Chapter Text
I’d Never Eat You, Shady.
“I need ink, Two Stripe.” Shady called out, glancing towards me. I nodded, tightening my fists to get a better grip before swapping positions with him: our fingers grazed each other as we passed, and for a moment I thought my heart would burst. It was the final wave, and we were duoing it out. It was hard, fighting off the Salmonids by ourselves. Normally, we split the work. Gatherer. Collector. Two shooters. Simple! With only two of us, every job crashed into one another. Every time I thought I was done for, Shady was there. There were so many Steelheads I didn’t bother counting. A charger shot from Shady cracked past my shoulder, cutting my cheek as he targeted one. I didn’t mind the sting, simply putting my finger to the blood and smearing it off. Halfway through the wave, we'd stopped needing words. An established bond had turned glances, nods, and quick shifts in position into something that almost felt telepathic.
Then, before I knew it, the timer hit zero.
.
.
.
“Good run.” He remarked, taking off his hard hat and knee high boots. I watched intensely as he revealed his button-clown shirt underneath the cheap, rubbery industrial gear. I nodded, a fierce smile on my face as he complimented me. “We did super well for a duo, didn’t we? 80 eggs for Grizz all by ourselves.” I took him under my arm, wrapping it around his shoulder. His eyes widened, but he didn’t slip away. Instead, he smiled politely. “We did.” Shady was a simple guy—serious yet enthusiastic at times—and often view things through a lens. Literally. He was holding it right now. “Hey, take that off, will ya?” I gently grasped the hand covering the magnifying scope, and his fingers twitched. So cute. “You really stink at living in the moment, you know.” He chuckled, as light as air. “I’m reasonable for keeping my distance, y’know.” His tone mocked mine.
“Oh c’mon. I’d never eat you, Shady.”
There’s Plenty Of Fish In The Sea….To Eat!
“Be that as it may, you still like me, don’t you?” I could see Shady’s heart drop. He winced in his gloopsuit, shoulders stiffening, saying nothing at first. “…Of course I like you.” He paused, my heart beating ten times faster. “Why do you think I stay away from you?” He made it sound like it was obvious.
I blinked.
“That’s unnecessary.”
“What’s unnecessary is your cannibalism.”
I clicked my tongue dramatically, reaching out to grasp his cheek, nails brushing roughly against his skin. His eyes widened.
He’d been doing a lot of that recently.
“Really? Eating is unnecessary, Shady? Gosh, I didn’t think you wanted me dead.” His brows pinched together.
“…I didn’t say th—“
I leaned in before he could finish protesting, my thumb brushing against the corner of his mouth. He made a tiny, confused noise as I hooked a nail against one of his shark-white teeth, smiling all the while. The harsh lights hanging above us cast strange shadows across my face, probably making me look even more unhinged than usual. He didn’t look terrified, though; just irritated. Irritated meant comfortable. Irritated meant he knew I wasn’t going to bite him. Irritated meant he trusted me enough to not pull away.
I liked that.
“You know I wouldn’t eat you whole. You’re my favorite, Shady.” I paused, laughing quietly to myself. “What’s that saying? There’s plenty of fish in the sea to eat?”
Yet again, he said nothing.
Honestly, I should’ve expected that habit by now. Shady has a habit of answering my beautiful excerpts and quips with silence, like he was trying to analyze the world’s hardest Turf War battle mere seconds after it happened. Sometimes I wondered if he secretly enjoyed watching me squirm.
Instead, he reached out to grab my wrist, hand tender and warm. His skin was surprisingly warm beneath the rubbery gloopsuit. Gentle, too, like a cool breeze on a summer day. “Mm.” He murmured, muffled by my fingers. “Oh, right.” I snorted, placing my hand on his cheek to free his mouth. My thumb accidentally smeared the saliva across the corner of his lips.
Oops.
He didn’t seem to mind.
“You look lovesick,” he noted, face dusted a light pink. “How am I supposed to deal with you?” I giggled again, pinching his cheeks playfully.
“I love you.” The words left my lips naturally. My heart, on the other hand, immediately felt like it had been shoved into three consecutive XTRAWAVE shifts.
He blinked once.
Then, a tiny smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
“I love you too.”
Don’t Be So Reckless!
“Two Stripe!”
“Shady!”
It was hard enough duoing in Salmon Run. But now? We were split up on the boat of doom. High tide came in at the worst possible time, and I could only watch in horror as Salmonids surrounded us completely, circles drawn between us. I was infuriated. How could I focus on the mission when he was in danger? Shady’s a charger main and nothing else! He can’t use splat dualies! Fear pounded in my heart, body quaking in earnest. I decided then and there that I’d abandon Grizzco values if they put my loved one in danger.
And so I did.
Heart thumping, I turned around and started spraying the enemies closest to him, not giving a damn about whether or not the Salmonids could gang up on me. Shady turns towards me, eyes wide as I leap towards him in the small gap that I created to wrap my arms around him, taking his splat dualies (that were aiming at nothing in particular) and shooting for him. One hand in front of him while the other desperately tried to balance two guns in one hand, he appeared completely stunned as we swapped weapons.
One…
I shot the head of a chum, biting my lip as their ink sprayed on me. I forced myself to swallow my nervousness, spitting out whatever I could before shooting again.
Two…
Shady eventually snapped back and picked his weapon back up, closing one eye to aim better as he lifted my .52 gal. Grizz would reprimand me later, but I didn’t care.
And three!
I sighed in relief as the wave ended, taking a deep breath and spinning around immediately to face him. Shady’s teal eyes met mine. He stared for a long moment, breathing harder than I’ve ever seen him breathe. His grip on my shoulder tightened just enough for me to notice, and I blushed a little as I spoke. “Are you alright? Is there anything on you? Anything I need to be worried about?” I patted him down, dropping the Grizzco-lent splat dualies on the floor to check up on him. Shady’s eyes are wide, and I take a moment to swallow my embarrassment. I felt flustered, realizing how close we were. “Don’t do that again.” He mumbled, one arm on my shoulder.
“Do what?”
“Drop everything for me.” I paused, tilting my head at him, gear smacking in the face. Ow. He winces for me. “You’re not expendable,” he murmurs affirmingly, a kind and sincere smile on his face. His voice was just a little less monotone. “Neither are you!” I chirp back brightly, pinching his cheeks. He frowns. “That’s not what I mean.”
“Then, what do…” He cut me off. “You’re…” He frowns again. “Um, important.”
“Aw! I know that.”
“….To me.”
“Aw! I know that too!”
He stared at me. I stared back.
…
“Oh.”
His ears turned pink.