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The sound of people chattering at Pearl’s party practically never stopped. Along with that, inklings never stopped talking to her either.
It was nice, but not at the same time. She had grown used to talking to more people and becoming more extroverted, thanks to her “moms” (they weren’t really her moms, they just took her in when she didn’t have anywhere to go after the events in the deep sea metro). Thankfully now, she had her own place, thanks to Pearl’s wealth.
Eight remembered going with Marina and Pearl to pick out an apartment for herself. She wasn’t the pickiest, being raised in the domes and all, but she still wanted one that was nice and cozy.
The apartment she had picked out wasn’t large, but it was an exceptionally large improvement to the domes, Eight had decided. She had ended up buying a bunch of cute carpets and lights for it too, along with a bunch of sketchbooks to write her poetry in. Her apartment and was one of her favorite things in Inkopolis.
Snapping back to reality, she realized she had finally been left alone. Many of the Inklings had been curious about her it seemed, being one of the two only Octolings at the party. Eight sighed, taking a drink of her still almost full glass of wine. She boringly swirled it around in the glass, looking around at the other inkfish. It was late, and she needed a ride home since she didn’t own a car. To be honest, she preferred walking.
Marina and Pearl were conjoined at the hip, telling some wild story she had probably heard thousands of times from them. They had quite the audience.
Neo was sitting on the couch with Four, who looked horribly drunk. Smallfry was with them too, its small buck teeth nibbling on the cracker Neo was feeding it.
Callie and Marie had already left it seemed (or not shown up at all- Eight couldn’t remember.)
And finally, the New Captain of the NSS sat at the other couch across from Four and Neo. She seemed to not be paying any attention to whatever Four was rambling on about and zoning out instead.
Eight reeaaallly didn’t want to ask her for a ride. They hadn’t spoken since the events of the deep sea metro, when they had both tried to kill the other (well technically they were both just trying to survive) and at every NSS meeting, she could feel Captain’s eyes constantly staring daggers into her, like Eight was about to twitch and snap. Or, if Eight was lucky, she would just ignore her, thank cod.
She bit her lip, tugging her skirt down as she stood up from the hardwood steps of the stairs. Eight smoothed out her tentacles before approaching Captain.
Four noticed her first. “Eightttt!” She said sing-songily and half slurred.
Wobbly, she stood up, and pulled Eight towards her, wrapping her arms around her waist and sitting back on the couch, forcing her to sit on her lap now.
“Hi Four,” She said as Four uncomfortably snuggled her face into her neck, planting small kisses on her shoulders.
Fortunately for her, Four was just drunk and wasn’t actually interested in her like that. Thank cod.
She looked to her left, to see Neo intensely focusing on feeding Smallfry, most likely trying to avoid Four being weird to Eight. Opposite of Neo, Captain’s arms were crossed, and her mismatched eyes were glaring right at her.
Cod. She really hoped Captain didn’t think Four and her were having an affair or anything. That would be awkward.
“Um…Four..I would appreciate if you stop kissing me and let me go, please?” Eight said, disliking how hesitant she had sounded.
Four sighed dramatically with a low grumble, letting go of Eight. Four’s face was a deep red, almost matching Eight’s maroon tentacles.
She glanced over at Neo, who was looking at her.
“Neo, do you have a ride home or is Pearl letting you stay the night?”
The young inkling shook her head, “No, I’m gonna walk home.”
Eight gave her a look of concern, “Are you sure, Inkopolis isn’t exactly dangerous, at night or day, but still..”
Neo nodded her head, “I’ll be okay Miss Eight! Smallfry will protect me! He’s very scary,” She gave her a toothy smile.
“Miss Eight..” Four said, sighing dreamily.
Eight ignored Four and smiled at Neo, nodding. She finally turning to Captain.
“Yes?”
“Um, do you think you could give me a ride home? If you’re planning on leaving soon, of course,” She said, mumbling the last part.
Surprise flicked over the Captain’s face.
“Sure. I was planning on leaving in a minute anyway. Four was starting to piss me off with her rambling.”
Four gasped dramatically, but was ignored by all three of them.
“O-okay let me go say bye to Pearl and Marina first,” She said, trying to soothe her anxiety.
Captain waited for her by the door, scrolling on their phone. She looked up at Eight.
“Ready?”
Eight nodded, and Captain led her out of the house, towards an older model of a black car. It was lightly raining outside, but the wind was howling loudly. Yeah, thank cod she didn’t consider walking home.
Sitting in the passenger seat, to the right of Captain, she let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding and quickly shut the door to stop the rain from seeping in. She quickly buckled her seatbelt and glanced over at Captain, to see them typing something on their phone.
“Type your address in,” They commanded, handing Eight their phone.
She nodded, typing her address in.
The time of route stated 1 hour, 15 minutes. Captain shot her a look.
“That must be wrong,” she mumbled, “I only live around ten minutes away,” She stated, looking them in the eye, “ohh…but maybe it’s roadwork they’re doing..” she said to herself.
Captain shrugged, “Whatever, you owe me though,” she started the car and began to pull out of Pearl’s mansion’s driveway.
“Owe you?! Not my fault,” She muttered, slouching and looking out the rainy window.
Captain didn’t respond, and they sat in silence for what felt like years, but in reality was only 30 minutes. As they drove, she studied the CDs she had in her car (loads of Squid Sisters ones, unsurprisingly) and the rain started to get harsher and harsher, to the point where Eight couldn’t see out her window. She glanced at the other girl, to see her squinting at the road. She sighed, putting on her turn signal and pulling over.
“I can’t see shit,” Captain muttered, turning off her car.
Eight stared ahead. All she wanted was to be home right now, comfortably wrapped in her crochet blanket, playing the RPG game she just bought on her Squidtendo or writing a new haiku. She did not want to be with Captain right now, of all people.
Without warning, Captain climbed out of the drivers seat, into the backseat of their car. They stretched out, lying across all three seats. Eight watched as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes.
She sighed, unbuckling her seatbelt, bringing her knees to her chest. The rain loudly thumped against the roof of the car. Sitting in the car seat like this..the loudness of the rain..it reminded her too much of the metro.
Oh the cold nights she would spend on that train with Cuttlefish, desperately trying to fall asleep on the seats of the cold, shaky train. And when she couldn’t fall asleep, she would think, and then she would cry. And when she would cry about missing her memories and the pain in the bruises and scratches from her tests, she would think about the sun, the moon, and the stars. The natural lights she couldn’t see just yet. Thinking about them calmed her down. It was why she strived so hard to collect the four Thangs.
Oh and when she learned it was all a trick, and that Commander Tartar had been using her and planned on using her and Cuttlefish for his sanitization goo, she couldn’t describe the pit of sadness she felt. All Eight had wanted was to feel the sunlight on her face for one day.
“What did it feel like when Tartar hijacked your mind?” Eight blurted out.
She didn’t respond right away, but instead Eight heard the rustle of her clothes against the seats fabric when she sat up.
“What?” Captain said coldly.
Eight turned around again, to meet Captain’s pale green and amber eye.
“I-“ she stuttered, realizing what she had just asked.
Captain lunged towards Eight, grabbing the collar of her shirt. Eight yelped, feeling her face flush.
“What did it feel like ignoring me after trying to kill me twice?” They shot back.
She tightly shut her eyes, “I- I didn’t want to kill you! You were trying to kill ME!” She yelled.
“Oh shut up will you! We both tried to kill each other! Whats worse is you haven’t spoken to me until today!”
Captain released her grip on Eights collar, and Eight opened her eyes.
“I didn’t really I- I thought you hated me!” She said defensively.
She blinked at the Octoling. Thunder sounded.
“No I only… the way I glared.. I was upset and angry but…Eight I..could never hate you..” she mumbled.
Eights face softened. Suddenly, she found herself climbing into the backseat with Captain, straddling their lap.
Their face was a deep red, perhaps more red than Fours earlier.
“Eight..we should take it slow..wait- aren’t you having an affair with Fo-“
“NO! No, no no no!! Gosh no. Four was drunk.”
“Good..I’d be pissed if you were with Four.”
“Someone’s jealous,” she teased.
Captain scoffed, pulling Eight closer to her, “Cod, maybe I was.”
Eight giggled, resting her head on their shoulder. She snaked her hand up the underneath of their shirt, drawing circles with her thumb as the other girl pressed soft kisses to her cheek and neck.
Eight suddenly pulled away, and faced her seriously, “Three. I don’t want to go too far today, please. I’ve never done anything like this before, with anyone really.”
Captain nodded with understanding, “Of course, I wouldn’t and won’t ever push you to do anything like that..” she said softly. She planted a kiss on the Octolings forehead.
Eight took her hands out from underneath their shirt and cupped her face, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.
After the kiss, they merely stared into each others eyes, admiring the others beauty. Maybe when she was closer with Three, she’d tell her how much she liked the seafoam green scar that ran over her eye. To Eight, it was a sacrifice Captain had made to save her from the blender so she could see and feel something as small as the sunlight on her cheeks.
“You’re staring,” The inkling teased.
Eight hummed, “I’ll tell you about it another time.”
Three nodded, and looked out the window.
“The rain has stopped…if I turn around and go back the way we came, I think I can make it to your apartment within thirty minutes.”
Eight nodded.
“Do you want to um…stay the night with me?” She whispered.
Captain nodded, eyes sparkling, “I’d love to, Eight..”
Eight smiled, kissing her on the lips again.