiddled with a set of keys, pressing a small fob near the lock of the main door. The door beeped, and she pushed it open, gesturing for Hiro and Veronika to go through first. Following them through, she led them to her apartment, rattling each key on the chain to find the right one before slotting it in the lock and twisting.

She swung open the door with gusto, heaving a great sigh. 

“Home sweet home!” Hei began to kick her shoes off, nudging them near a rack by the door. “Sorry it’s messy, Yan had an early shift, and I was so excited to meet you that I kinda forgot to actually clean up, eheh…”

“I don’t think it’s that bad.” Veronika reassured her. And it wasn’t, really, just a little cluttered in an ‘organised chaos’ kind of way, she thought. She looked at Hei. “Could I ask…who Yan is?”

“Oh! She’s my, uh…” Hei glanced at Hiro, who was grinning smugly. “...Roommate. Yan is my roommate.”

“Oh my Cod, they were roommates .” Hiro whispered next to Veronika.

“Man, I can’t say jack-squit about Yan without you sayin’ somethin’ dumb!” Hei reached forwards and playfully yanked on one of Hiro’s tentacles, making him giggle. “Veronika, you be careful with my cousin, he says some dumb squit sometimes.”

Veronika held a hand up to her mouth and snickered at the pair, trying not to laugh. “I’ll try. No promises, though.”

Hiro glanced back at Veronika, smiling. “See? Told ya you’d get on well with each other!”

Hei rolled her eyes at his comment. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, smart bass. Lemme show you to the room.”

“Room, singular?”

“Ah, squit , I knew I forgot something- “ Hiro turned to Veronika, looking guilty. “Hei only has one spare room. We, uh… we might have to share.” He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “O-or I can take the couch! No worries!”

“Nuh-uh, no-one is sleeping on any couches in this house, not if I can help it. Veronika?”

“Hm?”

“You up for sharing with Hiro?” Hei cocked an eyebrow. “Fair warning, he snores, sorry if that’s a deal-breaker.”

“I don’t snore!”

“You totally do- “

“Uh, I don’t… actually mind sharing, if it's okay with Hiro.” Veronika began nervously. “At the end of the day, I’m the one who started tagging along, and you wouldn’t have to worry about this if I wasn’t here…”

“Hey hey, none of that, ‘kay?” Hei frowned, nudging Veronika gently in the arm. “We ain’t gonna kick you out all because we’re a bed short. Pretty sure I got a futon in one of the storage cupboards, but it’s probably gonna smell real musty…” She wandered off, presumably to find said futon.

“Hey, you didn’t have to do all this, y’know,” Veronika whispered to Hiro, leaning in close. “But… thanks, again.”

“Oh! Veronika?” Hei called from a hallway, slightly muffled.

“Y-yeah?”

“I’m gonna head to the store later to get dinner things, you allergic to anythin’?”

“Nope!”

“Cool!” There was a sound of something being yanked, and then Hei yelped. “Hope you like fish pasta!”

“Sounds great.” Veronika replied, smiling as she glanced at Hiro.

-

After dinner had been eaten and everyone had showered and gotten ready for bed, Veronika and Hiro began to settle in their shared room.

The futon had already been set up, alongside the wall across from the door. The bed itself was by the window, on the left. 

Veronika glanced at Hiro. “So… who’s taking the bed?”

“You, duh,” He said, as if it was obvious. “I ain’t gonna let you sleep on the floor, you’ve already been through some rough shit. I can handle sleeping in a futon for a bit, don’t worry.”

“But this is your cousin’s place!” Veronika countered, shifting her bag on her shoulder. “I’m the one intruding, so I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Hiro rolled his eyes. He walked over to the futon, dropping his bag nearby, and then plopped himself down directly onto the futon. “I ain’t budging, V.” he said, crossing his arms.

Veronika huffed, also walking over. She grabbed one of Hiro’s arms, trying to drag him away. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very strong, and he wasn’t helping by suddenly going limp and becoming a dead weight in Veronika’s arms.

“Motherfucker.” She said, deadpan, as Hiro looked up at her with a cocky smile. “If you don’t move I’m just gonna use you as the futon instead.”

“Shame that I’m not gonna move, I thought I was sleeping on the futon tonight?” He fake-yawned, then slumped backwards to lie down. The motion, combined with Hiro’s dead weight, pulled Veronika on top of him, who landed on top with an oof!  

Beneath her, Hiro chuckled, the movement of his belly and chest jostling Veronika. “Do I make a good bed?” he asked, looking down at her.

“Dunno,” she retorted with a raised eyebrow. “Do I make a good blanket?”

The pair stayed silent, then burst out laughing a moment later, echoing around the bedroom.

Veronika slept very well that night.

Chapter Text

About a week later, the pair stood outside a shady building, not far from the tower where the Great Zapfish slept. 

Veronika looked at the suspicious gate before her. Orange lanterns hung by the gate, shaped like fish. One hung next to a sign, casting the logo in an amber glow.

“Grizzco,” She read, skeptical. “And you’re sure this is a good way to get cash?”

Hiro shrugged next to her. “You saw how much we got from doing regular Turf War, and it wasn’t much. Grizzco is a good way to get cash quick, even if the work is a bit… rough.”

“Cool, so now I can actually get beat up by a Cohock?” Veronika raised an eyebrow at him.

Hiro let out a sigh. “At least you’re joking about it this time. C’mon, let’s see if we can catch a shift before dark.”

The two of them pushed the gate open enough to walk through, and went down the dingy stairway. It smelt more strongly of fish the closer they got to the lobby of the building, the way lit by more orange paper lanterns. Off-beat music crackled through the speakers, making the pair nervous as they opened the next door and found themselves in the main area.

It was lit mostly by more lanterns and neon signs, all shaped like fish. A spotlight shone on a terminal with a tray, and next to it, sitting on an orange cooler, sat a radio carved from wood. 

All of a sudden, the radio jumped about, emitting a static noise, and Veronika flinched at the sudden noise with a loud cry of “ Fuck! ”, holding a hand over her hearts.

Krrsht-! “Welcome to Grizzco Industries. You two look like you’ve got potential… I’m Mr. Grizz, and Grizzco is my company. Here, we're committed to making the world a better place, so allow me to welcome you to the crew.” The radio jumped again, clattering against the cooler it rested upon. “It's good, honest work with an honest paycheck - I just know you'll fit right in. Now that you're on board, let's make sure your training is up to date.”

Veronika and Hiro looked at each other, and nodded.

“Good. Let’s get started.”

-

“ Hoo, ” Veronika huffed, shrugging off the top portion of her loaned slopsuit and tying the sleeves together. “Fuck. That was supposed to be beginner level work?”

Hiro slumped into a chair by the lockers, dragging his helmet from his pink-tentacled head. “I was told the work was rough, but holy shell .” He groaned, resting his head on his arms crossed in front of him. “That was less ‘rough’ and more ‘sharkskin-against-suckers’. Ugh… Let’s take a breather first.” Hiro lifted his head briefly to look at Veronika. “What’cha get from your capsules?”

Veronika huffed, sitting down with her haul of capsules from the vending machine by the radio. One by one, she popped them open.

“Cash, chunks, chunks, tickets, chunks - ooh!” She held up a paper slip, the same size as a food or drink ticket, but plain white paper with something printed on it - a voucher. “A coupon, I think? Says I can redeem it for a ‘Bream-Brim Cap’ or something?”

“Oh, you got gear?” Hiro perked up. “Shell yeah, Grizzco gear is super rare. Can’t order it offline or anything, it’s exclusive.” He grinned at Veronika. “And exclusive means fresh . When we got some spare cash, we can go clothes shoppin’ or somethin’, sound good?”

Veronika nodded. “Sure. Two sets of clothes can only get me so far. Plus, one of my shirts got ripped up when I left, so… Yeah. It's on the list for sure.”

“Cool.” Hiro checked his phone, typing something. “Hei says she’s still busy at work - you wanna chill around Splatsville before she finishes, or you up for one more shift to squeeze some cash out?”

The inkling stretched, her cartilage aching. “Hm, I could go for another shift. You?”

“Eh, I could slog through one more.” Hiro shrugged. “Wonder what colour we’ll get next. They got some funky ink colours here that they don’t have in Turf… That purple is a nice shade.”

“I like the yellow, if I’m being honest,” Veronika said, getting up to apply them both for another shift. “Nice warm colour, like, uh… what’s it called? Mango? Reminds me of mango ice cream.”

Hiro snorted, shaking his head. “Mango ice cream. If there's anywhere open when we finish up we can go get some as a treat, if you want.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The sound of a door opening paused their conversation. 

“Nem, please tell me why we’re doing more shifts again?” Said an octoling exasperatedly. She had her lavender-coloured tentacles styled in twists, framing her face nicely with curls. A coral-coloured inkling with glasses and a messy, choppy tentastyle dragged her through the door, eager.

“‘Cause there’s a super fresh sweater at Man-O-Wardrobe!” The inkling cried out, tugging at her friend. “C’mon, I wanna get it before Jel La Fleur changes stock!”

“At this rate you’re gonna yank one’a my arms off, cool down for a sec, dude.” The octoling huffed, before looking around and spotting Hiro and Veronika. “Oh, hi there. Sorry, Nem can get kinda excited when she sees clothes she wants. Always drags me along.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it!” Hiro called from the table he was sitting at. “I know what it’s like. You here to do a shift?”

The other octoling nodded. “Yeah. You wanna team up? Two of us and two of you, it’d save having to team up with randoms.”

“Sounds good.” Hro smiled. “Veronika, what d’you think?”

Veronika startled, not expecting to be talked to directly. “Oh! Um, sure! If it’s fine with you two, I mean.”

“Guess that means we gotta introduce ourselves. The name’s Takotruck, but you can just call me Truck if you want.” Truck raised a hand in greeting, a lopsided smile on her face.

“And I’m Anemone! Truck calls me Nem for short though, ‘Anemone’ can be a beakful, eheh…” The inkling - Anemone - stuck her hand out for Veronika to shake, who took the offer. “Nice t’meet ya!”

“Same here. My name’s Veronika, I’m…” She looked back at Hiro. “From out of town. I’m staying with a friend right now.” Veronika nodded back at him.

“That leaves me for last, then.” Hiro got up from his chair. “Name’s Hiro, Turf-War wannabe.” He grinned, winking cheekily. “Nice to meet ya.”

“Same!” Nem replied excitedly. Truck just nodded with a smile.

Then the radio suddenly piped up again, with the static words cutting their introductions short - all four of them flinched. 

Krrsht! “Your next shift is beginning. Get suited up and ready, you’re heading out in five.”

-

Things were going surprisingly well, all things considered.

The group was finishing up the third wave of their shift. Quota had already been met, so it was just a matter of surviving until the current wave ended. Truck had mown down groups of salmonids with her loaned Nautilus 47, perched on top of the spiral tower of Sockeye Station with Hiro watching her back with the H-3 Nozzlenose he’d been given for the shift. Nem was having a whale of a time with the Flingza Roller in the weapon rotation, crushing and splatting salmonids and easily reviving the others. 

Which left Veronika with the Squiffer, a weapon she didn’t really have much experience with. But she had to admit, being able to splat a Steelhead with a single shot was pretty satisfying.

Eventually, the siren wailed for the shift to end, but something felt… off . It sounded distorted, like it had been played underwater…

The others celebrated behind her, relieved that the shift had, supposedly, ended. Then an alarm sounded, blaring harsher than the end-wave siren. Mr. Grizz’s voice came through the little portable radio, tinny and riddled with static.

Krrsht! “Got a King Salmonid coming in - that means mandatory overtime!” Veronika looked over at the others, worried. “Here's an egg cannon. Now get to work!”

As the egg canons were distributed to the group, there was a loud splashing sound, and something rose from the water. With a mighty roar that made them all wince, a Cohozuna showed itself. Hordes of salmonids followed it out of the murky water as they all super-jumped back to a safer starting point, readying their weapons once more.

This was going to be difficult.

-

Things were not going well.

Hiro especially was struggling - a Nozzlenose doesn’t do much damage to a Cohozuna, so he had delegated himself to taking down lesser salmonids and bosses, alongside Anemone - Veronika was trying her best to try and take out any bigger salmonids with her Squiffer. The only one who was managing to do any decent damage was Truck, who was chipping away at it with the Nautilus. 

Veronika heard a whistling sound and then looked down - a target reticle had appeared under her, the sign that a Flyfish had come onto the field. She looked at Truck, who hadn’t noticed, and then shot a line of ink up the wall leading to the top of the spiral tower.

“Truck!” Veronika shouted over the chaos. “Flyfish! Get to high ground!” She pointed at the inked wall.

The octoling looked over at her, then the wall, and then she nodded, sinking into swim form and dashing through the ink and up the wall. Veronika followed close behind, jumping out from the ink and throwing a bomb, one from Truck following not long after. The bombs exploded, destroying the source of the rockets and splatting the Flyfish. Truck immediately went after the Golden Eggs, shooting them at the Cohozuna.

Suddenly, the Cohozuna leapt upwards with a roar - it blew Veronika’s mind as to how it could even do that - and Veronika’s hearts almost stopped when she saw who was right in the middle of where it was going to land.

“ Anemone! ” she screamed, immediately dashing towards her. Anemone turned around, somehow not noticing the enormous salmonid about to squash her like a bug, and then she noticed all too late. 

Veronika shot a quick line of ink to go faster, swimming towards her as quickly as possible. She leapt from the ink, grabbed Anemone’s arm, and shoved her out of harm’s way, ignoring a sharp pain in the cartilage of her ear.

Unfortunately, that left Veronika in the way, instead of Anemone.

All of a sudden, all she could process was the feeling of being suffocated - both mentally and physically. All she could smell was fish, swamping everything else; all she could hear was the muffled chaos of her friends fighting; all she could feel was such a great amount of pressure on her body it felt like her organs were going to pop out of her body like a burst bomb.

And then just as suddenly, it had disappeared - she had been splatted by the Cohozuna, crushed until her form had burst.

There was a brief moment of blankness, then, which she recognised: that weird, floaty feeling of being splatted and respawning. She felt her ink re-form back in her life-preserver, and she hopped as much as her current form would allow, sending out a Help! signal.

Someone revived her - Hiro, she noticed, who had taken a brief moment to shoot some ink over her before going back to splatting salmonids - and just as she readied her Squiffer again, a final alarm blared.

The salmonids began retreating, diving back into the water. The Cohozuna, covered in splotches of yellow ink, roared a final, terrifying time, and then also retreated into the murky depths.

It was finally quiet at Sockeye Station, all of them panting in exertion. Above them, the helicopter’s blades whirred.

Veronika felt queasy. The horrid smell of the salmonids, coupled with the rough splat-and-respawn she had just experienced, did not mix well at all. She found herself running to the nearest railing, vomiting up her breakfast into the water.

Fuck you, she vaguely thought towards the salmonids. A hand rested on her shoulder, warm even through her slopsuit - Takotruck, gently holding back her tentacles out of the way, and fixing her with a sympathetic gaze. She rubbed Veronika’s shoulder, comforting her as her stomach emptied itself.

Hiro and Anemone stood behind them awkwardly, waiting for the helicopter to let them superjump in. Anemone in particular looked guilty, holding the roller close to her body. Hiro patted her on the shoulder, smiling gently.

The little radio on Veronika’s life jacket buzzed into life again.

Krrsht! “Didn't expect a King Salmonid... Thanks for sticking around, everyone!" Mr. Grizz’s voice sounded far too happy for what had just happened. “Time to get in the helicopter and back home. Fuel isn’t cheap.”

Veronika coughed, spitting out the last of the bile from her stomach. You can go fuck yourself too, Grizz, she thought.

She looked at Truck and nodded, thankful for holding her tentacles out of the way. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Truck said. The octoling looked back at Hiro and Anemone. “People help each other out. That’s how it is in the Splatlands.”

- 

After everyone had made it back to the Grizzco building in Splatsville, the group decided to take a little break, changing out of their slopsuits and into their more casual clothing.

As Veronika pulled her shirt over her head, she winced as her ear caught on the collar - she pulled it into view, and saw blue blood. Sighing, she gingerly touched her ear, and felt wetness; she must’ve been hit by something during that Cohozuna fight, she thought. 

She finished fixing her shirt, then moved to grab her bag to wait with Hiro in the lobby area. Anemone was there too, talking to him, but they went quiet when Veronika came close.

“Hey,” Hiro piped up. He had shifted his colour back to dark indigo, his native ink colour. “You doing better?”

Veronika nodded. “Yeah. Think I cut my ear up, though.” She replied, gesturing to it with her free hand as it flicked. “You guys know where the first-aid kit is here?”

“I don’t think they got one here,” Said a new voice suddenly - Takotruck had finished getting changed. “Nem usually has some plasters in her bag though.” Truck pointedly looked at Anemone, who startled and began to rummage around in her bag. Eventually, she found a small plastic box - the little kit she kept with her at all times. Veronika walked over and sat opposite her, tilting her head to the side so Anemone could help clean the wound and patch it up. 

Anemone dabbed at the torn cartilage with an alcohol wipe, cleaning the blood away. Then she opened a couple of plasters, folding and sticking them over the open wound. As she worked, Veronika talked.

“So, why all the plasters?”

“Me and Truck live in a neighbourhood where there’s a bunch of kids playing outside all the time, and we’re pretty much their big sisters,” Anemone explained. “Easier to just carry around a kit, y’know? Using it for stuff like this is a bonus, I guess.”

Veronika hummed, satisfied. “You guys do stuff other than Grizzco shifts?”

“We do Turf, sometimes. I’d like to break into Anarchy battles at some point though, Splat Zones in particular.” Anemone smiled a little. “I use rollers a lot, so it’s a pretty easy mode for me, heh.”

“Fair enough.” Veronika smiled too. “I just got here about a week ago, so I’m still getting used to the system here. Done a few Turf Wars with Hiro though, real fun.”

“Yeah…” 

Behind them, Hiro and Takotruck made quiet conversation. Anemone stuck the final plaster onto Veronika’s ear, and then straightened up.

“Hey, uh…” Anemone started awkwardly. “I’m sorry about you getting squished by that Cohozuna, earlier. If I was more aware of what was going on, you wouldn’t have had to get me out the way and get splatted.”

Veronika let out a sigh. “Don’t worry about it. It didn’t feel great, obviously, but y’know,” She shrugged, cracking a smile at Anemone. “People help each other out around here, don’t they?”

Anemone was speechless for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. We help each other out.”

“Yo, we got a few hours left before Man-O-Wardrobe shuts for the day,” Truck spoke up. “You still want that sweater, Nem?”

“Oh! Yeah, of course!” She turned to Veronika. “Hey, are you guys free after this? We can go get food, I got some cash saved up that should cover all four of us.”

Hiro snorted, waving a hand. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, we can split the bill!” He said, smiling at Anemone. “Plus, Veronika here also needs to get some clothes, so it’s win-win for all of us!”

Truck nodded. “Sounds like a plan - I know a good noodle place we can hit up.” She lifted her bag up onto her shoulder. “Now let’s get going. My everything is gonna smell like salmon goop if we don’t get out of here soon.”

-

After a quick stop at Man-O-Wardrobe to pick up the clothes Veronika and Anemone wanted, Truck led them all to the restaurant she mentioned.

It was more of a booth tucked away in an alley than an actual restaurant, but it wasn’t busy - they managed to fit onto a neat little row of seats near where the cook was boiling the noodles and preparing the broth.

“Oh!” Exclaimed the cook, when she realised who had walked in. She was a short, wrinkled Inkling, with pale green tentacles done up in a bun and covered with a net to keep them out of the way. “Tako, it’s you! And dear Annie as well - who are these two? New friends?”

“Heya grah’mat, ” Truck raised a hand in greeting. “Yeah, me and Nem met them on a shift; we clicked better than most, and we all wanted to eat after, so here we are.”

“Oh, it’s so nice to see you two making friends,” The elder Inkling cooed, shaking a basket of freshly-boiled noodles free from the water. “I always get so worried when I see you heading to that dreary building day after day…”

“It’s okay, nana, we promise! We wouldn’t do it if we couldn’t handle it.” Anemone piped up cheerily, sitting on one of the stools and leaning the bag containing her new sweater against the leg. “What’cha got cooking?”

“The usual, dear, as always,” The cook chuckled, setting two bowls on the counter. “Mantaro, dearie! Your order is done!”

Veronika turned around, and was promptly faced with a wall of mottled grey - a manta ray. She stepped back a little to give him space as he came up to collect the food. 

“Ay! ( Thanks, grah’mat Jan! )” He said, turning to walk back to his table - two octolings, blue and green, sat with a yellow inkling, eagerly waiting for their food. “Ay, ay… ( Sorry, let me just squeeze past you there… )”. The green octoling in particular looked eager to eat their food, visibly perking up as the ray placed the bowl in front of them.

“Anyway,” said the old inkling - Jan , Veronika repeated in her head. “What can I get started for you four today, hm?”

“I’ll have my usual with extra eggs, please.” Truck replied, sitting down next to Anemone. “Soft boiled.”

“With salmon and cheese, please! And extra fish sauce too!” Anemone swung her legs back and forth eagerly. Takotruck grimaced at her, muttering gross under her breath as she shook her head.

Veronika sat down next to Truck, awkwardly tucking her arms close. Hiro sat next to her, peering curiously over the counter. Looking up, he hummed. 

“What’d you recommend for a newbie? Never really had noodles, where we’re from.” He nodded to Veronika.

“Well, good old battered shrimp is a good start, or the chicken ramen,” Jan thought aloud. “But if you’re used to spice, there’s also the spicy chicken ramen. That one comes with a side of kimchi that you add to the broth for flavour.”

“Hm…” Hiro tapped his chin, eyebrows furrowed. “I’ll take the spicy chicken, then. Never had kimchi, but I’m willing to try it!”

Veronika raised her hand slightly. “I’ll have the battered shrimp ramen then, please.”

Jan nodded, smiling. “I’ll get right on it then, dears.”

-

Around twenty minutes later, Veronika found herself almost drooling over the delicious, steaming bowl of ramen in front of her. Freshly made, the tempura shrimp was crispy, laying on top of steamed veggies. The broth was a rich, light brown, the noodles rising up like little pale, ridged hills. Two halves of a boiled egg, the yolk jammy and gooey, rested on one such mound of noodles.

She was promptly jolted out of her thoughts by a nudge, courtesy of Hiro, who handed her a pair of chopsticks and a spoon. Veronika quickly swallowed the drool that was pooling in her mouth.

“It’ll go cold if you keep staring at it, y’know.” He smiled with a raised eyebrow. “Why don’tcha actually eat it?”

“Right, right, sorry.” She took the utensils, then realised she didn’t actually know how to use the chopsticks. “Uh…”

“Here, like this.” Hiro held up his hand, holding his own with perfect form, a chunk of tender chicken held between. 

Veronika just stared, still stumped. Hiro sighed, quickly popping the chunk into his mouth and chewing. He reached for Veronika’s hands, gently manipulating her fingers to hold the chopsticks properly. She felt her face warm up - Totally just because we’re sitting at the bar, where the cooking stuff is, and because my food is right in front of my face, Veronika tried to convince herself - and let Hiro do what he needed. Soon enough, she was holding her chopsticks properly too.

“The one on your thumb stays still. The one on your finger is what you use to grab.” Hiro demonstrated, clacking his chopsticks together before moving to grab a bundle of noodles and slurping them up. “Cool?”

Veronika nodded. “Cool.” She reached and managed to grab a piece of battered shrimp, holding it up triumphantly. “Ha!”

Hiro grinned next to her. “ There we go! Gonna be a natural in no time, V.”

She smiled bashfully back at him. In the corner of her eye, she noticed Truck giving Anemone a look she couldn’t decipher, but they were both smiling too. Well, she thought Anemone was smiling - it was a bit tricky to see, since she was stuffing her face with chunks of salmon and wads of noodles covered in gooey cheese, her glasses fogged up enough to hide her eyes almost completely.

They all ate, digging into their meals with gusto and complementing Jan, who only laughed and waved a hand nonchalantly before continuing to serve her customers.

At one point, Hiro tried the kimchi his meal had come with, pinching a small piece of the pickled cabbage between his chopsticks, putting it in his mouth and chewing, processing the taste. He hummed, swallowing.

“Hm. I think this is a little strong for me.” He admitted, nudging the small bowl away a little. “You wanna try some, V?”

Veronika shrugged, chewing some veggies. “Sure.” She replied, once she’d finished chewing and swallowing. She moved to grab the bowl with the kimchi, but was stopped by Hiro - he held up another piece, holding it out for Veronika, his hand cupped underneath to catch any juices that might drip. He gestured it at her, moving it forwards. 

“C’mon, open up.” Hiro grinned. “Here comes the airplane? I dunno what they say to babies, heh.”

Behind him, peering over her shoulder, Anemone and Truck glanced at each other before giving Veronika a look .

Say something, dumbass! She mentally berated herself. Instead of saying anything, however, she just opened her mouth. Carefully, Hiro popped the piece of kimchi into her mouth, then withdrew his chopsticks. She chewed, crunching down on the spicy pickled cabbage - Veronika made a happy noise, chewing faster and swallowing, the spice and vinegar making her tongue tingle pleasantly. “Oh, that’s good .”

Hiro chuckled, pushing the kimchi bowl towards her. “Here, have it. No use it goin’ to waste, y’know?”

Shyly, she reached for the small bowl, eating more of the kimchi. In between mouthfuls, she ate some with the noodles, mixing the juices with the broth. Before she knew it, her bowl was empty, and she sat on her stool feeling like an inflated blowfish. 

“Hey, so that kimchi stuff,” Veronika started, feeling sluggish. “Can you get that at shops or whatever?”

“Oh, dear, any supermarket worth their sea salt has kimchi in stock!” Jan piped up, overhearing Veronika’s question. “Jars of the stuff, pre-made, but I make mine at home for this place. Takes up a good chunk of the week, I’ll tell you!”

“It’s really good…” Veronika muttered. “Hey, Hiro, can we get Hei to buy some next time she does the food shopping?”

Hiro snickered, covering his mouth with a hand. “Girl, you got your own money now, remember? You don’t have to ask, you can go and buy it yourself if you want.”

“Oh, right.” She said simply, in a brief moment of clarity from her noodle-induced stupor. “Remind me tomorrow to get some?”

Another chuckle. “Sure thing, V.”

Chapter Text

After almost two weeks of phone calls, filling in paperwork, and some visits to many empty apartments of varying quality, Hei had finally done it - she had successfully called in enough favours to get Hiro and Veronika their own apartment. Well, at least for the time being.

It was small, but not cramped - there was enough room for all of their belongings, plus some furniture from the previous tenant had been left behind. It only had one room, but they didn’t really care that much. Hiro and Veronika respected each other’s privacy, and they had shared a room for almost three weeks at this point - Veronika liked to think she was immune to Hiro’s jackhammer snoring by now.

So, with the help of Hei and Yan (and Yan’s old pickup truck), the pair of them had packed up everything in boxes and moved them to their waiting apartment.

“That’s everything, right?” Yan asked, stepping out of the truck. She was a tall inkling, skinny but lean, and stronger than she looked. She had black tentacles tipped with a vibrant orange, tied at the back of her neck and falling down her back.

“Yup, that should be it.” Hiro affirmed, a box in his arms. “Anythin’ else we can just buy as we go.”

Yan nodded. “Coolio. You don’t have to worry about rent all too much - Hei managed to wrangle a friend to give you reduced rent while you’re staying here. Heh, guess he really fell for the sob story…” She mumbled with a dry smirk.

“Don’t forget to stay in touch, dear cuz!” Hei called from the window of the passenger seat. “You only live like, a twenty-minute walk from our place!”

“Yeah, yeah, I will! I’ll come round and turn your lights on while you’re out on dates with Yan!”

Hei cackled loudly from her seat, Yan shaking her head fondly. “Stay safe, though, y’hear? Make friends in the neighbourhood if you can, get to know people. It’s worth it, I promise.”

“Mhm, we’ll try.” Veronika said, nodding. She shifted the cardboard box in her own arms, heavier than Hiro’s. “Thank you both so much for helping us. I don’t think I can ever thank you enough.”

“Thank us by enjoying your life here in Splatsville and making friends.” Yan smiled warmly.

“And by buying us pizza when we visit!”

All four of them broke into laughter, the sound echoing around the buildings.

-

Some hours later, after everything had been unpacked and put away, Hiro and Veronika dragged two of the stools that had been left behind onto the small landing of the fire escape outside the window of their main room to watch the sunset.

“Man, we’re finally here. We did it.” Hiro said quietly, watching the hustle and bustle of the city below. 

“Yeah.” Veronika whispered. “I didn’t think that…”

“Think what?”

“Y’know…” She gestured vaguely behind her. “Our own place. Me, away from my parents for the longest time ever. I don’t think I’m gonna see them again.” Veronika rubbed her arms. “I don’t want to see them again.”

Hiro hummed, watching her carefully. She looks really nice in the sunset…

Wait, what-

He shook his head, dispelling the thought. She’s just a friend, nothin’ more, nothin’ less.

“That’s fair.” He said aloud instead. “From what I’ve heard? Man, I would’a ran away too.”

Veronika let out a single chuckle. “I don’t blame you. But being here, away from them… Makes me wonder how Sango is doing.”

“Your cousin, right?”

“Yeah.” She leaned back, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “I know he’s not dead. I feel it in my cuttlebones.”

Hiro laughed. “You don’t even have bones. And you ain’t a cuttlefish.”

“Oh, shush. You know what I mean.” Veronika smiled slightly. “I just… he was never the kind of person to just let himself go like that, y’know? And if he did…” She looked towards the sunset, her face cast in the soft red-orange glow from the horizon. 

“If he did?” Hiro prompted quietly.

“...Sango wouldn’t have gone down without a fight.”

-

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck joined the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 joined the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA joined the chatroom.

AnemoneNo1 > YOOOOO WHAT IS UOP INKFISH LETS GOOOO

VeronIKA > where???

AnemoneNo1 > did u seriously already forget. girl.

AnemoneNo1 > me n tako r comin round to give u ur housewarming presents!!!

AnemoneNo1 > or whtvr theyre called idc. fancy presents for u to use in ur apartment

VeronIKA > OH RIGHT my bad i totally forgot  <x{

VeronIKA > sorry i’ve been in like. one shell of a funk lately

VeronIKA > PLUS i also recently got a new weapon and been training literally Every Day and bro. i did NOT know cartilage could hurt like this

TakoTruck > What weapon :eye::eye:

AnemoneNo1 > tako were u just lurking the entire time just now

TakoTruck > Not the point. What weapon did you get, Veronika? First time going to Sheldon’s, right?

VeronIKA > uhhh other than maintenance for my splattershot jr bc it kept getting jammed??? yes

VeronIKA > and to answer your question i got a tri-stringer :D

TakoTruck > I see.

AnemoneNo1 > girl do NOT psychoanalyse her just bc of her weapon choice you do this all the time!!

TakoTruck > That’s a big word for you. And no I don’t!!

AnemoneNo1 > yes u do!!!

TakoTruck > Ignore her. Veronika, can I ask why you chose the Tri-Stringer?

VeronIKA > wellll i like chargers but theyre too slow for my liking i tood sheldon and then he just gave it to me to try out

VeronIKA >*told

TakoTruck > Interesting….

AnemoneNo1 > ofc u think thats interesting

TakoTruck > What the fuck is that supposed to mean.

AnemoneNo1 > NOTHING anyway veronika when r u n hiro free today for us to come visit

VeronIKA > uhhh whenever i guess?? when hiro wakes up i’ll ask if he's doing anything today, idk if we need to go food shopping again

VeronIKA >...tempted to wake him up tbh. his snoring is okay if you're in another room but when you're right next to him??? like sharkskin on your suckers but like. for your ears

AnemoneNo1 > oh??? ur next to him while hes sleeping??? :stare:

VeronIKA > yes i am and no it's not like that. it's literally only bc his cousin was only able to get us a single room apartment, plus i’m kinda used to it. except when he starts drooling onto my tentacles in his sleep that part sucks

AnemoneNo1 > :wheeze:

[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo joined the chat room.

[ Reply to VeronIKA ] Hirooooo > V i thought i could trust u.

[ Reply to AnemoneNo1 ] Hirooooo > and yes you are free to visit. V is on strict rest after getting splatted too many times and getting sick at Scorch Gorge so at least one of us is gonna be here thru the day

VeronIKA > DUDE WHY DID YOU SNITCH ON ME

Hirooooo > ITS TRUE THOUGH

AnemoneNo1 > oof respawn sickness….. yeah thats rough. takes time getting used to it :(

AnemoneNo1 > anyway!! me n tako will be over soon, i'll let u know when we’re on the train!!

VeronIKA > sure thing! see you soon!

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[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo left the chat room.

Veronika lazily whacked Hiro's shoulder with a hand. "You're real lucky I'm too lightheaded to stand right now, man."

Under the blanket, the indigo octoling snickered. "Gotta learn to look after yourself, V. Something to keep in mind for the next time we go turfing, yeah?" 

"Ugh." She huffed, pretending to be upset. "Well, seeing as I'm ill, can you make me breakfast? Please?" 

Hiro got up from under the blanket, squinting his eyes against the sunlight. "No," He said, shuffling his cheap foam flip-flops onto his feet. "What do you want? Toast?" 

"Mm… have we got rice?" 

"Rice? You having breakfast or an early dinner?" Hiro joked. "Congee again?" 

"Yeah," Veronika smiled. "Can you make it the way you do? When I try it ends up tasting weird."

"Sure can, chief." He batted at one of her tentacles playfully. "Am I bringing it here or do you think you can make it to the table?" 

"I think I can make it, dad ." She rolled her eyes. 

"Oi, I'm doing this 'cause I'm nice! And because you'd look stupid stumbling around the apartment." Hiro added with a chuckle. "Try not to fall over on the way,' kay?" 

"Yeah, yeah, I'll try. Thanks."

After stumbling out of bed and eating breakfast, Veronika felt more like the inkling she was and not a melty blob of ink. She patted her stomach with a deep sigh - Hiro really did make good rice porridge. 

"Okay, so apart from Tako and Nem comin' 'round later, anything else we need to do?" Hiro asked, gathering the bowls and cutlery to put into the sink. 

Veronika thought for a moment. "Have we payed rent and bills for the month?" 

"Yep, I checked. We're all good on that front."

"Do we still have enough food to last us the next week?" 

"Mhm," He hummed, checking the cupboards on the way back. "And we got plenty of food and drink tickets from the machine in the Turf Lobby, just in case."

"Washing stuff?" 

"Got it."

"Hygiene?" 

"As if we could need any more tentacle lotion." Hiro snorted. 

"Huh." Veronika said simply, stumped. "Can't think of anything else we might need to get, then. How much cash have we got?" 

He reached on top of the fridge for the jar of cash - filled with notes and coins of all amounts - and set it down on the table. "Enough to order somethin' nice for dinner when our guests come along, I think."

"Fuck yeah."

-

Hours later, after Tako and Anemone had arrived with their presents and food had been ordered, the four of them sat on pillows on the floor, eating their food. 

"Y'know," Anemone began, halfway through chewing on a crispy piece of salmon skin. "I didn't know you were veggie, Veronika, since you had that prawn ramen? But hey, now we can make you some nice food the next time we come around! Right, Tako?" 

Tako, with her mouth occupied by a mouthful of fried rice, nodded. She swallowed, then followed up. "Yeah. Make sure to tell me about any allergies or anything. I'm trained in first-aid, but, like, not that much. Cuts and scrapes and stuff."

"Oh, prawns are just really good, so I don't count it. And I don't really have any food allergies," Veronika said, about to eat a forkful of spicy roasted seaweed. "But I have a weird allergy to rubber stuff. Latex, I think? Whatever rubber gloves are made from."

"Yeesh, yeah, that was a nasty surprise when we got home after our first Grizzco shift." Hiro whistled, blowing on his crab soup. "You had some gnarly rashes on your hands and feet."

"Ugh, don't remind me." She shuddered. "At least Mr. Grizz let me buy and use my own gloves for doing runs." 

Anemone snorted. "That's just 'cause he wants as many workers as possible! He's lucky he pays well, or else no one would go work for him, y'know?" She crunched down on another salmon crisp. "What about you, Hiro?" 

"Hm? Oh, nothing, really." Hiro shrugged. "Well. Apart from dairy shredding my guts up whenever I eat it."

"Wait, you're allergic to dairy?" Veronika raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Yeah."

"Dude, what about those times you had ice cream? Didn't that mess you up?" 

"You think that'd stop me from the creamy, sweet deliciousness of a vanilla cone?" 

Veronika was left in shocked silence for a minute. "You're one weird guy. What the fuck?" 

"Nah, they're all like that." Tako shrugged. "My cousin's the same. Eats anything and everything dairy you put in front of him. He only cut down because it was making his tentacles feel all weird, fucked up the membrane and stuff."

"Gross."

"Yeah, that's what everyone else's reaction was too."

"Enough about gross stuff!" Anemone cried, accidentally spraying crumbs everywhere. "Shit, my bad. Anyway! What do you think of the presents we picked out?" 

Hiro grinned. "Great! Wasn't expectin' ya to bring around a whole T.V and stuff, but thanks. Now we got somethin' else to do instead of playing Jackfish and Chase The Clam with a shitty deck of cards all day, heh."

"And thank you for the DVD player, too." Veronika added. "I saw some movies I liked the look of the other day. But you didn't have to, you know?" 

Tako waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. I checked with the place we worked at, and they said it wasn't going anywhere, so we could take it if we wanted. Figured you might want some entertainment." She stirred some sauce into her rice, scooping some up. "Ink sports can get boring after a while. And frustrating."

"Where do you guys work, anyway?" Hiro asked, chewing on a chunk of crab meat. 

"Oh, we work at a community center, helping out neighbourhoods and stuff." Anemone said happily. "That's how I met Tako! She helped train me when I first started, and now we live together, heh!" She tugged on a messily cut tentacle. "Tako was a real help. I was a total newbie - moved to Splatsville from Inkopolis Square, y'know? Grew up watching Off The Hook on the newscast and everything."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me you had the fattest crush on Marina." Tako smirked. 

" Nooooo, don't tell them that!" 

"I'm pretty sure everyone had a crush on Marina at some point, Nem. I mean, fuck, I know I did, and that was before I figured all my shit out." She gestured with her spoon. "I was less cut up about it then you were when she revealed she was dating Pearl, though."

"Ugh, fuck off!" Anemone whined, hiding behind her hands and kicking her legs out. "I literally cried about that for days! " 

Veronika and Hiro snickered, Hiro almost spilling his soup as they laughed. 

"Stop laughing! Hey, what about you two? Did you guys have any crushes?" Anemone quickly changed the subject, shoving the last of her salmon crispies into her mouth. 

"Oh, uh…" Veronika suddenly paused, blushing. "Um. I remember I had a tiny crush on Callie, from the Squid Sisters, but I think that was just me trying to be straight."

Anemone raised an eyebrow, still crunching on her food. 

"... There was also this octoling I saw on the street once. They were really pretty, and… kind of the reason why I grew my tentacles out. Used to have them in that weird topknot that's about eight years out of date by now."

"Why is almost everyone's crush an octoling? What is it about our energy?" Tako joked, smirking at Hiro, who shrugged. 

"Dunno! Maybe it's just our cool, incredibly sexy muscles that we all have!" 

"Easy for someone with no cartilidge to say!" Veronika piped up, pretending to be offended. "The only solid things you have in your body is your beak and that dense head of yours!" 

Tako broke out into raucous laughter, slapping her thigh as Anemone and Hiro burst into giggles around her. Veronika found herself joining in, snorting as she tried not to choke on her food. 

" Phew ," Tako whistled, her booming laughter finally dying down a little. "Oh, haven't laughed that hard in ages, ha!" 

"Pfft, yeah," Anemone chuckled. "Anyway, enough about us - what about you two? All we know is that you're from out of town and got here about a month ago."

Hiro and Veronika looked at each other, then nodded. "You first." She said, nodding her head at the others. 

"Sure. Well, I made a deal with my mom and pops that if I got good grades, I could go live with my cousin and go from there." He began, tapping his chin with his spoon. "Obviously got the good grades, else I'd still be stuck in the sticks. Wanna make it big in the turfing scene, y'know? Maybe break into anarchy battles at some point, I dunno." Hiro hummed. "Miss my lil' sibs, though, even though they were little shits that kept taking my stuff, heh."

"How were they about the whole… y'know." Tako gestured vaguely around her eyes. 

"Oh, they were chill with it, helped me get the stuff I needed. I think they were just happy I was turning out decent, you know? Apparently I was a menace when I was a lil' inkblot, but then I mellowed out, unlike my kid sisters, heh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But yeah. Sorted my stuff out, called my cuz, packed my bags and left for the train station. At night, mind. Can't stand trains when it's busy."

"And that's when I met you." Veronika chipped in quietly. "He let me tag along, even though we didn't even know each other."

Anemone nodded. "What about you, Veronika? What's your story?" 

"Oh, me? Um…" She glanced at Hiro. "Well… do you want the abridged version or the long version?" 

"I'm curious too, actually." Hiro said, looking at the clock. "What time do you two need to be back for?" 

"Eh, it doesn't matter. We haven't got a curfew or anything." Tako shrugged. 

Veronika sighed. "Long version it is, then."

"Hey," Hiro nudged her arm. "You don't have to, y'know? It's fine if you don't wanna." 

"... No. I've been wanting to tell someone anyway. It's as good a time as any."

Veronika took a deep breath. 

"I used to live in the same town as Hiro, out in the countryside. I think he went to a different school though - never saw him at mine. 

My parents were… strict. At one point, it was just me, but then my parents took in my cousin, Sango, after his parents dumped him at the house so they could go gallivanting or something. He never really told me where they went. 

A few years later, things got… rough. Sango didn't get on well with mom and dad, and there was always a lot of shouting, and… fighting. He didn't like what they were getting involved in. I think there was something else to it, too, but I can't remember what. But yeah. 

One night, he just… up and disappeared. In the middle of the night. He left a note for mom and dad, and left a seperate one for me. Said he was going to Inkopolis, but didn't say why. In my note, he… he said he was sorry he couldn't take me with him. Which is fair, I guess, he'd not long got his kid form. He couldn't really take care of me when he was fourteen himself, you know? After a few years with nothing from him, we thought he was dead. 'Inkopolis isn't as safe as people think', my parents said. 

After that, everything started getting piled onto me. The shouting, the… fights. They made me get involved with their shady shit. I hated it. But then I saw that octoling, and… things changed. I started questioning things. Managed to blag off that having long tentacles was a new trend, stuff like that. 

But they made it pretty clear they didn't want me turning out like Sango, though. Made that real clear. 

I… got caught out one day, though. A few days after I realised I was…" Veronika coughed, her throat dry. Hiro passed her drink to her, and she took a grateful sip. 

"My parents caught me out a few days after I realised I was, um… after I realised I was a girl. They had a bunch of connections in town, see, so they always knew everything that happened, even at school. They brought it up one night when I got back from hanging out with a friend, and I managed to throw them off. 

Well. I thought I did. I heard them talking that night, and I realised it wasn't safe at home anymore. I threw some things into a backpack and tried to sneak out, but they caught me. 

There, there was a fight - a scuffle, I mean, but I managed to escape. And then I ran until I got to the train station. That's where I met Hiro, and… the rest is history. Caught the train, got here, stayed with him and his cousin, all that junk." Veronika finished, awkwardly biting into a chunk of seaweed. 

"Wait a fuckin' minute," Hiro began, waving his hands around, gobsmacked. " That's why your nose was busted t' fuck? You had a blue-eye and everything! That was your parents? " 

"I did say they didn't want me turning out like my cousin." Veronika muttered, bowing her head. "It's okay though, I don't think I'm like Sango." 

"Veronika," Tako began cautiously, deadly serious. "When you say 'like Sango', what exactly do you mean by that?" 

"I don't know. Talking back to adults, disrespect, stuff like that?"

"...Girl, no." Anemone whispered. 

"Correct me if I'm wrong, by all means," Tako continued. "But didn't things get worse when Sango ran away, and when you got caught by your parents?" 

"... Yeah? What are you getting at?" 

"Veronika." said the octoling, deadly serious. "Don't you think that maybe your cousin was trans too? And that's why they ran away? Think about it - they were hitting Sango not long before they ran away, right? And they beat you up when they found out you were trans and tried to run away, yeah?" 

Veronika nodded silently. 

"It all adds up. Veronika, your parents are pieces of shit, girl. I hope you don't plan on going back there."

"I don't. They, uh…" She hesitated. "They threatened to… do worse, if I ever went back."

"Sweet Mother Kraken below." Hiro murmured. " That's why you freeze up when I push you around all jokey?" 

She nodded again. "Sorry. It makes me sound like I'm crazy, I know-" 

" No the fuck it don't? " He said, frazzled. "V, you're traumatised to the freakin' moon and back, I don't blame you for freezing up! Shit, now I feel bad, but now I know better. Shit…" Hiro ran a hand through his tentacles. 

"Sorry," Veronika blurted out again. "Um, I should've just told you guys the short version, I'm sorry, that - that was a lot to tell you, I know that we all only met not too long ago and-" 

"Hey, hey," Tako butted in, leaning over to her. "It's okay. Deep breaths, alright? In and out." They went through the breathing exercises together, taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly until Veronika had calmed down enough to speak clearly again. Anemone passed her drink over, and she took a long, grateful swig from it. 

"Thank you." Veronika began, voice rough. "I'm sorry I made you guys worry about me like that."

"Don't worry about it. You're less weepy than the kids me and Nem look after, so it's not all bad." Tako joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

Veronika laughed wetly. "Thanks. You guys… I'm glad I met you, you know? Things could've gone worse after I left, but… it got better instead." She smiled sheepishly. "Um, if it's okay…" 

"Yeah?" 

"Could I… have a hug, please?" 

Tako nodded, immediately wrapping Veronika in arms that were surprisingly muscular (or maybe not - she did use splatlings a lot, after all). Anemone soon followed, hurrying over on her knees, and Hiro just about managed to loop an arm around her shoulders and twist an indigo tentacle around one of her yellow ones. 

Surrounded by friends (and the best huggers she knew so far), Veronika finally felt… safe. 

And she loved it. 

-

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TakoTruck > Hey, is anyone free in a couple of weeks from now? 

Hirooooo > what days? me and V were thinking of doing a few days of Salmon Runs

TakoTruck > There's a festival coming up - the Ribbon Festival. I think you and Veronika might like it. 

AnemoneNo1 > OH SHELL YEAH THE RIBBON FEST I FUCKIGN LOVE THAT ONE

Hirooooo > uh remind me of that one again its been a while since I was last here for festival season

TakoTruck > The Ribbon Festival celebrates Muraen, the Eel God, and how he became the first ribbon eel and the ancestor to all other eels. 

TakoTruck > The legend goes that he took one of Mother Kraken's shed tentacles and turned it into an eel, which wasn't allowed - only Mother Kraken could create. So, She swallowed him up, and kept him in Her stomach for ages and ages. Eventually he got thin enough to slip through Her beak and escape, and he found that Her stomach acids had turned him from boring dull colours into pretty blue and yellow. 

TakoTruck > And then he flew up into the sky and turned into a constellation after giving his colourful gift to his children, the eels. Or something. 

TakoTruck > Nowadays people just use it to celebrate the spring season though. New beginnings and all that. 

TakoTruck > And trans people like it a lot too, apparently. Weird of the article to finish with that one line about it, jeez… 

Hirooooo > oh shit fr? well now we GOTTA go

VeronIKA > huh what where are we going??? 

Hirooooo > ^ read up V 

AnemoneNo1 > YOU GUYS ARE GONNA LOVE IT I PROMMY IT'S SO FUCJING FUN

TakoTruck > Nem, please calm down. 

VeronIKA > okay I finished reading and we are Absolutely going. I don't care if we miss shifts Mr Grizz can go suck a dick. 

AnemoneNo1 > YEAH LET'S GOOOOO!!! 

TakoTruck > Anemonsba bwbe2222 3

Hirooooo > huh

TakoTruck > Sorry. Nem turned squid and jumped onto my face. 

TakoTruck > As you can tell, she gets very excited for events like this. 

TakoTruck > Veronika, this is your first festival in Splatsville, right? 

VeronIKA > yep! it sounds exciting! 

Hirooooo > cant remember much bc the last time I went to a fest here I was barely taller than my ma's knee, but I do remember that the food was /bomb/

TakoTruck > It really is. Jan even takes her little noodle stand out to sell noodles - usually gets her sister to work at the nook in her place. 

TakoTruck > Anyway, sound like a plan? 

Hirooooo > :thumbsup:

AnemoneNo1 > YEAHYEAHYEAH

VeronIKA > sounds great! 

TakoTruck > Cool. :okay_sign: See you then. I'll send reminders. 

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Chapter Text

The four of them waited in the Lobby for a match to join. 

Anemone huffed, leaning on her Dynamo Roller. “Come onnnnnn ,” She whined, pressing her head against the metal handle. “Why’s it taking so long?”

Next to her, Hiro chuckled. “Must be a busy day for turfing, huh? Taking longer than usual to find a match…” He flicked a speck of dirt off his weapon - a .96 Gal kept in immaculate condition since he’d bought it from Ammo Knights. “Wonder who we’re gonna be up against.”

Veronika hummed, eyes closed as she rested her hands on her Tri-Stringer. She shrugged, not wanting to open her eyes. “Who knows. ‘M still tired.” A yawn made her mouth open wide, baring the points of her beak and showing off her bright yellow tongue. “An’ hungry…”

“Gonna have to wait ‘til lunch for that. Can’t get anythin’ from Crab-N-Go if we’re waiting in the match queue.”

Veronika whined. “But I wan’ a Pescatariat…”

“You ate a huge breakfast before we left, V!”

That made her finally open her eyes, and she looked pitifully at Hiro. “ Pleeease? ”

“Nope.”

Veronika kept staring at him, giving him her best shark-pup eyes.

“I said no, V!”

“You are a cruel and unyielding friend.” She pouted, just as the bell dinged to let them know a match had been found for the group.

“That’s our cue,” Tako said suddenly - she had been quiet the entire time, fiddling with her Hydra Splatling. She hefted it up with one hand and with surprising ease. “C’mon, let's get going.”

-

Hiro, Tako, Anemone, and Veronika all morphed out of the green ink of their floating spawn points just as the opposing team did the same.

The other team - a shade of bright pink - seemed to be the usual fare; inklings and octolings here to casually play Turf War, just like any other day. One inkling, however, stuck out to Veronika.

She couldn’t see their face properly, thanks to their large black hat and their long tentastyle, but they held a heavy–looking E-liter 4K Scope, and she knew that they’d all have to play it safe in this match. Already, Veronika was picking out places where the E-liter could perch and pick them off, knowing that they’d have to keep their distance.

“E-liter Scope on the other team, see?” She called over the wind to Tako, who was next to her somehow keeping balance with such a heavy weapon on the tiny platform. “Tako, can you keep pressure on them?” 

“Sure can, but someone’s gonna need to cover me - this thing ain’t easy to move with.” She gestured to her Hydra Splatling.

“I gotcha, don’t worry!” Hiro called from Tako’s right. “That Inkbrush is probably gonna go on the offensive, plus you gotta look out for that Killer Wail, yeah?”

“Yeah, but Nem is gonna be the most vulnerable out of all of us - she’s got a Dynamo, so she hits heavy but slow,” Veronika said anxiously, readying to jump from the spawn point like the others. "I'll stay with Nem. Get ready!" 

The bell sounded, and the match began. 

-

It was certainly an active match, that much was for sure. 

Veronika and the others often found themselves ducking and weaving through the chaos, dipping in and out of ink like a Flipper-Flopper. The confusion made it difficult for Tako to plant herself down and put pressure on the opposing team with her Splatling, with Hiro just barely managing to keep her safe with Splash Walls placed in her vulnerable spots. 

Anemone, surprisingly, managed to hold her own pretty well - mainly thanks to her Respawn Punisher ability on the very same sweater she had brought after their first salmon run as a team. She placed Tacticoolers whenever she could, with the others popping their specials soon after grabbing one of the energising sodas. 

Veronika was struggling a little, to be truthful. Yes, she was managing to hold off the E-Liter on the other team, but her own team was slowly starting to be pushed back, the map quickly being covered in pink ink. Suddenly, there was a loud bang! and she found herself back at the floating spawn point - she had been splatted by the E-Liter. 

The others had ended up in a small line just outside their base, desperately trying to at least hold until the match time was over. She morphed into swim form and super-jumped, landing neatly next to Hiro behind a small crate. 

"Dude, we need that Ink Vac right now!" 

"I'm trying!" Hiro cried, ducking behind the crate. "But it's pretty hard to ink turf when they keep destroying my sprinklers!" 

Veronika cursed under breath. "Tako!" 

"Yeah?!" The octoling called back, focused on trying to splat at least one of the opposing team - difficult with the E-Liter similarly focused on trying to splat her in return. 

"How's that Booyah Bomb looking?" 

Tako risked a glance at the small gauge on her wrist - something everyone wore in ink-sports to keep track of their special weapon charge. "Almost!" 

Veronika looked at her own - also almost full. 

One more shot should be enough. 

She raised her Tri-Stringer and charged a shot, hoping to arc it behind the other team. She let go of the string and the ink arrows launched far over the others, exploding not long after they landed. The device on her wrist pinged, letting her know her special was ready, and she called over to Anemone.

“I need a path!”

Anemone nodded, hefting her Dynamo Roller with a mighty cry and slamming it to the ground, a great arc of green ink falling through the air. She was splatted soon after, the action havng left her open to attack - it would take her longer than usual to respawn and rejoin the fray, so Veronika really hoped her plan would work. 

With the pink team distracted by the others, she activated her special - the Killer Wail 5.1, six lasers that honed in on and tracked the enemy - and strafed through the path Anemone had inked. 

The enemy scattered, trying to avoid the lasers, and two of them - the Inkbrush and the Splash-O-Matic - were splatted from standing still too long. The Killer Wail’s lasers meant that the E-Liter on the other team had to reposition, making them jump from their perch and dip into a patch of ink below them. The Rapid Blaster was also soon splatted, quickly shot down by Tako’s Hydra Splatling.

From there, it was easy to make a final push through enemy turf - especially after Tako set off her Booyah Bomb - coating pink with green with wild abandon until the whistle blew, leaving everyone exhausted and panting.

-

Both teams waited anxiously in the lobby while the results were calculated by Judd.

It was always nerve-wracking - Turf War was always more unpredictable than anarchy matches like Clam Blitz or Splat Zones. You could ink the entirety of mid, but you could easily lose if you hadn’t inked your own team’s home base, leading to some embarrassingly low scores.

Everyone was distracted from their thoughts by the tannoy announcing that the results had been calculated, and would be displayed on the Lobby’s gigantic screen soon.

They all looked up, and…

“How the shell did we manage to win by point-two percent?! ” Anemone cried out, letting her Dynamo fall to the floor with a loud clang . Next to her, Tako let out a sigh of relief, while Hiro pumped a fist in the air in happiness. Veronika’s hearts finally began to calm down, only to speed right back up again when someone from the opposite team started to walk over to them - the inkling with the E-Liter 4K Scope, their tentacles now a light turquoise. They looked nervous, but spoke up anyway. 

“...You guys played well. Really good synergy.” They cleared their throat with a small cough. “I would have done better if my actual teammates were free today, but the one I was on was pretty okay, all things considered.”

Veronika nodded. “Yeah, you guys really gave us a run for our money,” She chuckled. “I really thought you guys would beat us, y’know?”

The other inkling nodded. “It was a very close match.” They shuffled on their feet, suddenly nervous. “... I don’t very often play if neither of my partners are able to - today was a test for myself, one that I… didn’t really like. I was wondering if it would be okay to exchange splashtags, so that I could play with your team when possible?”

“Of course!” Veronika blurted out. “That’d be great! It’d be nice to have another backliner on our team - uh, no offence, Tako.”

“None taken!” The octoling called over from where she stood with Anemone and Hiro.

The inkling nodded. “In that case, this is my splashtag.” They produced the card from their pocket, showing it to Veronika. She quickly input the details on her phone, then put it away. 

“You know, I don’t think I got your name?” Veronika asked, as they accepted the request sent by her. “Mine’s Veronika.”

“My name is Calamar.” They said, holding a hand out for her to shake. “I use they and them, if you’re wondering.”

“How did you-”

“Your friend with the .96 Gal has pointed eyemasks, but very clearly dresses and acts masculine.” Calamar suddenly flushed and glanced away. “Sorry. I know it’s not my business, but I couldn’t help but notice.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that you’d…” Veronika mused

“You’d be surprised,” they said, shrugging. “The Splatlands are a lot more accepting than Inkadia. Plus, we have to stick together, you know?” Calamar glanced at the clock in the Lobby. “One of my partners should be finishing her Grizzco shift round about now, so I’ll leave you all to it. Have a nice afternoon, Veronika.” They hefted their bag onto their shoulder and left, giving Veronika and her group a wave as they walked through the automatic doors.

“Made a new friend?” Hiro said, suddenly popping up next to her with a smirk.

“Fuck!” Veronika flinched, caught by surprise. “Fucking hell, man! Yes, I made a friend, but you didn’t have to scare me like that, Hiro.”

“Heh, sorry. Can’t help myself if you look cute when I scare ya like that!” He playfully punched her shoulder. “Me and the others were thinkin’ of getting noodles, you comin’ with?”

“Duh, of course,” She scoffed, punching him back. “I’m always up for noodles.”

“It’s a plan, then.” Hiro smiled. “Go ditch your Turf stuff in your locker and we can get goin’!” He walked to the door with Anemone and Tako, waving. “We’ll meet ya outside!”

“Sure thing!” She called back, already walking to the locker room.

Veronika was shutting her locker door when Hiro’s words finally registered.

Wait a fucking minute - did Hiro just call me cute?!

-

Outside, as the others waited for her, Anemone leaned in close to Hiro and nudged him.

“So,” She said breezily, without a care in the world. “You think Veronika’s cute , huh?”

Hiro’s hearts seized in his chest as he realised what he’d said, his face flushing dark blue.

“T-that’s not what I meant!”

-

After a filling meal of noodles at Jan’s place - during which Tako and Anemone kept whispering to each other and Hiro wouldn’t quite meet Veronika’s eyes - the group waited at the train station to see Tako and Anemone off.

“Don’t you guys live like, a twenty minute walk from the town centre?” Veronika asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but I promised my mamas I’d look after the twins tonight,” Tako rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s their date night, and the boys are too rowdy for ‘em to have a date at home, y’know?”

“And I’m coming along to help because her brothers only behave when I’m there, for some reason.” Anemone added with a shrug. “Kraken knows why, though.”

“Still trying to figure that one out. Either way, we gotta catch a train.” The octoling looked up at the time displayed on a large digital clock in the station. “And soon, too, ‘cause I don’t feel like walking for an hour after lugging around my Hydra all day.”

“Should be one comin’ along soon, I think.” Hiro piped up, looking intently at a train timetable.

“Wrong sheet, Hiro.”

“Eh, can’t say I tried.” He shrugged. He turned back around to face the group, clapping Veronika on the shoulder. “We gotta get going soon too - Splatsville ain't a bustling hub for crime, but there’s always outliers, y’know?”

“True enough,” Tako agreed. “Stay safe on your way home, y’hear?”

“Yes, mom.” Veronika jokingly saluted, sending Anemone into a brief fit of laughter. “You too, though, okay?”

Tako rolled her eyes, before they widened suddenly. “Oh shit, that’s our train - Nem, quick! ”

“Fuck!” 

The pair bolted for the train, the door sliding shut just moments after Tako managed to jump through. Anemone frantically waved at Hiro and Veronika through the window, pointing to the indigo octoling and making a ‘call me’ gesture, to which he nodded and waved back.

“Well,” Veronika said with a sigh. “We better get home then.”

“Yeah. Hey, you wanna get ice cream?”

“Dude, we just ate dinner.”

-

Hiro sat on the bed with his towel on his head, idly scrolling through his phone as he waited for Veronika to finish showering. He was halfway through a cute video of someone’s pet sea slug when a message popped up.

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 joined a private chatroom.

“Huh.” He hummed. Hiro clicked on the notification, opening up his messages with Anemone.

[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo joined a private chatroom.

Hirooooo > wassup?

AnemoneNo1 > r u alone rn?

Hirooooo > yeah? Waitin for v to finish in the shower

AnemoneNo1 > OKAY COOL make sure she doesn’t see these texts

Hirooooo > can you please explain what you’re on about

AnemoneNo1 > the ribbon festival is this weekend!

AnemoneNo1 > so that means its up to ME that you dont go looking like someone dragged you through salmon muck

Hirooooo > is this about the body spray i wear because it honestly doesn't smell that bad

AnemoneNo1 > it literally smells like youve rubbed yourself with a tuna steak thats been left uncovered in a greenhouse for a month but thats not the point

AnemoneNo1 > even if you should totally pick a different one BUT ANYWAY

AnemoneNo1 > look. this is the RIBBON FESTIVAL. if you go wearing that same button up you wear all the coddamn time im tearing it off your body the minute i see it

Hirooooo > damn, at least ask me out for dinner first??

AnemoneNo1 > im already taken plus thatll hopefully be veronikas job sometime soon

Hirooooo > WHAT

AnemoneNo1 > shush. anyway i need you to wear literally anything BUT that fucking seahorse shirt. 

AnemoneNo1 > please i am literally begging you hiro 

AnemoneNo1 > i can even ask tako if you can borrow one of her cool band shirts or something

Hirooooo > girl chill i got a nice shirt don’t worry, i keep it for nice occasions only

Hirooooo > but why are you suddenly so interested in my fashion choices? :hmm: 

AnemoneNo1 > listen i dont care about your fashion choices other than that shirt and shitty body spray

AnemoneNo1 > like why would you voluntarily want to smell like month-old tuna

Hirooooo > IT WAS A LIMITED EDITION MUSK COLOGNE

AnemoneNo1 > more like musty cologne

AnemoneNo1 > listen i can ask tako if you can borrow one of hers bc at least she has cologne that smells good

Hirooooo > ugh fine as long as you get off my ass okay??

Hirooooo > V’s finished in the shower anyways so i gotta go, ttyl

AnemoneNo1 > DONT WEAR THAT FUCKING SHIRT OR SPRAY OR ELSE IM GOING TO FUCKING CRUSH YOU WITH MY DYNAMO

[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo left the private chatroom.

AnemoneNo1 > DUDE

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 left the private chatroom.

Hiro shook his head as he closed the messaging app. He had no idea why Anemone was suddenly so invested in the things he wore - and surely his cologne wasn’t that bad?

He carefully lifted an arm and sniffed, then pulled a face. 

Yeah, probably don’t smell very great after we’ve been turfing all day… Maybe she has a point.

-

Veronika lay on the bed, freshly showered and smelling like her favourite body wash, scrolling through her phone. She was reading someone’s food blog - a recipe about fish pasta, with some variations - when a message from Tako popped up.

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck joined a private chatroom.

TakoTruck > Yo, Veronika, you got time to talk? It’s nothing serious, it’s just about the plans for the festival this weekend.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA joined a private chatroom.

VeronIKA > uhhh sure? What’s up?

TakoTruck > You got something nice to wear? It’s a big event, so don’t be afraid to add a little extra seasoning, so to speak.

TakoTruck > It’s going to be warm too, with all the crowds and food stalls there, so pick something breathable if you can. If not, I don’t mind getting you something to wear - Grizzco was nice with the rewards the other day, so I have plenty of cash.

TakoTruck > And if that makes you feel bad, you can always borrow one of my shirts instead.

TakoTruck > Well. As long as you don’t mind wearing old band shirts, I mean.

VeronIKA > OH nonono its fine! I already have a shirt picked out! Thanks though, it really means a lot.

TakoTruck > It’s no problem, really. If there’s any way to help out my friends, then I will.

VeronIKA > :cryfish: thank you

TakoTruck > Don’t worry about it. This is your first festival here in Splatsville, and it should be enjoyable.

TakoTruck > Oh, and you should add Calamar to the groupchat, if they’re chill with it.

VeronIKA > oh my cod i almost completely forgot 

VeronIKA > and thanks!!

TakoTruck > No problem. See you soon, Veronika :wave: 

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck left the private chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA left the private chatroom.

Veronika swiftly opened up Calamar’s contact, sending a quick message.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA joined a private chatroom.

VeronIKA > hey calamar! This is veronika! 

VeronIKA > i was wondering if you’d want to join the groupchat that me and the others have going on? 

VeronIKA > just so that you don’t miss out on anything of course!

It wasn’t soon until Calamar replied, sending their own message.

[ Webmaster ]> C4L4M4R joined a private chatroom.

C4L4M4R > oh. sure. i dont know if im going to talk much there though.

VeronIKA > that’s fine!! The only times it gets busy is if anemone is talking in there haha

C4L4M4R > shes the red inkling right? with the dynamo roller?

VeronIKA > yep!

C4L4M4R > hm. okay. thats fine. i look forward to interacting with you and the others. 

C4L4M4R > you guys seems fun. and nice.

VeronIKA > ah!!! thanks!! I’m glad that we dont seem like, intimidating or anything <x{

VeronIKA > but yeah!! I’ll add you to the groupchat!! And then we’ll see you… whenever our next practice is, i guess!! Have a nice evening calamar!!

C4L4M4R > you too veronika.

[ Webmaster ]> C4L4M4R left the private chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA left the private chatroom.

She quickly added Calamar to the shared groupchat, then switched her phone off with a sigh. 

“What a hectic day…” Veronika said to the empty bedroom.

-

Veronika had been to crazy house parties. She had been to Splatfests back in Inkopolis, when her parents had felt kind enough to take a trip out of town and take her with them. She had even seen her fair share of outright riots , complete with fires and broken glass.

But not a single one of her past experiences had prepared for the pure, unrestrained, chaos of a festival in Splatsville.

It was loud, bass-heavy music thumping from the speakers at the base of the tower, and it was so crowded that Veronika almost felt claustrophobic. Somehow, the Great Zapfish was still sleeping through the mess of noise, curled up and dozing, occasionally letting out a small zap of electricity into the air.

Maybe powering the city takes so much energy out of it that it’s always sleepy? Who knows, I’m not a Zapfish, she shrugged to herself.

“Veronika! Over here, I got food!” Anemone yelled over the crowd, jumping up and down like a hyperactive dogfish. Tako was with her, food in hand held high above her to avoid it getting knocked to the ground. 

The pair managed to make their way over to her without any accidents, thankfully, and they all found a place to sit near some stairs leading up to Naut-Couture. Although, once they all sat down, they noticed that someone was missing from their group.

“Hey, where’s Hiro?” Anemone asked, fiddling with the tag on her choker. “If he doesn’t get here soon then I’m gonna eat his crab crunchies. Hey! What was that for?” She exclaimed after Tako swatted her in the shoulder.

“Hiro went to get drinks, remember? He’ll be back in a minute - Oh, there he is,” Tako perked up upon spotting him some distance away. “Hiro! Boos’api~! ” She called over the crowd, cupping her hands around her mouth so it would carry. 

Almost instantly Hiro spun around to find the source of the call, and his face lit up once he saw Tako waving him over. He pushed his way through the throng of inkfish and sealife alike, holding a bag of… something in his hand. Whatever was inside seemed more apparent the closer he got - the familiar clinking of glass bottles could be heard, rattling around in the plastic bag that Hiro held victoriously over his head like a prize. He rummaged around, digging out a bottle and showing it to the others with a grin.

“Where the shell did you get those?” Tako asked, incredulous. “Dude, we are not old enough to drink!”

“What - no! This ain’t booze!” Hiro looked at the label. “Not legally, anyway. It’s under one percent, so we can drink it! If you really gotta blame someone, blame my cousin, she was the one who bought them. She said it’s more like fizzy fruit juice anyway, so we should be okay…”

Tako sighed, fiddling with the edge of her tie-dye shirt. “Whatever, I’m not drinking tonight anyway - one of us has to stay sober, and trust me, you guys don’t want to have to drag me anywhere if I pass out.”

Hiro shrugged. “Fair. Nem, you want one?” He offered the bottle in his hand to the excited inkling.

“Sure!” Anemone gladly took it, then frowned. “Wait, we don’t have anything to open these with…”

“Oh, I can. You don’t believe in like, cooties or anything, right?” Veronika asked, holding a hand out. 

“Nah, it’s cool.”

“Alright.” She took the bottle from Anemone, angled the metal cap on her beak just so, and with a quick jerk of her head and hand, the cap came off with a hiss. Veronika gave the bottle back with one hand, fishing the cap out of her mouth with the other. “There you go.”

“Yo, what! That’s so cool! Teach me!” Anemone gasped, eyes lighting up.

“No way!” Veronika laughed. “It fucks up your beak, see?” She lifted up a lip, showing a small notch on the bottom half of her beak. “I’ve been doing it for ages because I lived in the country, remember? When you skip class at the end of term to drink with friends in some random farmer’s field, you can’t really go home to pick up a bottle opener, you know?”

“Aw…” The other inkling pouted, downcast. She took a sip of her drink, then hummed, perking up a little. “Huh, this is actually pretty good.” She said, taking a longer swig.

Tako nudged her, with a smile. “Hey, if you want, I can ask one of my mama’s to teach you how to do it with your bare hands.”

“Ooh! Yeah!”

“Mama’s?” Veronika asked, curious. “More than one?”

“Right, I haven’t told you two yet,” Tako hummed. “I’ve got like, four moms. And three younger siblings - a little sister and two twin brothers, but, uh… Well, I’m not blood-related. To any of them, I mean.”

“Wait, really?” Hiro said, after using the railing to pop the cap on his own drink. “But you showed me a picture of one of your mom’s the other day, you look almost exactly like her!”

Tako shrugged sheepishly. “All of my mama’s are ex-military - from the underground domes in Inkadia. Three of them found my egg while they were escaping the army, right on the side of the road. Crazy, really. Lucky I turned out purple when I hatched - easy to pass me off as one of my mama’s kids.” She smiled exasperatedly. “And mom number four… was my therapist. She usually did therapy for veterans, but specialised in children’s.”

Therapist? Veronika found herself thinking.  Her curiosity must have shown on her face, because Tako sighed and glanced away.

“I had… a rough time, some years back. I don’t like to talk about it. But I had to go to therapy at some fancy place in Inkopolis for a couple of weeks.” Tako looked at Anemone, who reached up to hold her hand. “But I’m better now. I have coping mechanisms and shit, and if that doesn’t work I can always just talk to my therapy mom, heh.”

“Oh.” Veronika said, suddenly feeling guilty. “I didn’t mean to, like, bring anything bad up-”

“It’s fine, Veronika,” Tako smiled gently, rubbing her free hand over the arm Anemone was holding. “You didn’t know, so I can’t blame you for something you didn’t do on purpose. Anyway, this is a festival, so only happy things and celebrations today, yeah?” 

Swallowing the faint bitter taste of guilt, Veronika nodded. “Okay.” She looked at Hiro, glancing at his shirt. “Fancy shirt, didn’t know you had that.”

Hiro chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “Oh, this old thing? It used to be my dad’s when he was a kid, but he gave it to me after I came out. It’s my favourite.”

“I thought that musty, old man seahorse shirt was your favourite, since you wear it all the time?” Anemone piped up with a grin.

“It’s not musty!”

“It is! ” She giggled. “I hope you’re not wearing that weird cologne either.”

“You mean the “tuna-smelling” one?” Hiro said, raising an eyebrow, unamused.

“Yeah!”

He sighed. “No, I am not wearing the “musty tuna” cologne, Anemone.”

“Good.” She said, looking proud and shooting a wink to Veronika, who looked at her confused. “Anyway! I brought facepaints! Who wants some?”

Tako hummed, sitting down next to Anemone. “You know I’ll want my usual.”

“The yellow and purple one, right?”

“Yep.”

Hiro gave Veronika a bottle as she watched Anemone paint a sun-yellow rectangle underneath one of Tako’s eyes, then carefully add a purple ring in the middle. 

“Huh,” He hummed, tilting his head to look at her over Veronika’s shoulder. “Haven’t seen that one before. What’s it mean?”

Tako fought back a smile, trying not to disrupt Anemone’s work. “Some historians came across some human stuff a little while back, near the craters. They found some ancient human databank, or something, and they were sorting through it for ages . They found a bunch of different symbols and flags - identities and stuff, lots of ‘em.” Anemone finished up, leaning back to admire it. “Apparently, this one is what humans used if they had bodies like mine.”

“Like yours?”

Tako shrugged. “Mixed up bodies, hormones, stuff like that. Mammalian bodies were crazy diverse, according to historians and scientists.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Hiro grinned, taking a sip from his drink. “The yellow goes nice with the purple, I think.”

“Heh, yeah.”

“Alright, just needs the finishing touches!” Anemone said brightly, putting the paints away. She quickly leaned forwards and gave Tako a quick peck on the tip of her nose. “Okay, all done!”

“Not very straight of you, babe.” Said the octoling, starting to grin. Tako quickly pressed a small kiss to the middle of Anemone’s forehead which sent her giggling like a madman, clutching her sides as the others joined in as well. 

Veronika glanced at Hiro, before a spark of something made her blush and quickly look away - Hiro did the same, indigo blooming on his dark cheeks.

“S-so!” He spoke up suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention. “What’s the plan for tonight?”

-

The plan, apparently, was that there wasn’t a plan. At least that’s what it seemed like to Veronika.

Tako and Anemone had wandered off somewhere not long after Nem had painted a little flag on Veronika’s cheek like she had with Tako - pink, white, and blue stripes in neat formation under her eye. Hiro had refused, saying that he was already using makeup to cover the points of his mask and didn’t want to deal with a breakout, thank you very much.

Regardless, Hiro and Veronika had meandered around the city centre, taking in the sights and sounds and trying all the food at the stalls until they felt as bloated as pufferfish. At one point they even found Jan with her portable little kitchen, cooking noodles and frying food for festival-goers. She warmly greeted the two, before quickly resuming the busy work of feeding her customers.

In a quieter part of the city, they came across a familiar group - the inkfish and their manta ray friend that Veronika had seen at Jan’s nook that one time. Apparently their group was called Deep Cut, known for their skills at treasure hunting to help the less fortunate in Splatsville, although it seemed that the green octoling - Rome - wasn’t a part of the group proper, just a very close friend.

Said octoling was dancing gracefully with Frye - the yellow inkling - moving about the makeshift stage with practised ease. Shiver, the other octoling with deep blue tentacles and red eyes, told the story of Muraen, their fan waving in the air as they spoke of the god of eels and his punishment for his hubris in creating living beings without permission from Mother Kraken. Big Man, the manta ray - Must be a stage name, Veronika thought - was off to the side, providing the music through a speaker by the stage.

After watching the performance, the pair wandered off again, exploring the city in all its festival-decorated glory. They saw Tako and Anemone hanging with some others - Calamar and another inkling and octoling, one with a horned helmet and the other with tinted goggles and their tentacle curled into a large pompadour, who was holding hands with the quiet cyan inkling. The one with the helmet seemed to be eyeing up both Tako and Anemone, a smirk on her face, but Veronika didn’t pay them much mind - she just wanted to take in the sights and sounds.

At one point Hiro got more drinks for the both of them - something a bit stronger than the first drink, apparently, because once he realised that it was actual alcohol they were drinking, Veronika had drank not just one but three, and was unfortunately already a little tipsy. Hiro quickly sent Tako and Anemone a quick message, Veronika sitting on the street curb swaying to and fro slightly, explaining that they were going home early, and received a stay safe on your way back from Tako soon after.

And so, he looped one of Veronika’s arms around his shoulder, lifted her up, and the pair began their thankfully-short walk back home to their apartment.

-

Hiro leaned Veronika up against the wall, reaching into his pocket for the keys to their apartment. The door unlocked easily, and he pushed it open to hear silence and darkness as they entered. Faintly, they could hear the music still pounding, the frantic night-time pulse of the city.

He heard Veronika mumble something - she was slurring her words, though, so he didn't quite catch what she said other than "home" and "tired". Which is fair, he supposed. They've been out for a while, since before the sun went down, and now nothing but the stars and the void filled the sky.

"C'mon, V, let's get you into bed, alright? I'll get you your sleeping clothes, just stay here." Hiro flicked the light on and gently walked her into their shared bedroom, sitting her on her side of the bed.

She started to tip over, and he hurriedly rushed to push her upright as she giggled, tipsy. Hiro sighed, grabbing her night-time clothes that were thrown messily onto her pillow that morning. 

"Here," Hiro said, pressing the ratty, torn shirt and old shorts into her hands. "Get changed, 'kay? Slow, so you don't hurt y'self. I'll be outside the door."

Veronika whined at that, reaching out for him but missing completely. "Hirooooo..." She sounds like a little kid , Hiro thought, fondly shaking his head.

"I can't be in the same room as you when ya change, V! Privacy and all that shit, y'know?" Hiro called back as he shut the bedroom door and leant against it.

He waited, listening to Veronika mumble to herself, arguing with her clothes. At one point he hears her call her shorts "motherfucker", apparently struggling to put them on from the sounds of it. Hiro shook his head with a small smile, sending a message to Tako telling her that the two had made it back home safely.

Eventually, he heard her whine his name again, and then a thump as she presumably slumped against the door. He opened it to see Veronika, dressed and ready for bed. He glanced down and saw that her shirt was not only inside-out, but back-to-front, the tag sticking out under her chin. Hiro smiled again, ignoring it. He switched the main bedroom light off, before gently turning her in the direction of the bed

"C'mon, into bed, V." He began guiding her, and she fell onto the bed like a sack of bricks. She managed to flip onto her side, arms stuck out at weird angles and laying on top of the blanket, heaving out a heavy sigh like she'd been running Grizzco shifts all day instead of walking around at a festival.

"C'mere, I want cuddles..." Veronika mumbled, words slurred. She made grabby hands at Hiro, and he rolled his eyes fondly.

Hiro kicked his shoes off and removed his button-up, leaving him in just the vest he wore underneath, his shorts, and socks - he could always change in the morning. He quickly flicked the lamp on Veronika’s side on - neither of them liked complete darkness while sleeping. Then, he lay down next to her on the bed, who turned around (with a lot of huffing and puffing) to look at him with a dopey, tipsy smile.

"Hi." She said, blue eyes drowsily blinking at Hiro.

"Hey, V." He replied, smiling back gently. "You okay?"

"Feelin' better..." She mumbled something incoherent, but only caught "home" and his name. Something good, then, hopefully.

She mumbled again, suddenly frowning. "Sango..."

"Hm?"

"They would'a loved this festival..." Veronika blinked slowly, opening and closing her hand vacantly. "Loved these kinda things..."

Hiro sighed. Shame they couldn't take V with him, he thought, glancing out the window at the distant festivities in the city. But then again, they were fourteen. Not much ya can do, really.

Hiro reached out a hand to rest on Veronika's shoulder. "Who knows, V. I heard a bunch of people are moving from Inkopolis to Splatsville. Maybe they'll come along at some point, y'know?"

Veronika only hummed, still frowning. "Wish they hadn't left me with mom 'n dad..."

Oh, yikes . Hiro wasn't good at this kinda thing.

"... Yeah." He began carefully. "But y'know, they were still a kid when they left weren’t they? Pretty hard to take care of a squiddo when you're barely old enough to play turf."

"Yeah..."

Quiet filled their bedroom. The sounds of the festival sounded so far away now. Everything did - like it was just them in the whole city.

"Just... I don’t want anyone else t'leave." Veronika pressed her face into the pillow, her eyes wet. "Don' want you to leave."

Ah . That struck him right in the heartstrings.

"Hey, what's all this for?" Hiro rubbed his hand against her shoulder in comfort. "You know I ain't gonna leave you, V."

A single tear slipped from Veronika's eye. "Everyone always leaves…" She mumbled quietly, drawing her arms closer to herself. “I want someone to stay for once….”

Now it was Hiro's turn to frown. "What d'ya mean?"

Veronika curled into herself even further. She hid her face behind her hands, blue eyes barely visible between the cage of her fingers as she mumbled again, so quiet Hiro could barely hear it.

"Didn't catch that, V?" Hiro said gently, rubbing her shoulder.

Veronika let out a heavy sigh, moving her hands away from her face. She looked Hiro straight in the eyes, and said more seriously than he'd heard her all night.

"I think I like you, Hiro."

Oh . He felt his eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise, Veronika noticing and looking like she was going to start crying fully.

"Please don' leave..."

That jolted Hiro back into the present. "Hey, hey, I'm not gonna leave you, I promise, V."

"Jus' bein' nice. You’re gonna leave, everyone does..."

"No I’m not V, I swear on my hearts." Hiro propped himself up on an elbow. "What's this about? Tell me, I'll make it right."

A strangled whine came from Veronika's throat, the tears beginning to flow freely and soaking the pillow. "Just- " She moved a hand sluggishly to wipe at her eyes, taking in a hiccuping breath. "I'm not... people don't like me, Hiro. No one does. That’s why people leave." Her hand slumped back onto the bed with a quiet whump . "How can people stay and like me when I'm... this?"

Hiro's hearts ached. "What do you mean, V?"

" This ." Veronika said quietly. "People don't like girls like me."

"Now that's a load of seahorse-shit if I ever heard it," Hiro countered. "I like you just fine! Plenty of people like you!"

"Only sayin' that to be nice..." She whined again, slamming her fist weakly against the mattress. 

"Veronika, lemme- let me tell you somethin', okay?" He sat fully upright, grabbing one of her hands despite her trying to tug it back. He took a deep breath. "Listen to me, okay?"

Veronika went quiet. Then, she nodded silently.

"I've met a bunch of people, okay? Yeah, some of them seemed nice, but that was on the surface. Most of them were assholes , y'know? They just saw…” He raised a hand to gently stroke along the curve of one of his eyemasks. “I never understood how someone could do stuff like that to other people. Not see them for who they are. Always sounded real stupid to me.”

Veronika blinked. Hiro squeezed her hand gently, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"Part of the reason I moved out... I wanted to get away from all the shit back home, y'know? I knew how bad it was. So when I was able to, I called Hei and I packed up my shit and walked to the station in the middle of the night." Hiro glanced away, squeezing her hand again. Her palm was rough, like his, calluses having quickly built up from her relentless practice with her new Tri-Stringer. "And then you showed up at the station. You looked like you went through shit, and I wanted to help. And then... you know the rest.” He chuckled lightly. “From there.... Veronika, I loved it. I loved doing Turf with you, getting new clothes and weapons, doing shifts, all that stuff. But you wanna know most of all?"

"What?" Veronika whispered, as if speaking too loud would shatter everything.

"I love you , Veronika." Hiro said, so sincere it made his hearts ache. "More than Turf, more than anythin' . And if you ain't got enough love for yourself..." He looked away bashfully, his face warm. "...Then I wanna love you enough for the both of us. If you'd let me."

He glanced back at Veronika to gauge her reaction.

She was looking at him with wet, wide eyes, mouth open in silent shock. Then, Hiro felt Veronika squeeze his hand, firm but gentle. She sat herself up, her face flushed golden-yellow, and they looked at each other.

Veronika looked at him - smooth, dark skin, his hands rough with calluses and small, barely-there scars. His eyes were that strange orange-and-blue, the contrast weird but mesmerising. His indigo tentacles were glossy, thanks to his rigorous care routine, even in the low light from the bedside lamp. She liked how his round ears looked when they flopped up and down when he was happy, or when they twitched when he was focused on cooking.

He looked at her - her crooked nose, the notch in her ear, the cut in her eyebrow. Hiro thought they were very pretty. Very Veronika , he thought. Her tentacles were a shade of sunshine-yellow that he had come to love - he’d found himself wanting to wake up earlier than her just to take in the colour. And her eyes... he wanted to get used to seeing them, wanted to see the beautiful double-blue shade shine in the sunset again, just like on that first night in their new home.

Hiro couldn’t imagine anyone not thinking Veronika was pretty, to be honest. Carefully, he brought Veronika's hand up to his lips, and kissed her knuckles.

"You're not gonna leave?" Veronika asked quietly.

"Never." Hiro replied, her hand still against his lips. "I promise."

-

Veronika woke up underneath the blanket.

She felt warm, but when she popped her head up from underneath she felt a cool breeze from an open window, a blessing for her aching head. There was a heavy weight in her arms that pressed against her front, and she looked down to see what it was. 

Her vision was met with indigo tentacles. 

Everything from last night came flooding back, sluggish like thick ink dripping down a wall. Her face went warm as she remembered what happened.

In her arms, Hiro stirred, grumbling about something she couldn't hear properly. She let him move away a little so he could rub his eyes, smudging the makeup he'd used last night to cover up the points of his eyemasks.

"Whassatime?" He mumbled, opening an eye groggily.

Veronika jolted, turning around to look at the cheap alarm clock on her nightstand.

"Uh," She squinted at the red LED display. "Two-thirty-two. Sorry if I woke you up."

Hiro harrumphed, then burrowed back under the blanket and snuggled against her front again. She immediately broke into a blush, freezing to not disturb him.

"Cute." She blurted out suddenly. "Can I kiss you? Uh, if that’s okay, I mean.”

Hiro huffed out a laugh, and poked his head out of the blanket. He leant up and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, his lips slightly chapped - a shame it tasted like morning-breath.

"You're cute too, 'ronika." He shuffled the blanket back over his head. "We're orderin' breakfast when we get out of bed."

Veronika smiled, giddy - her headache had practically disappeared now.

"Okay." She replied, pressing her own kiss to his tentacles. "Sounds good."

Chapter Text

“Wait, you knew?”

Tako laughed lightheartedly. “It was kinda obvious. You’re both really bad at hiding things.”

“Oh my Cod,” Veronika’s face flushed yellow. “Ohh, my Cod. It was?”

“Yep.”

Veronika groaned as she shuffled out of her slopsuit, hanging her head in embarrassment. “I can’t believe that… I thought I was doing a good job hiding it!”

The octoling raised an eyebrow, her tentacles shifting back to her usual lavender as she shrugged on her shirt. “Girl, I saw the look on your face when he fed you kimchi that one time. It really wasn’t the kind of face platonic buddies make, trust me.”

“Ugh.”

“If it helps, Hiro wasn’t any better. Nem told me he wanted to wear his usual cologne because apparently you complimented it once.”

“Cod, what a dork…” Veronika smiled as she put on her boots, tightening the straps.

“Dorky enough for you to kiss him?” Tako teased, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. She pulled on her hoodie, zipping it up halfway. “Really, it was just a matter of time. Nem was convinced you two were already kissing and just weren’t telling us.”

Veronika shook her head fondly. “Nem’s crazy. It was torture sharing a bed with him - almost wanted to move to the sofa until I sorted my feelings out, you know?” She picked up her slopsuit and shoved everything into her locker, everything clattering inside. “I’m glad we got it figured out in the end. Even if I had to get a bit tipsy to do it, heh…” She laughed sheepishly.

“Yeah, so are the rest of us.” Tako joked. “We have practice tomorrow, right? I’m up for it, see if anyone else is free - Calamar might wanna join us this time.”

Veronika nodded, grabbing her bag and pulling her phone from her pocket. “Already on it. See you tomorrow, Tako!”

-

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA joined the chatroom.

VeronIKA > hi everyone! Are we all still good for practice tomorrow?

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck joined the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> C4L4M4R joined the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo joined the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 joined the chatroom.

TakoTruck > You already know my answer V :thumbs_up:

C4L4M4R > i can come to practice tomorrow. what time are you thinking to start?

AnemoneNo1 > im up for it!! my uncle’s busy at work so im free to do whatever :P 

VeronIKA > I was thinking around 1pm? :think_fish: Hiro has work at Grizzco tomorrow all day bc we need to squeeze out a bit more cash for bills and stuff

Hirooooo > Cod it’s going to fucking suck doing shifts all day :weary: but we’re like a few thousand cash behind on rent and a few hundred behind for the electric bill

VeronIKA > Don’t worry Hiro. If you get back before we finish practice tomorrow you can congratulate us on our amazing win! 

VeronIKA > And I can congratulate you for being big and cool and being the breadwinner of the group, heheh

Hirooooo > omg V babe not in front of the others

AnemoneNo1 > BAHAHAHGAGAGHA :wheeze: NAH NOT THE "BABE"

Hirooooo > ITS A JOKE IM JOKING NEM UGH

Hirooooo > as if you can say anything though. Always bein so gay n mushy with tako :eyeroll:

AnemoneNo1 > homophobia? in possibly the gayest groupchat in splatsville? its more likely than youd think

Hirooooo > girl me and V are literally both transgender

AnemoneNo1 > ur transmasc and she’s transfemme technically ur still het

Hirooooo > BRUH,

TakoTruck > Nem, chill. Also, are you still meeting me to see me off at the station?

AnemoneNo1 > yep!! see you there n stay safe!!!

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck left the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 left the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> C4L4LM4R left the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> Hirooooo left the chatroom.

[ Webmaster ]> VeronIKA left the chatroom.

-

She should’ve seen them coming. Or heard them, at the very least - Dynamo Rollers aren’t exactly the quietest weapons. Either way, Anemone wasn’t given much time to think.

The enemy Dynamo swam up to her deceptively quick, his movement hidden under the chaos of the fight in the middle of the battlefield. As he raised his weapon, Anemone noticed and raised hers, but it was too late - she was soon splatted.

Or rather, she should’ve been splatted.

Instead, a sickeningly wet crunch echoed around the field as the wrong part of the roller - the metal connecting rod - connected with the small of Anemone’s back. She was sent flying, her own Dynamo skidding across the ground, metal sparking against concrete. Once her body stopped rolling, there was a lull in the chaos - and then she screamed in agony. 

Everyone froze, even those in the stands watching the match going silent as Anemone writhed in pain on the concrete. 

Tako immediately dropped her Hydra with a heavy clunk , sprinting to her. Veronika and Calamar also ran over, abandoning their weapons in favour of helping their teammate. Tako got there first, hovering over Anemone and holding her by the shoulders.

“Anemone - Nem, please , you have to stay still-” The octoling tried to keep her from moving too much, tears in her eyes. “You have to stay still until the medics arrive, okay? You gotta , we don’t know how bad you got hurt-”

“Cartilage break.” Calamar said vacantly. “There was a crunch, right? Inkling bodies only have hard cartilage in their back to act as a spine-”

Veronika quickly hushed them. “ Calamar! ” She hissed, glancing around and seeing a commotion near the stands. “Cal, please, I know you only mean to help, but right now we need to focus on Anemone, okay? She needs the medics - can you go and see if they’re on their way?”

They blinked, flinching slightly as if broken from a trance. “R-right. Yeah. I can go get the medics.” And then they quickly bolted off, trying to wave down one of the camera drones and yelling something. Veronika saw the other team hover around nearby, looking worried and murmuring. 

One of the octolings on the team - the captain, she presumed, since they all seemed to centre themselves around him - confronted the inkling holding their Dynamo, shouting something and shoving them harshly. 

“What the fuck is your problem, dude?! You know that’s an illegal roller move!” He jabbed a finger into their shoulder, making them stumble back a little under the weight of their weapon. “You think you’re staying on the team after this? You’d be fucking lucky if Grizzco hires you-”

One of the other octolings - wearing a colourful shirt and blacked-out glasses - jogged over to Veronika, looking shaken. “Oh my Cod, I’m so sorry - we didn’t think he’d do this in a match, I swear,” She glanced back towards her team. “He’s had anger problems like this before, but it was usually just him getting mad and leaving the match - I didn’t think he’d - that he’d-” She looked like she was about to cry, tears threatening to spill as she clutched at her tentacles.

“Hey, no, it’s-” It’s not fine Veronika it's the furthest thing from fine- “She’s gonna be okay, yeah? She’s a tough squid, she’ll be back on the turf scene before you know it!”

Her words seemed to calm the octoling down somewhat. “Y-you think so?”

“I know so. I promise.” I hope so. I really really fucking hope so.

The young girl nodded, swallowing and wiping her eyes. “Okay. Cod, I hope she’s fine. That sound…”

The sound replayed in Veronika’s mind. That horrid, wet crunching of cartilage when the Dynamo connected, the harsh scraping of Anemone’s Dynamo as it skidded on the concrete, her agonised scream when she hit the ground… Veronika began to feel queasy, but she pushed it down. She had to focus.

“ Make way! Everyone make way! ”

Both girls spun around to see a shark and a lionfish in paramedic uniforms jogging over, carrying bags of equipment. They made their way over to Anemone, who was sobbing on the ground and crying about something to Tako and holding her hand like a lifeline, and knelt down next to the two young girls.

“Ma’am, please move away, we need space to work,” The lionfish gently tried to shoo Tako away. “I know you’re stressed, but we can’t work properly if we’re crowded.”

“But-”

“I promise you we’ll do our best to help her, miss. Okay?”

Tako looked conflicted, clenching her hands. She took a deep breath and let it out, nodding. “Okay.” Her tentacles began to pale slightly at the ends, an anxious sickly-green beginning to speckle the tips. “Please help her. Please.”

The lionfish paramedic nodded, before turning around to help his coworker. 

“Hey, squiddo, how you holding up?” The shark said, trying to brighten the mood. He only got sobs in response, words inaudible through her pained crying. “We need to ask some questions real quick, okay? My name’s Jackie, what’s yours?”

“A-Anemone,” She said, voice wavering. “Everyone calls me Nem though.”

“Okay Anemone, my friend Nox over there is gonna stabilise your head real quick, alright? We want to make sure you don’t have any other injuries.”

“Mhm. W-where’s Tako?”

“Tako?” Jackie said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a pair of gloves to cover his hands. Nox pulled out a stiff plastic collar and gently began securing it around her neck, clicking the locks into place. 

“My, um, my girlfriend. She’s real pretty, curly tentacles an’ everything.” Anemone sniffled, smiling slightly. “Real strong, too.”

“I bet! Anyone who can use a Hydra is strong, I think.” He hovered his hands over her stomach. “I need to lift your sweater real quick to see what’s happening, is that okay?”

“Yeah, g-go ahead.”

Nox held up a small flashlight, checking her eyes as Jackie busied himself with checking Anemone’s stomach, gently pressing at different points and asking if anything hurt when he pressed. She said no each time, explaining that the pain was mostly on her back and that it felt like she was laying on gravel. The shark glanced up at his partner, nodding silently. 

“Hey kiddo, I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to wiggle your toes as much as possible, like you’ve got a pebble or a mad itch in there, yeah?” Jackie squeezed the toes of her trainers, glancing anxiously at Nox. “Need you to be a wiggly lil’ squid for us, okay?”

“It - my back hurts, though-”

“Just your toes, okay? Nothin’ else, we just need to check, alright?”

Anemone let out a sob, but she nodded, and tried to wiggle her toes like he’d asked.

There was a small lull in the commotion, and then…

Jackie let out a sigh of relief, looking at Nox. “She can move her toes. That’s good, okay? You’re gonna pull through this, Anemone.”

“I am?”

“Yeah! Look at you, lugging around a Dynamo every match! Don’t know many people who can do that, y’know.” He winked. “Anemone, you allergic to any medications we need to know about?”

“Uh, not that I know about? I don’t think I am.”

“Okay. My buddy Nox is gonna give you some painkillers, okay? He’s gonna put a mask on your face, and you need to take nice deep breaths for us, alright?” Jackie smiled kindly. “It’s gonna help you feel better while we get you to the hospital, okay?”

“Okay-” Anemone started, before her eyes widened. “Wait, my uncle! I need to tell him-”

“Once you’re all checked in, the nice guys at the hospital are gonna phone him, okay? They’ll let him know what happened and where you are, and he might be able to visit you if you don’t need any big work done, alright?

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Nox held up the mask over her face. “Anything you wanna say to your friends before I put this on? Gonna be hard to talk once it’s there.”

“Y-yeah! Um,” Anemone’s face flushed. “Can Tako come with me? Please? Hospitals freak me out real bad.”

The lionfish smiled kindly, looking at Jackie. “Yeah, we can make some room for her. She can ride in the back with you and me, sounds good?”

Anemone smiled, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Yeah. Thanks, Mister Nox.”

And with that, she was soon shifted onto a stretcher and carried out of the arena, Tako following close behind. Veronika finally managed to stop staring once they left, turning back around to face the octoling and Calamar, who had returned at some point but hadn’t been noticed. Behind them, two burly security guards - a pufferfish and a crab - were confronting the inkling who had hit Anemone in the first place.

He was yelling at them, insisting that it was her fault she hadn’t moved out the way, getting up in the guards’ faces and trying to shove them. After a few minutes of arguing, they simply reached under his arms and held him tight, his legs kicking widely in the air. Even turning into swim form didn’t do anything - now he was just a small squid being carried out by his tentacles. The captain of the team, in a grey hoodie, and their third teammate, another inkling in a white leather jacket, walked over looking apologetic.

“Veronika, right?” Said the team captain, sticking his hand out to shake.. “My name’s Bubs. I’m real fuckin’ sorry my pal over there did that to your friend. I should’a caught his behaviour in practise matches…” Bubs shook his head. “I hope she recovers well. She was a real beast in that match, before… y’know.”

Veronika nodded, shaking his hand. “Yeah. I don’t know how she manages to lug that thing around all the time, it weighs like a ton…” She let out an anxious laugh. “Sorry that all… this happened.”

“Nah, I should be the one sayin’ sorry. That guy completely lost his shell, for some reason, and I wish I caught it sooner.” Bubs sighed, smoothing his tentacles back. “There’s no way he’s gonna be gettin’ on any teams after this.”

“Yeah…”

An awkward silence. Bubs coughed, breaking the tension. “Hey, if it’s worth anythin’... It’d be nice to practise with you guys sometime. Here, my splashtag. Feel free to get in touch if you need anythin’, a’ight?” He reached into a pocket, holding out a card and handing it to her.

Veronika nodded, taking it. “... Thanks, really. For sticking around instead of, y’know, leaving. I appreciate it, really.”

Bubs nodded, smiling at her before gesturing to his teammates. “C’mon, you guys. Officials probably want a statement from us or somethin’. See you ‘round, Veronika.”

“See you around.” She returned, waving goodbye with a smile.

Calamar walked up to her, fiddling with the hem of their shirt. “I got the paramedics.” They said, looking at the ground. “You don’t look so good. You should sit down or something.”

Veronika nodded. She felt sick, a weird nauseating pressure just below her pounding hearts. “Sitting down sounds good.” She took a deep, shaky breath, pulling out her phone. “I’m… I’m gonna text Hiro, tell him what happened.”

“Okay.” They shuffled their feet. “... Do you want to get snacks before going home? Drinking something might help if you feel ill.”

“Yeah. Yeah, snacks… snacks are sounding pretty good right now. Thanks, Cal.”

“Mhm.” Calamar looked back at the turf arena. The ink was already disappearing, the colours on both sides being consumed by the ink-eating microbes in the air now that it wasn’t being reapplied constantly.

Except for a small patch of ink next to Anemone’s Golden Dynamo, coral red and glistening on the metal.

-

“ How’s she doing? ” Said Hiro’s voice, sounding tinny through the speaker of Tako’s phone. “ V told me everythin’ that happened. ”

“She…” Tako looked at Anemone, unconscious in the hospital bed. Her uncle - a gangly, thin inkling with lilac tentacles, messily cut like Anemone’s - sat snoozing in the chair next to it, snoring lightly. “She’s doing better. The doctors said it was a clean break, at least. So it should heal quicker.”

“ Hopefully. ”

“... Yeah, hopefully. They, um… They also said that usually after injuries like this, people can’t use heavy weapons. She-” Tako took a shuddering breath, squeezing her arm with her free hand. “Nem loves that Dynamo, Hiro. She’ll be devastated.”

“ I’d rather she not be able to use a Dynamo than her legs, though. She was real lucky that the guy didn’t hit her any lower than he did. ” Even over the phone, Tako could hear the venom in his voice. 

“Yeah.” Was all she said. “Sorry, I’m - I’m trying to distract myself. Her uncle’s here but he’s asleep, so I can’t talk with him, and I don’t want to fall back into… into bad habits, you know? My moms would be pissed if they found out that was happening again. And…” Tako lowered her voice. “I don’t want my little sister to catch me doing that again, man. It broke her heart when she saw me the first time, I can’t put her through that.”

“ Yeah, I get you. Well, hey, you know you got me and the others to talk to, yeah? ” Hiro tried to cheer her up. “ I heard from V that Cal’s pretty good at keeping people grounded. They’re a blunt kinda person, y’know? But in a good way. You might get on pretty good with them, actually. ”

Tako hummed, nodding to no-one in particular. “Yeah. I’ll keep it in mind, might message them sometime.” She took a deep breath, looking at the clock. “Listen, it’s late, I don’t want to keep you. Tell Veronika I said hi, okay?”

“ Sure thing, Tako. Text or call if anythin’ new happens with Nem, yeah? ”

“Of course. See you, Hiro.”

-

“Oh.”

The word hung in the silence. The only other sounds were from the rest of the hospital, of patients and doctors and visitors going about their business.

In the hospital room sat Tako, Anemone, Anemone’s uncle, and a doctor and a nurse holding a clipboard. All of them were silent after the doctor told Anemone the news.

She scrunched her fists in the hospital bed sheet. “So… will I still be able to play Turf War and stuff?”

The nurse nodded. She’s a kind-looking rainbow trout, her scales glistening just below the collar of her scrubs. “You will, but you won’t be able to use any heavy weapons, like Dynamo Rollers or Splatlings. You’d risk re-breaking the cartilage and causing more damage, even after fully healing.”

“Right.” Anemone took a deep breath. “How about, um, short-term stuff? Walking around and stuff like that?”

“Once the cartilage is healed enough to support weight, you’ll be able to move around with a wheelchair, or crutches if you prefer. You’ll also have to wear a brace to keep things aligned while everything heals.”

“... I think I’d prefer crutches. My uncle’s apartment isn’t kitted out for chairs, it’s too small.”

The doctor, a yellow eel with dark brown spots, piped up next. “All things considered, this could’ve been much worse. The broken cartilage was dangerously close to puncturing your inner ink sac, and you would’ve haemorrhaged too quickly to treat.”

Another silence, tense with what could’ve been. Tako tried not to think about the possibilities, and Anemone’s uncle clenched his jaw so tight he almost broke his beak.

“O-okay.” Anemone managed. She was, quite understandably, shaken by the possibility that she might have died a very painful death. She’d heard the stories about one man, years ago, who hadn’t been so lucky and had bled to death before the medics could even get onto the turf arena.

“Is there anything else we need to know?” Her uncle asked, chewing on his lip. His tentacles had shifted from lilac to a dark, bruise-purple colour.

“She might be in the hospital for about four or five weeks, and then physical therapy to ensure she can still use her legs. Then, if all goes well…” The nurse looked at something on the clipboard. “She can hopefully be discharged, with prescription medication if she needs it.”

He nodded. “Alright. But you’re a tough lil’ squid cracker, right, Nemmie?” He gently nudged her in the shoulder, a faint smile on his face.

It got a laugh out of Anemone, at least. “Yeah. I’ll be back on the Turf scene before you know it!” She looked guiltily towards Tako, hovering next to the window. “I still feel bad about the others, though.”

Tako smiled kindly at her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Veronika and Hiro can help Cal catch up with us. We'll get by.” 

The doctor clapped his fins together. “Alright, I think that’s it for now. Please, call a nurse if any of you need anything. And just to remind you all, visiting hours end at five this afternoon.”

Anemone’s uncle nods. “Thanks, we will.”

And then the doctor and nurse left, leaving the three of them in the room. Tako let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“I think that’s about as good as this situation can be, if I’m gonna be honest. Still, I rather it hadn’t happened at all. Tako, do you know if they ever did anything with the guy?” Anemone’s uncle asked.

She shrugged. “Veronika says that he’s been banned for life and barred from joining any teams, sponsored or otherwise. Apparently there’s rumours that even Grizzco won’t hire him.”

He hummed. “Me and my team will keep an eye out for him.”

“Uncle Peri-” Anemone began to protest.

“I’m not sayin’ we’re gonna beat the kid up! Just…” Peri made a so-so gesture with a hand. “ Maybe he might not be able to find all his gear if he ends up doing shifts. Might find himself with a shitty weapon now and then, y’know?”

Anemone sighed. “Promise you won’t get physical, okay?”

“I promise.”

“Make your boyfriend Scrap promise too!” She pointed a finger at him accusingly.

“.... I’ll try to make him promise.” Peri shrugged. “Best I can do, you know how he is.”

“Yeah, I do. That’s why I’m asking.”

Peri chuckled. “Still got that pep, huh? That’s my girl.” He took a deep breath and let it out, rubbing his hands. “I need to find a bathroom. Gonna find a nurse though, this place is like a freakin’ maze… Tako, keep her company, yeah?”

Tako nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that, kid. Please, just call me Peri.”

Her face warmed a little. “Okay.”

Peri winked at Anemone. “Back in a sec, you two.” Then he left as well, waving down a nurse walking past and asking where the bathrooms were before walking off to find them.

“And then there were two.” Tako sighed. “Hey, are you doing okay? The doctor dropped some pretty heavy news back there.”

“Yeah, I’m trying not to think about that part. Mostly I just want to get better, these sheets are itchy as hell.”

Tako snickered a little. “Yeah, they’re terrible. You get used to them after a while though, and then normal sheets feel weird.”

“Ugh, horrible.” Anemone made a face. “I want my comfy bed so bad right now…”

“You think I could sneak one of your plushies in next time I visit?”

“I mean, didn’t your moms train you as a kid? They’re ex-military, they probably taught you some crazy cool shit, right?”

“Pfft, yeah. Only how to defend myself though, they didn’t teach me any octarian military secret techniques or whatever, even if they were elites back in their day.” She shook her head fondly. “They’ll wanna visit one of the days. Hope you’re okay with a bunch of home-made food.”

“Are you crazy? Babe, you know that hospital food sucks major ass. Of course I’m gonna want your moms’ food.”

Chapter Text

Veronika grunted as she stretched, her arms aching. She and Hiro had just finished their last Grizzco shift for the day, and they were ready to leave and have something hot and tasty for dinner - Maybe noodles from Jan’s place again, Veronika thought, glancing over at Hiro. He was digging through his bag for his jacket, pulling out the camo-patterned hoodie he had brought with him.

“Hey, do you have a spare hair tie?” He asked, pulling his arms through the sleeves. “I wanna get my tentacles out the way for a bit, been bothering me all day…”

“Oh, sure!” She rummaged in her pocket, pulling out a plain black band. “Here you go. What’s the plan now? Food?”

“Yep,” Hiro held the band in his beak as he pulled his two front tentacles back, wrapping them and holding them with a hand as he used the other to tie them together. “There’s no way in hell that we’re cooking, I’m knackered. I feel like my arms are gonna pop off and crawl into a sewer…”

“Jan’s?”

“Duh,” He smiled. “She’ll probably give us another takeout box for Nem again, knowing her.”

Veronika snorted. “At least she isn’t going hungry.”

“True.” Hiro finished up, tentacles tied, and reached for his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

-

“Another rough shift?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe , Jan,” Hiro sighed dramatically, plopping onto one of the stools. He raised a hand to his forehead as if plagued by a fever, mock-despair on his face. “Simply terrible. Horrendous. Never again will I partake in a shift at Grizzco…”

The elderly inkling simply laughed. “Oh, I understand. You young’uns have such a tiring life, having fun in Turf and making money. How could an old squid like me ever begin to understand?”

Hiro winked playfully. “We’ll have the usual, please.” He glanced around the small shop, noting that there were only a couple other inkfish there, one of which was doing homework, papers scattered over the table. “Had a busy day?”

“Oh, the occasional customer here and there, the usual. But don’t worry too much about what I’m doing, dear; how is Annie’s recovery going?”

“Last we heard, pretty well. She can sit up and her back doesn’t hurt as much as it did at first,” Veronika sat down, leaning on the counter. “But she’s still bummed that she won’t be able to use her Dynamo anymore.”

“Yes, I can imagine…” Jan sighed. “Has she ever told you how she got it?”

“I don’t think she has?” She looked over at Hiro, who shook his head. “No, she’s never told us.”

A sad smile showed itself on Jan’s wrinkled face. “Mm, I imagined she wouldn’t have, not just yet, anyway. It took her at least a good few years before she told Tako , you know. But don’t force it from her - let her tell you in her own time, okay?”

Veronika nodded. She knew how important it was to not force things. She watched as Jan busied herself with making their orders - tempura ramen for her, spicy chicken for Hiro - and then remembered what she wanted to mention. “Oh, by the way, Jan- we’re going to visit Nem at the hospital again after this. Do you want us to take any food up to her?”

“Ooh, thank you for reminding me!” Jan said, perking up from the boiling water where the noodles were cooking. “I have some prawn toast on the go that I think she’d like - goodness knows how bland that terrible hospital food is. It was bad the last time I was there, and I doubt much has changed…” She chuckled, shaking the metal basket of noodles. 

“Yeah, it’s the only complaint she has about the place,” Hiro joined in dryly. “That and the bedsheets, apparently.”

“Oh yes, terrible terrible bedsheets…” Jan shook her head as she pulled the basket free and shook it, before using a pair of long chopsticks to separate the noodles into two batches, pulling them into a bowl each. “It’s like they make the things out of the itchiest material known to inkfish-kind…” The broth came next, ladled out from a different vat. Hiro’s bowl was topped with veggies, slices of chicken, and a healthy dose of scarlet-coloured chilli oil, while Veronika’s was topped with the tempura prawns, a boiled egg sliced in half, and veggies. Jan slid a small side bowl filled with kimchi over to her as well with a wink. “Here you go, dears, freshly made as always! Enjoy your food!”

It was then that another person came into the small restaurant, the bell on the door ringing to announce their arrival. Veronika paused, her chopsticks ready to pick up half an egg, and turned around to look.

An inkling, with vibrant hot-pink tentacles that draped down each side of her face, and wearing a gaudy horned helm decorated with stickers and tassels. She wore green glasses, matching her basketball jersey - for the Umibozu team, Veronika noted - and a pair of black patterned boots that fell heavily on the floor. She looked lanky and slightly skinny, a little hard to tell with the way she was slouching, but something about her rang a bell in Veronika’s mind.

Veronika wracked her brain, trying to think as to why this inkling seemed familiar, and then it hit her - she’d been at the Ribbon Festival a while back, the one who had been talking to Tako and Nem. 

Hiro nudged her discreetly as the inkling went to sit at the counter a few seats away. “Hey, we saw her at the festival, right? With that pompadour octoling. Small world, huh?”

“Yeah…” Veronika hummed, going back to her food as Jan went over to ask for her order. Using her chopsticks to pick up half her egg, she popped it into her mouth, savouring the taste of the jammy yolk. “She was talking with Nem and Tako, and Cal was there too.”

The octoling glanced over to the pink inkling, then back at Veronika. “You think we should recruit her to our team?”

“If you want, but we haven’t seen how she does in Turf,” Veronika shrugged. “Your turn if you do, though, I recruited Cal.” She smiled as she slurped up a wad of noodles, wiggling happily in her seat at the taste.

Hiro rolled his eyes playfully. “Alright then. But after I eat, though, I’m starving.”

It was pleasantly quiet in the restaurant, the only noise coming from the cookers and the hustle-and-bustle of the streets outside, and occasionally the slurping of noodles. Veronika noted that the other inkling had ordered a bowl of ramen with extra pieces of salmon, almost completely covering up the noodles, but she had eaten it voraciously and now sat scrolling on her phone, the case cracked but decorated with stickers.

Veronika and Hiro had finished not long after, stacking their empty bowls and chopsticks for Jan to collect later on. He nudged Veronika with an elbow. “You go on, I’ll catch up.” Hiro whispered, then turned to get off his seat. She nodded, grabbing her bag and getting up to leave just as he began talking to the pink inkling.

Jan placed a small takeout box before her - the prawn toast for Anemone, she assumed - and waved goodbye. Veronika waved back and picked up the box, hearing the bell above the door ring as she stepped outside. She took a deep breath of the outside air, stretching after having sat for a while, then looked around to get her bearings - from the restaurant, it shouldn’t take too long to get to the hospital, so she hefted her bag on her shoulder and started walking.

-

It only took her about fifteen minutes to get to the hospital, find the ward Anemone was on, and find the right room. When Veronika got there, though, she was surprised to find that Nem already had a visitor - three of them, in fact.

They were all octoling women, tall and obviously not shy, if the excited chatter between them and Anemone was anything to go by. One of them, with scarlet tentacles in a ponytail, spotted Veronika and waved her inside with a smile. Anemone herself was sitting up in her hospital bed, with the cabinet beside it crowded with books, a bouquet of flowers, and tubs of food both empty and full.

“Anemone, is this one of your friends?” The octoling asked, hand firmly on Veronika’s shoulder. “You said there were two coming to visit, right?”

“Yeah. Hiro’s probably on his way or something, I think.”

Veronika nodded. “He, uh, found someone he wanted to recruit to the team when we went out to eat. The girl that you and Tako were talking to at the festival, with the horn helmet, remember?”

Anemone hummed, thinking. “I… think so? I think I got a bit tipsy at that point. And Cal was there too, weren’t they? With one of their friends.”

“Yep. Me and Hiro don’t know who they were at the time, though. Or Cal’s friend…” Veronika turned to the red-tentacled octoling with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet - I’m Veronika, one of Nem’s friends. Are you guys… her family?”

One of the other women, with pale green tentacles and tan skin, chuckled quietly. “No, not quite. We’re Tako’s mothers.” She looked at the others. “Well, one of us is at home looking after the boys, but still. My name is Edama, this is Shichu-'' She gestured to the one who had greeted Veronika. “- and this is Kami.” Kami smiled gently and waved, staying quiet. 

“Nice to meet you!” Shichu grinned. “When Nem and Tako told us about how they’d made a couple of new friends, we got real excited! So it’s nice to finally meet you, Veronika. Thank you!”

“A-ah!” The inkling felt her face warm. “It’s okay! We were just really thankful that they helped us with that Salmon Run shift that one day, and that they wanted to form a team together with us…”

“Oh, Hiro’s here!” Anemone piped up, leaning forwards to see Hiro jogging down the hallway looking out of breath.

“I got her!” The octoling panted, rushing right past Shichu and the others and straight towards Veronika, grabbing her by the arms. “She said she’ll join! We've still got next Wednesday off, right?"

"Yeah? I think so-" 

" Great! I have her number, so I'll text her the deets when we get home, okay?" 

Veronika nodded, smiling at his enthusiasm. "Okay. But, uh… don't you think you're forgetting something?" She gestured to Anemone. "We came here to visit Nem, remember?" 

Hiro froze, realising, then slowly turned around to face the others in the room. "Oh! Haha, sorry, I… didn't notice you guys…”

Shichu laughed, waving a hand. “Don’t worry about it, kid, I get it. Nem’s probably tired of seeing us lot - better for her to see her friends, eh?” She nodded towards the takeout box in Veronika’s hand. “Is that more food from Jan?”

“Ah, yeah!” The inkling jolted, then turned to Anemone and handed her the box. “Prawn toast!”

The purple inkling sighed, chuckling. “If I keep getting food like this, my uncle’s gonna have to roll me out the hospital… Thanks, V!” She set it down on the growing stack of takeout boxes on her bedside table, but not before taking out a piece and nibbling some. 

It was then that a nurse walked by, noticing the small crowd in the room. She opened the door, leaning in with a frown. “Excuse me, only three visitors are allowed in a room. Some of you will have to leave, please - it’s hospital policy.” Then she left, the door clicking shut.

Edama sighed, standing up. “That’s our cue to go home, then. We should probably get home soon anyway. Konata’s missing us, I’d bet, and Tako too…”

Kami nodded. She quietly picked up her bag, sliding it onto her shoulder, and handed another bag to Shichu. “It was nice meeting you, Veronika, Hiro. Maybe one day Tako might invite you over…” The octoling hummed, then stepped to the door to open it. “Have a nice afternoon, you three.” Tako’s other mothers followed soon after, waving goodbye and wishing well to Anemone before stepping out the room and leaving.

Once they were gone, Nem turned to Hiro. “So! What’s this I hear about a newbie on the team?”

-

With a rattle of keys, Hiro and Veronika stumbled into their apartment, not bothering to turn the lights on.

“I’m tired ,” Hiro huffed, shuffling to take off his shoes. He slipped them off with a groan, not bothering to keep them tidy. “Ugh, we should’ve gotten home sooner…”

Behind him, Veronika did the same, her tentacles glowing slightly at the ends. She squinted slightly at him in the dark. “Yeah. But it was nice to see that Nem’s doing better each time we visit her.”

“Duh, of course it is. I didn’t say it wasn’t , nerd.” He snickered, trying to nudge her with an arm but missing and stumbling a little. “Dammit, I shoulda turned the light on…”

Veronika giggled, grabbing his hand. It was warm, the callouses rougher now, despite Hiro using moisturiser in an effort to soften them. She turned in the direction of the bedroom, tugging him along gently. “C’mon, let’s lie down.”

“O-oh, okay.” He stammered slightly. “Sure. Just don’t let me trip, alright?”

“Would never dream of it.”

She felt around for the door handle, pushing it open. Usually the soft glow of fairy lights strung around the window would have filled the room with multicoloured light, but they had been turned off to conserve the electricity while they were out. Veronika squeezed Hiro’s hand, squinting her eyes to see by the low light of the street lamps outside. The vague, shadowy shape of the bed was barely visible, but the blanket - messily piled up on one side of the bed after the two had woken up that morning - was the most visible part, so she began making her way to it.

Veronika sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Hiro towards her. “Here, mind your knees.” She leaned back to flick the switch on the small battery pack that powered the fairy lights, and faint colours lit up the room. Hiro sat next to her, giving her a nudge. 

“Hey, I need to take my binder off.” He said quietly, fiddling with the top button of his shirt. Veronika’s face warmed, and she scrunched her eyes shut and turned her face away. There was the shuffling of fabric, something stiff being tossed to some corner of the room, the mattress shifting as Hiro moved to grab a more loose-fitting shirt, then a tap on her arm. “I’m done. Come on, lie down.”

He crawled over to his side of the bed, getting comfy and pulling the blanket over him and holding it open for Veronika. She shuffled under the blanket too, cuddling up to him.

“I can hear your brain ticking over, V. What’s happening in there?” 

She was quiet for a moment. “Mostly just thinking about Anemone.”

“Yeah?” Hiro’s warm hand came over to hold her, his claws tickling her side a little. “Worried?”

“An understatement,” Veronika sighed. Her own arm came to rest over his side in return, the two inkfish holding each other under the blanket. “Just… I feel like I could’ve done something more, in the moment, I mean. I could’ve kept a better eye on that guy, could’ve warned her, could’ve done - anything , really. But…”

“But she’s still alive.” He countered. “She can still walk. Yeah, it’ll take a while for her to heal, but she’s not crippled for life or anything.”

“She won’t even be able to use her own weapon , Hiro.”

“Anemone’s adaptable. You’ve seen her fighting.”

“I know, but…” She trailed off, not wanting to think about what could’ve happened.

Hiro’s claws pressed into her skin slightly. “Hey, listen to me, okay?” He looked up at Veronika, seeing the sparkle off the lights in her eyes like stars. “She’ll pull through. I know she will. We all will, no matter what happens.”

Veronika looked at him, the guilty ache in her hearts lessening a little. “...Promise?”

“Promise.”

She saw the lights in Hiro’s eyes, too, glimmering and shifting everytime he blinked. “Okay.” She swallowed thickly. “Okay.”

And then a comfortable silence fell over them, the muffled sounds of nighttime traffic coming from the window. Hiro was warm in her arms, and she could feel the smaller suckers on the underside of his tentacles sticking to her collarbone. He might not have said anything, but she knew he was just as worried as Veronika was. She sighed, holding him closer - one of his tentacles began to wrap around her non-braided tentacle, specks of yellow dotting the tip. 

“Hey,” Veronika started, her face warming slightly. “Is it okay to kiss you, please?”

She felt Hiro smile against her as he looked up at her again. “Sure.”

Veronika moved the arm that was around his waist up to cup his cheek, closed her eyes, and leant down to kiss Hiro.

It was different, now that she didn’t have the slight fuzziness of alcohol over her mind. She felt her nose bump into Hiro’s, felt his lips quirk upwards into a smirk, and the puff of air from his nose as he held in a laugh at her slight blunder. His hand came up to steady her, firmly but gently pulling her in as their lips connected.

His lips were chapped, she noticed. She never saw Hiro using chapstick - “Feels too much like lipgloss, and I left all that behind ages ago” , Veronika remembered him saying when she had asked one day - so it made sense that they would be flaky, the skin peeling in patches here and there. Her own were no better - she didn’t like the feeling of it, so she never used it.

Hiro pulled away after a short while, a soft smile on his face. “Good?”

Veronika nodded, her face feeling like she could cook an egg on it. “Y-yeah. Better when I’m, um, sober.”

He chuckled at that, orange-blue eyes scrunching shut. “Thought so. You’re a terrible kisser, though.”

“I-” She felt her brain blank at the way he said it so plainly. “I am?”

“Yep. Do you… want to practise?”

Veronika nodded. “Please. U-um, if it’s okay, I mean.”

“Of course. C’mere…”

-

Stephanie quietly shut the front door behind her, twisting the lock before it clunked back into place.

As silently as possible, she stepped over the boxes in the hallway, carefully making sure she didn’t knock anything over with her boots. She held her bag in her arm so the zippers didn’t jingle, and she peered into the living room though the half-open door.

Inside, asleep on the sofa, were her parents. Her father, a squid with short, muted-blue tentacles, was snoring loudly, the TV barely audible. Her mother was propped against the arm of the sofa, a nearly-empty bottle of sea-grape wine in one hand and a glass in the other. Stephanie let out a quiet sigh of relief - no yelling tonight, hopefully.

She snuck over to the stairs, gently slipping her boots off and holding them in her other hand, before creeping up the stairs as close to the wall as possible. None of the steps creaked, thank Cod, and she stayed close to the walls as she made her way past more boxes to her room.

The door didn’t make a noise when she opened it just enough to squeeze through. Stephanie gently set her bag down by her bed, and her boots by the door to keep it closed. Carefully, she sat on her bed - she didn’t dare turn her bedroom light on, or her phone torch. Instead, she slipped it under the mattress, close to the edge so she could easily grab it if she needed to. 

Stephanie looked out the window, the glaring light of the city in the distance just visible. She took a deep breath - the ever-present musty smell of the house filling her nostrils - and she laid down on top of her blankets to sleep.

Tomorrow, she would have an early start - just like any other day in her life.

-

[ Webmaster ]> TakoTruck joined the chatroom.

TakoTruck > Hey, Nem.

TakoTruck > Are you awake? I know it’s late, but I know what you’re like.

[ Webmaster ]> AnemoneNo1 joined the chatroom.

AnemoneNo1 > yeah, im awake

AnemoneNo1 > whats up?

TakoTruck > Nothing much. Just wanted to talk.

TakoTruck > You know how it is. Don’t want to talk to my mamas and my sibs are asleep.

TakoTruck > Plus, I wasn’t able to visit you today. Sorry about that.

AnemoneNo1 > dont worry about it! it was pretty crowded in there anyway with your moms and hiro and veronika in there

TakoTruck > Mm

AnemoneNo1 > wow, no punctuation? are you okay? who are you and what did you do to my girlfriend?

AnemoneNo1 > …Tako?

TakoTruck > Im fine

AnemoneNo1 > obviously not, if youre talking like that.

TakoTruck > Sorry

TakoTruck > I should go to bed anyway. Its late

AnemoneNo1 > hey, im serious. whats wrong??

TakoTruck > .

TakoTruck > Trying to distract myself

AnemoneNo1 > oh.

TakoTruck > sorry

AnemoneNo1 > no no no, its okay! id rather you talk to me to be honest

AnemoneNo1 > what do you wanna talk about? whats on your mind?

TakoTruck > A lot of things really

AnemoneNo1 > break it down, then. one at a time

AnemoneNo1 > you in your room?

TakoTruck > Yeah

AnemoneNo1 > okay, thats good

AnemoneNo1 > is there anything you want to talk about? did you hear that hiro found another person to add to the team?

TakoTruck > Yeah

TakoTruck > Her name’s Stephanie or something. The girl we met at the Ribbon Festival with Calamar and their friend.

AnemoneNo1 > yeah! cant wait to see her on the field! hiro said that she uses sloshing machine

TakoTruck > Really?

TakoTruck > …Hm.

TakoTruck > That’s a popular one at the moment in the Anarchy scene.

AnemoneNo1 > really?

TakoTruck > Mhm. The vanilla kit, anyway. Right up there with Splattershot and some others.

AnemoneNo1 > wow, thats nuts

AnemoneNo1 > tell me more!

Alone in her room, Tako smiled slightly. Trust Nem to listen to her ramblings about weapons any time of day. It was part of what had sparked her attraction to the inkling in the first place after all - most other people got bored or annoyed after a while, leaving her to wring her hands by herself. Anemone listening to her rambles had Tako falling for her hard , and then she was left wringing her hands for a completely different reason altogether - something her mothers had gently teased her about until she had confessed to Anemone one muggy summer night as thunder had rumbled over Splatsville.

She shook her head fondly, looking at her phone, then her thumbs flew across her phone keyboard as she began telling her girlfriend about the various ways the Sloshing Machine could be used in a variety of competitive matches, and how the kit synergised well, and how long the line was outside of Sheldon’s was when the weapon became popular, and- 

And as she lost herself in her conversation with Anemone, she soon forgot the reason she had messaged her in the first place, and had drifted away into a deep sleep with her phone still in her hand.

AnemoneNo1 > tako? babe?

AnemoneNo1 > ah, you fell asleep, didnt you?

AnemoneNo1 > then my work here is done!! gn babe! if you wanna come visit me sometime soon, can you swing by my uncle’s and pick up a couple things pls?

-

Calamar tiptoed to the kitchen, the tiles cold under their feet. They carefully took a glass from the drying rack by the sink, and turned the tap on ever so slightly to fill it, tilting the glass so it didn’t slosh around and make noise.

In the living room, they could hear their mom listening to the TV, the volume turned low. They crept through the door, and saw her asleep, snoring slightly. 

They set the glass down on the coffee table, going over to her. Her hand was open a little, and they saw something shining in her palm - a ring, identical to the one on her finger. Calamar felt something in their chest twist at the sight. It was their father’s ring, the one made by their mother when Calamar’s parents had proposed to each other. 

A story well-known to them by now; apparently it had been a nice summer evening, the air cool and clear, the sun setting in the distance, and their mother told them that as she had knelt down to offer the ring, their father had done the same. They had laughed until their lungs hurt, she had told them, and it had been the most memorable night of their relationship. Calamar had come along not long after their wedding, a small bright blue blob of ink and tentacles, the most beloved gift the world could’ve given them.

Calamar - the present Calamar, quiet and reserved but deadly with their charger - tensed their jaw. Gently, they nudged their mother to wake her up. 

“Ma,” They whispered, scared to talk any louder. “Ma, you fell asleep on the couch again.”

A few nudges later, her eyes fluttered open, bleary and tired. “Oh- Calamar, sweetie…” She closed her hand over the ring, hiding from sight. “Sorry. Did the TV wake you up?”

Calamar shook their head, pointing to the glass of water on the table. “Wanted a drink.”

“Oh, I see...”

A moment of quiet. She reached over for the remote, and turned the TV off, leaving the two in the dark. 

Calamar spoke up. “Were you thinking about dad again?”

A soft exhale from their mother. “You’re scarily good at that, sweetie. Yes, I was thinking about him again. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. But you’re gonna have a bad neck in the morning again.”

She let out a quiet chuckle. “Yeah. Come on, let’s both get to bed, okay? I’ll see you in the morning, Calamar.”

And with that, their mother sat up and left the room, silently walking into her bedroom.

Calamar followed not long after, carrying their glass of water into their room and setting it on the bedside table. They sat on the side of their bed and took a long sip, the cool water spreading a soothing sensation inside them, then put the glass back on the bedside, shuffling back under their blanket. 

They stared out the window of their room, the city lights shedding shards of orange and blue-white onto their bedroom walls. Calamar couldn’t see the stars - the light pollution was to thank for that - but they knew the pinpricks of light were there.

Perhaps, they thought, as sleep began to swallow them up, perhaps their father was somewhere there too.