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A tired hum slips from Aloha, her fatigued legs carrying her towards the locker room . The adrenaline from turfing that helped to keep his high energy was slowly wearing down, leaving her to feel quite sluggish. She wanted nothing more than to head home and sink into the comforts of his soft bed he was so tired.
With a lazy yawn, he entered the locker room, running on autopilot to his locker. It wasn’t too hard to find, since it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the many other ones lining the room. The locker in question was her signature pink, and the door of it looked like someone had vomited stickers across it. The decorations were of various things, ranging from brands that Aloha wore, to random shapes that the firefly squid had picked out whenever visiting the general store. He had a knack for collecting stickers he definitely did not need to slap onto his locker.
Reaching the locker, she quickly put in the number combination to open it up, before propping her weapon up onto one of his Takaroka shoeboxes that he kept in there. The mirror on the inside door caught Aloha’s eye from the corner of it as she leaned back up, and he narrowed his eyes at his reflection staring back at him. His gaze flicked up, noticing that the way he parted her tentacles was just slightly messy after his last match.
Ugh. Fuckin’ fantastic.
With hands reaching up to remove his visor and temporarily set it on one of the metal shelves in his locker, she moves her hands to toy with his bang. His lips purse, pink tongue unconsciously sticking out as her eyebrows furrow with concentration as well. It takes some fiddling to get his tentacles back into position, and by the time he does, her shoulders slump in defeat upon realization that he has to redo the tie holding up his tentacles as well.
He can hear different inkfish come and go as she spends several minutes practically playing with her tentacles, before one in particular catches his eye, the cyan flashing behind him in the mirror. The sight makes Aloha practically perk up instantly, any previous annoyance and fatigue seemingly forgotten with the new presence in the almost empty locker room. He quickly ties his tentacles back up before spinning to divert her attention to the cyan sharkling a few lockers away.
Mask had their locker open already, rummaging through it. He was slumped over, probably stashing his carbon roller, similar to what Aloha had been doing prior, since most matches that had still been running had been finished for the day.
It didn’t occur to Aloha that she had in fact been staring until Mask shut their locker door, before turning to stare back. He had a brow raised, his droopy eyes narrowed slightly through the lenses of their namesake.
“What do you want.”
The characteristic tone Mask asks the question naturally makes Aloha giggle silently to herself. Hearing the other’s voice always made something in the pink inkling’s chest constrict. She didn’t quite have a word to describe the feeling, but she knew how elated it made him feel.
“Nothing actually, just felt like staring~” She could see how Mask’s eyes narrowed more. They did that whenever he didn’t quite buy what Aloha was saying, which happened more often than not whenever the two talked.
“That’s a load of crap. You got that same look in your eyes as when you’re plotting something.”
Did she have a look in her eyes? Aloha turned back to the mirror, glancing over her expression real quick. His pink eyes looked the same as ever, so he turned back to Mask with an incredulous look.
“I don’t got any look in my eyes.”
“Yes you doooo.”
“Nuh uh!”
Mask clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes as Aloha argued back. “Whatever you say. But you’re wrong, you definitely have that same look.” The firefly squid stuck her tongue out at the sharkling, crossing her arms as he did.
“Well I think you’re just going crazy. Don’t you know that exhaustion makes you more prone to seeing things that aren’t real?” Aloha took a step forward, leaning into Mask’s space before giving a small tap on the front of the front of their gas mask. The small action made Mask recoil slightly, as if the pink inkling had burned him. “Maybe you’re the one that wants something!”
Mask scoffed, probably finding the accusation absolutely ridiculous. “Whatever, there’s nothing that I would want from you.” Aloha grinned, the same one that becomes practically plastered on her face whenever she gets to messing around with the sharkling like this. “Really? Absolutely nothing at all?” Mask nodded, and Aloha clicked her tongue, gaze darting to look at Mask’s tentacles.
“Are you sure, because you look like you got a serious case of bedhead or something.”
That must have struck some sort of a nerve with Mask, because immediately their hands shoot up to touch his tentacles. “I do not. You’re lying.”
“Do too, just look into a mirror!”
Mask then shouldered his way past the pink inkling, moving to look into the mirror on her locker door. To which Aloha muttered under her breath ‘didn’t fuckin’ mean mine’, before slinking behind the sharkling as well.
Mask was now squinting, huffing something under his breath as he ran their hands through the cyan ink. He was attempting, and failing to adjust his tentacles to his liking around the covering on his face, and Aloha could sense his growing frustration regarding it. The sight was almost pathetic to watch, and after a couple more heartbeats, she stepped in to intervene.
“Listen man, either you scram to use the shitty bathroom mirror, or you let me help you, because this is getting pretty pathetic to watch.”
It seems her comment didn’t land very well, because Mask turned to fix a heated glare directed straight at her. The sharkling’s shoulders hunching more, a trait that Aloha noticed the other did only when ticked off. “Why would I get help from you to fix my own tentacles?”
“Um… Because I’m letting you use my mirror in my locker?”
“…”
Mask maintained the glare he had locked onto Aloha for a while longer, but seeing as the firefly squid was not budging on her word, Mask sighed, grumbling and muttering some nonsensical swear under their breath.
“Fiiine.”
A stupidly big smile fought its way onto Aloha’s face as he shuffled behind Mask, bringing his hands up before pausing uncertainly. She frowned, and it seems Mask picked up on her hesitation as well, because they looked at him through the mirror.
“What is it now.”
“Your mask.”
Oh.
Mask seemed to mull it over for a bit, judging by the silence that hung tense in the air. It would be hard to fix Mask’s tentacles around the gas mask he wore. Aloha had rarely seen the sharkling remove it while in public spaces, but there wasn’t like there was really anyone else here this late, them having been the last two as everyone else had packed up to head home.
Aloha was risen from her thoughts as Mask reached his hands up to fiddle with the straps of his namesake, unclasping them to pull it off, brushing parts of his tentacles back as they threatened to flop down into his face. From Aloha’s view in the mirror, she could see the freckled parts of the sharkling’s eye mask much clearer, as well as the barely noticeable cyan that colored their cheeks. Aloha almost wanted to say that Mask looked pretty.
Almost.
“…Quit staring before I change my mind.”
Aloha blinked, her face feeling just a bit warmer than it had been moments prior. He clenched his jaw, but chose not to say anything.
With gentle hands, he brought his hands to each side of Mask’s head, before combing her fingers through their tentacles, pulling the ones that were loose back. Aloha can feel Mask stiffen at the initial touch, before easing into it, their eyes fluttering shut as they pick at the cotton of their sweater’s sleeves. Aloha’s fingers fiddled with the tentacles pulled into a ponytail, loosening them from the tie and letting them fall, taking note of how long they are as they sit on Mask’s shoulders.
“Your tentacles are long.” Aloha vocalizes the observation, not thinking much of it as it slips out. It’s just an observation after all, just like how she notices how fluffy Mask’s tentacles appear. It makes the other appear almost soft, despite their grouchy personality to contrast the appearance.
Mask hums softly, but otherwise does not respond to the comment. She can see the tips of Mask’s ears gain a slight cyan hue though. Aloha continues to softly touch the cyan tentacles. There’s something strangely intimate about this moment. It was sparingly rare where there was a moment where the two of them weren’t at odds with one another. Even at that, it was unheard of where the two shared such close proximity like this, let alone share physical contact.
Something about that fact had Aloha smiling gently. Only she was allowed to treat Mask this gently, despite all their arguments they shared. This was something reserved for the two of them, these tiny little shows of affection through actions. It was nice. It brought a sense of calm and stutter to his heart.
Aloha brings the longer tentacles back once more, pulling them back up, making sure not to pull them so tight that they cause a strain to Mask. Taking the tie that she had looped for makeshift holding around her wrist, Aloha brought it around the tentacles, tying them back into a more secure ponytail than had been made previously. He then ran his fingers back down through Mask’s loose tentacles, fluffing them back out where they fanned out behind his head.
Aloha took a moment to admire his handiwork, before speaking up.
“Finished!”
Mask seemed to be roused from whatever they had been thinking about. His eyes snapping back to the mirror to evaluate Aloha’s styling job. “Not too bad.” He brought a hand up to try to touch his tentacles, before Aloha grabbed his hand pushing it back down. “Don’t touch them, you’ll ruin all the work I just did!”
Mask turns to look at Aloha head on now, and oh she can almost count the freckles on his pale skin now. They dot across his face, painted around the corners of his eyes. She really wants to touch them for some reason. Mask feels like he’s burning under Aloha’s stare, all too aware of the pink inkling’s hand still holding his own as well. They don’t push him away though.
Aloha’s eyes dart down to Mask’s lips for a split second before looking off into some other corner of the locker room. He clears her throat. Mask catches the movement of her gaze, and he can feel his pulse quicken for whatever reason.
The room suddenly feels way too small, and Aloha can feel how Mask’s hand that she’s still holding heats up with embarrassment. She can see how they’re both leaning into each other’s spaces. When had they gotten so close?
Aloha feels like suffocating under the tension. It hangs heavy in the air, both of them not daring to move an inch or speak. She looks into Mask’s droopy eyes and she sees how they stare at her lips and that’s all the confirmation Aloha needs to press the extra inch forward, cutting through the tension.
Mask’s slightly chapped lips press against his own softly, almost as if the sharkling is afraid to feel more. Aloha brings a hand to gently cup the side of Mask’s face, the other locking onto his arm as she feels Mask’s hands hold onto his shoulders. There’s no sparks, or explosive feelings. There’s only a peaceful warmth that spreads through Aloha, so overwhelming that it makes his chest hurt.
They seperate only after a few moments, and their cheeks are both tinged with their respective colors. Aloha can see his pink seeping into the ends of Mask’s cyan tentacles, the ones that she had just been running her fingers through minutes prior. It makes her want to touch them again, just to have the excuse to.
After a few more moments of tense silence, Aloha breaks it.
“That was nice.”
The words are barely a whisper. She can see Mask purse his lips together, and he almost leans forward to kiss him again.
“Yeah.”
Aloha leans away, Mask doing the same, his hands retreating back into his own space. Aloha wants to say something more before the clock in the locker room catches his eye.
“Shit-! It’s past time the lobby closes, they're gonna beat our asses!”
Mask turns their head to glance at it as well, before grabbing his gas mask and moving to use Aloha’s mirror one final time to adjust it back onto his head, concealing his face once more. It causes Aloha to frown for a moment, especially since he can still taste Mask’s lips lingering.
“Thanks, by the way.”
Aloha’s gaze snaps back to the sharkling, seeing him looking back at her.
“Oh- oh yeah no problem I guess.”
Mask’s words catch him off guard, and Aloha can just imagine the stupid smirk that’s probably on his face now as he moves past the firefly squid, now leaving her alone in the locker room.
Aloha stares after Mask, wondering what the hell just happened. Whatever just occurred had a lot of new thoughts and previously unknown feelings whirling through his head, a lot of which he did not want to get into picking through in the middle of the locker room still.
“Fuckin’ hell.” She mutters, grabbing her previously forgotten visor from her locker, before finally shutting it and exiting the room.