Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter one

Inkopolis was quiet, the people chattered, the businesses thrived, but it was overall quiet

I find a bench near an alleyway and sigh in disappointment

I pull out my phone from my pocket, and check my messages, I only have 2 contacts, and one of them is a group chat I never check

I take a second to look at the screen, ‘S4 groupchat (and rider)’

“Ugh, weirdos” I roll my eyes, aloha was saying something zesty and army was questioning alohas wellbeing

I can't believe i ever wanted to be one of those dinguses…

I look at my other contact, I have him favorited … ‘Goggles <3’

If anyone ever saw i had added a heart to his name i would absolutely destroy them…

I don't really know why I had added that to his name, It was late at night… but i didn't want to take it off of his name…

I find myself blushing “Gah! N-no. No” I try to calm myself down, but i probably look like a mess “geez…”

I look at the last message he sent
‘I have practice tomorrow!! :)’ sent: yesterday

I wouldn't be able to see him much today then…WHICH WAS FINE ITS NOT LIKE I WANT TO SEE AN IDIOT LIKE HIM

“...” I sigh again

“Why do I want to see that idiot so bad…” I start to get up and do something useful or productive, or something like that…

I bet goggles doesn't even like me, I mean, usually I can be a total JERK to him…

I tried to recall the last time I tried to hit him with a dynamo, or told him to back off, to my surprise… it had been awhile

The last time we talked it was after a battle, he had won, like usual, but when his team was starting to walk away, he ran up to me… to congratulate me… Even though I had lost.

he said it didn't matter, the way he smiled at me before specs had yelled at him to come back…

That was 3 days ago, that text he sent was the last time we had communicated for those 3 days… and I didn't even respond…!

“See… you are a jerk…” I felt a tugging in my chest, a deep pain.

Soon after my chest hurt, so did my head

“Agh! W-what the…??!” My head had a sharp pain, before slightly subsiding, I head down the alleyway so the other people didn't see the scene I might've caused

I touch my face, It felt cold… weirdly cold, my vision started to fade, not into black or white… but to a bright cyan?

“Ugh… why am… I so dizzy…?” I take out my phone and go to the camera, I take a look at my face

I stare at it… in shock, my face… m-my eyes… the turquoise goo radiating on my head…

The phone flickers black before shutting off…

I drop it on the cold, dark, alleyway floor, before I also fall onto that same floor…

Authors notes:

Hi yall! Im back with a new fic, motivation, and a plan :D
New chapters every Saturday! ^^

Enjoy!! <3

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

I woke up a while ago. I have a team practice today!

I run off to the train station, adjusting my goggles, since they were a bit off center.

I hop onto the first train, I find a seat in the back, It was a little busy

The people seemed happy and lively, which makes me smile

I sit down, I gaze out the window as the train starts to head down the track, it wasn't going to be a long ride, but watching the world go by through the window is always amazing.

I start to wonder how my teams doing…

despite being the leader, specs usually seems to be the second one to get to practice, headphones always gets there early.

The train starts to stop, and i get up and start to walk off, the place we're going to be practicing in is about 2 minutes away

I start to hum, as I skip off, every now and then, I hear some murmurs around me, but other than that everything's nice!

I look ahead, I see some kind of alleyway near a bench, but its in the opposite direction of the place im going to be practicing in, but it seems cool, so I might check it out later

I find the place, its a hub people usually play with the table turf cards, I heard from bobbles that headphones might play it.

As i enter, I smile, im so excited to see my team again and-

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” I pause for a second as a voice behind calls out, I turn around to see specs

“Specs?! What's wrong–?”

“You ruined EVERYTHING for ME!” His eyes starts tearing up

I stare at him, my heart sinks “...What do you mean?”

“You are a menace to team blue… And we– no, I HATE you” his eyebrows narrow, his glasseTHAT'Ss are off centered and i could see his eyes, gleaming in the sun

I start to back up “y-you're scaring me!”

“yeah, RIGHT, BACK OFF YOU STUPID IDIOT! And go ANYWHERE but near this team!”

My legs wobbled, I run, I don't know where, but i run, I run past that hub, I run past the billboards that say something about off the hook, I run down the streets, and i only stop when my breath stops, I fall to the ground, somewhere near a cluttered and probably abandoned area of the city, it was dark, and cold, and I couldn't hear anything or anyone anymore, it was so eerily quiet that I could hear my off beat breathing, my body aches, mostly in my legs

I start to cry

I don't know what happened

I don't know where I am

I dont know why im like this

I dont know why I'm so stupid, and goofy, and annoying, and awful…

And I don't blame anyone for hating me

They should…

They should hate me

I hate me

My tears fall to the floor, im too tired to get up, and rest my head on a nearby cardboard box

I look at my phone before drifting off

Specs had removed me from the team blue group chat

Authors notes! <333

Hi!! Its my b-day on Monday :D I think yall are gonna like what's coming next :3 also, do yall like my 'writing style' idrk how to describe it if it is one :/

(Seeing my cousin today!)

Happy b day to me!

Chapter Text

Chapter three

“Heh, look, its that team stupid LOSER” i keep walking, I try to pay no mind, even though I've heard something along those lines ALOT today… and yesterday… and the day before that and also for the last year…

I hear murmurs all around me, their all either talking to each other about something unrelated, or about team blue… its been awhile since its been in a positive light

I start adjusting my glasses and put my head down as I head to the hub we all decided to practice at and talk strategy

But then I hear something that breaks me

“Oh, look, the try hard DORK on team stupid can't see! I bet he has those glasses cuz’ he stared at the sun, freaking moron” the person walks by pushing me to the ground as they walk off

I can hear laughter all around me, at me

From the push, my glasses almost fell off

I wish I could say something, anything, but my throat hurts so bad, and so I couldn't and my eyes stung and I couldn't see clearly

“But I didn't… i-im not…” I wipe my face

“Its all his fault…”

I finally recall the reason its like this, the real reason

I spot that idiot… that annoying idiot, I get up, and rush off

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??!” Before he can finish whatever stupid reply he had, I continued, I couldn't care less

“You ruined EVERYTHING for ME!!” My tears start to fall harder, being more visible…

“What do you mean…?”
What did I mean? WHAT DID I MEAN?!

“You are a menace to team blue… And we– no, I HATE you” My voice is a low growl and I can feel my brows lower

“y-you're scaring me!” I can see him step away, and back off, and im glad

“yeah, THAT'S RIGHT, BACK OFF YOU STUPID IDIOT! And go ANYWHERE but near this team!”

I can see the tears in his eyes, and i watch as he runs away, i can feel the tension in the air

“Idiot…”

I suppose a crowd must've formed around us, I could hear them start murmuring again

This time it wasn't about how stupid I was

It was about how they didn't know what just happened

This time they didn't say team stupid

They said team blue

I smiled

I walked off the other way, the opposite way…

i walked over to a less crowded place, which took awhile, I turned on my phone

I checked my contacts, and removed goggles from the team blue group chat…

I texted that practice was called off

I turned my phone onto do not disturb

I wiped my face, my tears were mostly dried out, but it was still kinda wet

I started to calm down, but I was still mad… maybe just upset now…

I look at my shoes, they were kinda dirty from the streets I ran down…

“Specs?”

immediately i recognized that voice…

“Emperor…?” I look up

“...Is everything okay?” He was in his work uniform

“Oh-! Uhm… yeah… mhm!” I smile, a small smile… a small, sad smile…

“Its not… is it?” He speaks so genuinely, so… so kindly

“No…not really…” I look away, my eyes started to sting again

He stares at me for a second, just standing there, with a frown.

Then He wraps his hands around me, into a hug…

“...Emperor-?” I started to blush… j-just a tad

“even a commoner feels despair… you don't have to explain it”

I blink a few times, and then I lean into the hug

“Thank you” I smile warmly…

Authors notes!

Hehe I love writing this fic
Also, there's gonna be ALOT of chapters if im estimating right, so I might start also posting a chapter on a weekday or Sunday? Idk lol, uhhh headphones is peak good BYEEE >0< (until next Saturday =0)

Chapter Text

Chapter four

I was scrolling through some off the hook songs, not really paying attention to the people around me, but just enough not to bump into anyone

I was heading to the practice specs set up, it was at this place I visit a bunch, its this hub to play with table turf cards

I'm nervous to tell my team about how I like table turf though… I heard there's been some rude players going around

And if I'm being honest…. I think I kinda want it to be a me thing…

As I head down the streets, I start to pay a bit too much attention to my phone, I was trying to find my favorite song, calamari inkantation

To my surprise, I bump into someone

“Oh! Im so sorry! “ I look up at the person, but they barely even flinched, turns out, a crowd had appeared there

“y-you're scaring me!”

“Is that Goggles…?” I try to look above the crowd, but its tough to see…

“yeah, THAT'S RIGHT, BACK OFF YOU STUPID IDIOT! And go ANYWHERE but near this team!”

That was definitely specs, too

My heart sinks, what's going on…?

I hear running, and i see just well enough to watch specs mouth something out before walking away

‘Idiot’

I pause, my hands start shaking, that seems to happen when im nervous

Before I know it, the crowd disappears, but im still right here , staring at the same spot specs once was

I didn't really KNOW what to do…

I decide to enter the hub anyways

I didn't know what I would do there

I had a feeling we wouldn't have any practice today…

I enter the building, it was pretty empty

I take a seat at the edge of a bar stool, at the little café they had there

I sigh

It would probably be okay

Probably…

“Oh! Headphones! How's it going?”

I look at her, she was behind the canister

I smile

“Hi braids, its… okay ” I can see she's a bit curious with my answer

“Did something happen?” i blush a bit, but i spot myself pretty quick

“Eh, im not too sure what happened… if im being honest” it was true… but I had an idea… I didn't like it though

“Something with team blue-?” Before she could finish, she got a call on her phone

“One sec!” she starts talking to her phone

“...yeah” i look away, not trying to intrude on her call, I think its was with her boss

Braids worked at this hub, specifically at the restaurant.

I got into table turf because of her, mostly to see her a bit more… A-and because I genuinely like the game

I check the team blue group chat, Specs removed goggles from the chat

It was about a minute ago, but I wasn't paying attention to my notifications

I stare at my screen, this can't be happening

What even was happening

Whatever it was, it was bad

I could tell that specs had seemed a bit more tense and… sad Lately?

My anxiety was getting a bit worse now…

Not to mention he called off practice aswell

“Boss called… I got a raise!” she smiled

“Omg! Congrats! You totally deserve it!” I high fived her

“So, is everything good?” I pause, if i tell her what just happened… and the fact she just got good news… i- I couldn't ruin it for her…

“Its good! Is it good…” I smile awkwardly

“...well, didn't you get a new card pack recently? Did you get anything good?” The change of topic was nice

We started talking for a while, I like talking to her…

Authors Notes! <3

...I did say there would be alot of povs-
i should probably set aside more time to plan stuff out and write, but whatever
What are yalls fav characters? (Mines Headphones)
<(^_^<