Rider didn't really expect this to happen.
It's a rather long story, one he had trouble even recalling since everything went by so fast. He didn't know how he got into this mess in the first place.
Oh right, that blue kid with the goggles…
That inkling is something else.
Rider was just casually hanging out in the plaza for a little while, planning on heading into turf to ruin young squid's spirits. That's what he was planning, but then the blue kid with the goggles came in.
He was a rather excited squid child, walking into the plaza with a light-hearted smile on his face….and no clothes. That orange girl was rather snappy at him for that. Rider didn't blame her.
The green kid had simply assumed he would be a squirt he would probably see in turf and ruin the spirit of, but that had changed the moment the two had made eye contact.
Rider had simply put off the kid, wanting to leave the naive squid to do his business with his not so skilled buddies. With the cry of "Don't ignore me!" behind him, Rider's shorts were down and his underwear was showing.
In the middle of the plaza.
Of course he was pissed.
He was rather grateful to see that his first opponents of the day were the blue kid with the goggles and his buddies. He was going to have a blast wiping the smiles off their faces.
Well, two of them. The other two weren't so pleased with the fact they were battling Rider of all squid kids.
Rider's anger had came back to him, and he had subtly whispered "I'll destroy you." to them to get them all anxiety filled and more.
That's what was fun with being an S+ rank.
It was...A strange battle to say the least.
Rider had originally blamed his teammates for his loss, but now that he thinks back on it, he had to blame himself a little as well for letting his guard down.
Well, how would've he'd known that the blue kid with the goggles would've survived those inkstrikes?!
He was rather confident with that, saying "He's dead." as soon as all 3 of them had landed.
What he didn't expect was the kid to show up behind him after he gave his victory speech, pulling his shorts down yet again but with his underwear as well. It was painful to recall that moment, a green blush always rose to his face whenever he thought of it.
The kid had the nerve to shoot him with his pants still down as well, thankfully ink isn't too cold or that would've felt much worse than it did. He could still hear the blue kid's quiet giggles.
The battle kinda went downhill from there, his teammates weren't much help and a one person team won't really bring you to victory.
So yeah, he lost his first battle after a while. While he was salty, he congratulated the kid and made him promise that he wouldn't lose his next battle.
He...lost his next battle. Boy was Rider pissed.
Needless to say, he had chased him for several minutes in squid form (he had honestly forgotten why he didn't just run) and ended up seeing the blue kid with the goggles naked...again. Not a nice sight.
There was another battle with four S+ squids the kid was in, there was curry involved and somehow he won? Rider wasn't very sure what was going on, all he could really gather from that blur of a battle was that there was kids screaming about some manual, and the curry. The curry was delicious. It was really delicious.
It was actually so good that...the scrub and he both decided to go back to that jelly's apartment in flounder heights and ask for the recipe (and some curry to go).
Which is what they're doing right now, walking to flounder heights. It was a little while away but the two didn't mind too much. The blue kid with the goggles-what was his name? Goggles-kun? Probably not but that's what Rider will have to go with- was babbling about some random bird he had seen, and Rider was only half listening with the occasional hum coming from his mouth.
They weren't wearing their regular turf gear that day, the weather was too hot for them. They both were dressed in clothes more suited for the weather, though not really permitted in turf wars. Goggles simply had on a light green tank-top and some sky blue shorts and flip flops- as well as those trademark goggles of his, while Rider had an octo-tee on with black wristbands and black shorts to go with it. He was wearing the octo-glasses as well, though no shoes welcome into turf wars.
Goggles was looking up towards the sky now, murmuring something about how it was going to rain soon. Rider looked up as well, seeing nothing but clear skies. He gave a baffled expression towards the younger inkling, the other looking back with a rather idiotic grin. Rider rolled his eyes, of course the kid would try to make him panic about some rain coming. Not a cloud in the sky, how could it rain soon?
The green inkling wiped some sweat from his brow, the heat getting to him more than it should. He tilted his head back, taking in a deep breath and exhaling it slowly to get his nerves calmed. Just a couple more blocks until they reach the jelly's house, it shouldn't be difficult.
Right after he focused his eyes back onto the sidewalk in front of him, a water bottle was shoved into his face. He flinched slightly, looking at the kid next to him with a slightly dark expression. He was met with the slightly concerned face of the blue kid, still shoving the water bottle in Rider's face.
"You look hot." He said worriedly, putting the cool water bottle on the green teenager's forehead to cool him off, before gently putting it into his hands.
Rider deadpanned, you don't say. He unscrewed the cap and gulped down the water anyway, might as well cool off for a bit.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Goggles worriedly look up towards the sky yet again, though he was too absorbed into drinking the water to really care about what he was so upset about.
After drinking half of the bottle, Rider sighed, "How much farther is Flounder Heights?"
Goggles pressed a finger to his lips and furrowed his brow, not really necessary but do what you want, "Seven blocks, we might not make it in time before it rains though…"
Rider looked up towards the sky again, just a few clouds were chilling up there. "It shouldn't rain for hours with so few clouds up there." Then again, underestimating something (or someone) had usually ended Rider with a loss. He was sure it wasn't going to rain for a while, though.
Goggles shook his head, "I was in the plaza earlier today, the squid sisters made an announcement about turf wars being cancelled after 2 o'clock because of a thunderstorm."
There was the word that made Rider jump. Thunderstorm? That was a whole 'nother story for him.
It wasn't that...he was scared of thunderstorms, oh no that wasn't the case at all. He was just rather...unnerved by them, they're too loud for his tastes. Being a tough S+ rank didn't excuse you from fe- being unnerved by something. Heh.
Rider rubbed his arm nervously.
Goggles pointed a thumb behind him, "Do you wanna go back and go to the Jelly's tomorrow? I live nearby, we can stay at my place while we wait out the storm. Maybe we can play some video games? Or plan some turf war stuff! Or do those things the humans used to say all the time, Netflix and Chill I thi-"
Rider roughly covered Goggles' mouth, face flushed with a deep green. He had a history class this semester, so he knew exactly what that phrase meant, which wasn't what Goggles thought it meant at all. He gritted his teeth, "We can go to your place, but never say that phrase again or you're dead, got it?"
With a wide smile, Goggles nodded his head and removed Rider's hands from his mouth, "Okay! I'm hoping we get to play video games all night, or at least until the power goes out. It's supposed to be a really bad storm tonight. How come your parents let you come out and not stay with them to prepare?" He tilted his head in a curious, innocent manner.
"Where's your house? We might as well start heading over there before the storm comes." The green inkling ignored the other squid's question.
With a slight huff, the blue kid with the goggles pointed to his right and Rider immediately started walking in that direction. He was a couple steps on his way before he heard the blue inkling cry out "Oops! I meant the opposite direction!" And caused him to turn. Behind him he could see Goggles wear a smug grin, pointing to his left instead of his right.
Rider shot him a death glare, angrily walking over to him. He flicked the younger teen in the nose, making him cry out and rub it gently to soothe the pain. The green inkling started walking yet again, this time chuckling smugly and with a whiny inkling following close behind.
"This is the place!" Goggles said with an enthusiastic smile.
Rider looked up at the house in slight awe. Not often would you see a single house with 4 stories. Not a 2 story, not even a 3 story. This was a four story house. Rider didn't think such a scrub like Goggles would have such a big home. He pressed a hand to his head, this squid had such a big and nice looking house, if someone had told him any earlier that the blue kid with the goggles had a freaking four story house, Rider would've just laughed.
But here it was. And how could Rider tell it was Goggles' house for sure? The over-enthusiastic blue mother happily waving from the door.
"Hey, sweetie!" Oh cod.
With a whole bunch of kisses delivered to Goggles upon entry to the house (ugh), the two had went up to the second story of the house to the kid's room.
It was nothing spectacular, there was a tv on the wall with some scattered video game cases and controllers on the floor. Some dirty clothes were on the ground as well, Rider questioned how often the other boy cleaned his room.
"Sorry for my room not being so tidy! I wasn't really expecting a buddy to come over! But I'm glad you're here, waiting out the thunderstorm by myself isn't all too fun. My siblings are too young for me to play with, so I don't really have anything to do with someone here. My other friends' parents are too strict when it comes to hanging out during bad weather, but I'm glad yours aren't too concerned! ...Sorta." Goggles had continued to ramble on about different things as Rider looked around the room to gather in his surroundings a bit more. He sniffed the air, it puzzled him greatly for it smelled like blueberries. Well, that wasn't the weirdest thing about this kid's house.
"Anyway, do you wanna play some video games? I have racing games, shooting games, puzzle games (I'm not too good at those), RPG games…" There he goes again.
Rider shrugged, he never really played video games. His usual routine was get up, go to school, get home from school, do homework, and go do some battles. He and video games never really mixed, as he always grew bored of them.
"Racing games it is!" Goggles eagerly went to grab one of the games off the ground.
So they played video games for a little while. It had started out kinda slow, with Rider awkwardly holding the controller and Goggles having to instruct him on how to play. He hated it at first, but was slowly starting to ease into it as time went on.
Goggles at first had beat him in the first couple dozen of races, but Rider was beginning to push back. A wave of determination washed over Rider as he looked at the tv with a stern expression, almost passing Goggles in this one race. The finish line was just ahead, they were practically neck and neck. Rider was almost sweating from the intensity, not hearing Goggles laughing in the background from 'how silly his face looked'.
It seemed like it was a tie, it seemed like it. But right after the race between the two was over, Rider's racing character was given the spotlight for first place. A light gasp was shared between the two, before Rider let out a loud whoop for joy, pumping his fists into the air and laughing louder than he usually would.
"I won! I finally won! In your scrubby face!" He laughed, almost doing a mini victory dance. He had finally won a race after oh so long! He felt like he could run a marathon or two! He jumped happily, cheering once more. He then paused, just realizing what he was doing in front of the now snickering kid.
He glowered at Goggles, "Tell anyone about that and you won't see the light of day again."
All he got was a large grin in reply. He hoped that it was an affirmative.
A low rumble had sounded throughout the house, prompting the two to look out one of the windows in Goggles' room. Large clouds were starting to set in, filling the once blue sky with a dull grey. It was starting to grow darker as well, Rider could guess that it was around seven based on where the sun was.
"Huh. It's starting to get darker. Do you want my mom to call your mom? Maybe we can have a sleepover!" The blue inkling cheered, thinking about what more fun the two could have together.
Rider was hesitant, his parents having a talk with Goggles' mom? That wouldn't be too good. They'd probably yell at the young woman and assume that she was kidnapping him and send the police. His parents were rather strict, and not giving them any notice about where he was at the moment was sure to make them pissed.
The green teenager shook his head, "I can call my parents, I'll talk with them about if I can stay or not."
Goggles gave an innocent shrug, "Okie dokie. You might wanna hurry, though. The storm is coming in pretty fast and if it gets too rough for cars to go on the road and stuff, you're gonna be stuck here whether you like it or not. My mom will make you stay, she's just like that."
Rider hummed, brushing off Goggles' warning and strolling out of the room. He brought out his phone, which for some reason had a shape similar to their squid forms. He never really questioned it, just a normal thing in the inklings' crazy society he supposed.
He turned it on. 567 text and voice messages from his mom and parent.
He could feel his soul die already.
Swiping his thumb against the phone's screen, he opened up the call app and tried to decide who would be easier to dial and tell the situation. Mom or parent, Mom or parent…
Well they were both pretty harsh, so Rider just went with his mother, knowing he wouldn't hear the end of it. He tapped his mom's icon and slowly brought the phone to his ear.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Stay calm and handle this without panicking.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING CALLING ME AFTER ME AND YOUR PARENT CALLED AND TEXTED YOU MULTIPLE TIMES YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE YOUNG MAN-"
There it was.
Well, after a long, long conversation with his mother, he finally managed to convince her to let him stay at Goggles' house. Not after the constant repetitions of "Yes, mom." Or "No mom I'm not hurt." or even "I'm not being held captive, mom." though. He was used to her behavior at this point, but it never failed to make him just a tad nervous each time he knew he was in big trouble. She had put his other parent on the phone, who somehow managed to yell at him even louder than she had. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, hearing them drone on about how grounded he was when he got home.
After he and his parents had talked, he quietly hung up the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket without another word. Having strict parents was so much fun.
He silently walked back into Goggles' room, seeing the guy himself laying on his bed and reading a random comic book. Hearing Rider walk in, the blue teen set down the book and looked up at him with expectant eyes, "Well, what did your parents say? (Please say yes please say yes please say yesss)."
With a quick glance to the side, Rider had shakily answered, "...Yes? Mostly a yes."
A head tilt. "Mostly?"
"Don't ask."
"Mmmkay. What games do you wanna play next? I have some more racing games, puzzle games (I suck at those), RPG games, some games humans used to play…"
Rider crossed his arms, "Something other than a racing game, I'm tired of them."
Goggles smirked, "Or maybe you're just salty that I'm better than you at them~"
"Shut it. Let's try a puzzle game, I'm tired of mindlessly playing a game that requires you to just press buttons to do something."
"You're just salty."
"I said shut it."
So to put the adventure of Rider and Goggles playing puzzle games into one sentence would be basically this: Hell. That's it.
To put it more elaborately, it had started out with the two facing each other in the game's versus mode. Rider had started it out calmly, doing the puzzles at a quick pace and quickly gaining the lead and many points. Goggles was stuck on the first puzzle.
"I hate this game." He muttered under his breath.
"Why do you even have it if you hate it?" Rider asked, finishing his 20th puzzle almost effortlessly.
"I dunno! Puzzle games were in at the time I got it, so I tried it and hated it the moment I saw the title screen. I wasn't allowed to throw it away, though. Mom said it was a waste of her money." He crossed his arms and pouted, seeing Rider get to his 30th puzzle, "THIS GAME IS STUPID ANYWAY!"
"Who's the salty one now?" Rider asked smugly, only to get a pillow slammed into his face. He froze, letting the pillow drop to his lap before narrowing his eyes in a dangerous manner.
Goggles gulped.
After Rider kicked Goggles' ass with pillows, his mother had come in and told the two that it was getting late and they should get ready for bed. Rider had gone to get ready without a word, though Goggles had let loose a long list of complaints about how early it was.
It was actually kind of funny, seeing the rather whiny kid argue with his mother and neither side seeming to back down. It had actually gone on for around twenty minutes, ending with the mother telling Goggles that he wouldn't be allowed to get the curry if he didn't get ready for bed. Rider was actually kind of surprised to see the blue teen back down at that statement, then again the curry was practically a revolution to tastebuds.
So now they were in the bathroom. If you want a visual just imagine a giant ass bathroom you probably saw when you were like 10 and went "holy shit this place is huge". That's the kind of bathroom Rider saw, though it was just a regular bathroom to Goggles. They had already showered and that junk, so now they were peacefully brushing their teeth.
Well, it would be peaceful if it weren't for the fact that Goggles was singing a song as he brushed. As if this teenager could get any stranger and more annoying. So Rider had to put up with a solid two minutes of Goggles singing some random kids song he probably learned when he was like 5 as he brushed his teeth. Rider was silently begging to be splatted, the kid's singing was comparable to a killer wail.
"BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH, BRUSH YOUR TEEEEEEEEE-"
After two minutes of hell, the two frenemies finally walked out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed.
Then everything went black.
…
"Oh! The power must've gone out, heheh." Rider could hear Goggles say in the dark, "I'll go look for mom, she probably has a flashlight or two we can use." Before Rider could protest, he heard the other inkling quickly dash off. A little bit after that, he heard a couple of loud THUMPS on the floor, making him wonder if the younger inkling had gotten into anymore trouble.
"...I found the stairs!" Nope, still alive and dumb.
Rider could hear the rain pouring down outside the house as well as the rapid winds whistling throughout the air. His mood dropped, boy oh boy does the weather sound pleasant. He saw a quick flash of light before a large crackling sound filled the air, making the normally stoic boy jump.
He panicked, immediately setting off to find Goggles' room. He crashed into some walls here and there but he eventually made it. He thinks. He was actually not sure what room he was in, all he knew was that he was in a room and there was nobody else in it. Probably.
He felt around the ground, clothes, video game controllers, messy bed. Yeah this was Goggles' room. And then he felt dumb, because he just laid down on the ground and moved his arms everywhere to see where he was. He swore the kid was rubbing off on him.
The green teen saw another quick flash of light from the windows, prompting him to duck his head slightly as he knew what was coming next. An even louder crackling noise filled the air, causing him to shrink back into a wall with fright.
Okay he admits it, he's pretty scared of thunderstorms. It was a fear he had as a toddler that he never got over no matter how much his parents tried to help. They had assumed he would get over it as he got older, and he did as well. Nope, it stuck with him. The "big, bad, and intimidating" Rider wasn't as tough as you thought he was. If people saw him like this they'd call him a sorry excuse for an S+.
That's why it's a secret that must be kept at all costs, not even Goggles is allowed to know about it. He has a reputation to uphold anyhow.
Rider attempted to stand up and start looking for Goggles, but the second he put his foot on the ground the thunder had boomed in his ears, making him flop back down to the ground with a startled yelp.
Nope can't get up absolutely not he will die if he gets up that thunder is waaaaay too loud he can't do it nope nope nope.
He was 90% positive he was backed into a corner now. He couldn't really see anything since the only light source was the lightning. But he hated the lightning, because that meant thunder, and thunder meant him freaking out and not being able to move. Fun.
He had attempted to use his hands to block out the sound. Nah, it didn't work. It was too loud. How fortunate. Rider instead brought his knees to his chest, wanting the storm to end even though it had just begun.
"Rider? Where'd you goooooooo?" He could hear Goggles call from the hall. He hadn't even heard him go up the stairs, curse himself for being so distracted with the thunder. The green inkling kept quiet, hoping the younger one wouldn't notice him.
"Rideeeer? RIDER!" Of course he would yell his name. As if he would answer to him though-
Loud thunder had cut in, breaking Rider's train of thought and causing him to yelp momentarily. His eyes widened and he immediately put his hands over his mouth to prevent anymore noises to come from it. A rather dumb thought since they would most likely be heard through his fingers anyway, but he was too frightened to care at this point.
A light shined down on him, this time not the lightning from the windows.
"Rider! I found y-..." Goggles had cut himself off.
…
"Why are you crying?" The blue squid asked quietly, slowly moving over beside the older inkling. He saw him slowly lift a finger and wipe some tears off his cheek. He didn't even know he was crying.
Rider's breath hitched, the teen unable to come up with a response. He shook his head, hiding his face in his hands. This day just keeps getting better and better.
"Rider?" Goggles asked again, poking Rider in the arm while awaiting a response.
"...Piss off." Was all the green inkling could say without breaking down. He could hear that painful crack in his voice as he said that, knowing that Goggles was going to be even more concerned.
"Rider…"
"..."
Rider could feel Goggles' arms wrap around him slowly. He stiffened, doing all he could to keep from breaking down. His next breath came out shakily from him holding back a sob. He saw the light outside the windows flash, the wind roaring.
…
He couldn't do this anymore.
His bottom lip trembled, and before he knew it he was crying in Goggles' arms. Well not crying, sobbing really. That's right. Big, tough Rider was sobbing in little scrub Goggles' arms. Because of a thunderstorm.
This is number one on the list of most embarrassing things that has happened to him.
He didn't care at this point though, he didn't care if his face was gross or if he was getting tears all over himself and his frenemy. He didn't care if someone that wanted to legitimately be his friend was comforting him in his time of need. Okay maybe he did care a little bit about that.
They both had stayed hugging each other like that for a little while, with the occasional flinch from Rider whenever the thunder had decided to announce it was still there. Just enjoying each other's company through the storm, nothing special or anything.
Rider was almost glad that the power was out, otherwise Goggles would have to see how messy his face was from all those tears and junk. He hiccuped, trying to wipe the remaining tears from his eyes but boy oh boy more kept spilling out like a never-ending waterfall.
The green inkling heard a click and suddenly saw Goggles' face next to him. Shit, the flashlight. He'd forgotten about that.
He saw the younger inkling give an awkward glance off to the side, "Do you wanna…sleep in my bed with me tonight?"
Rider wishes he could say no. Rider BEGS that he could say no. But he can't. He can't even say a syllable without risking falling back into a sobbing mess. Instead he...he nods a yes. Strip away the tough facade for now and just deal with this.
So here they were, Goggles slowly guiding a sniveling Rider to his bed. Never thought that sentence would ever come true, but look where we are. Goggles had climbed in first, he inviting Rider in after he made enough room for them both to be able to sleep on the bed comfortably.
They had both laid together in the bed for a moment, before the storm picked up again and almost made Rider get up and flee. Thankfully, Goggles had his hand in his grasp before he could go anywhere.
"You're safe here." He had whispered to him, gently nuzzling him in the cheek. Rider didn't question it, taking it in as a comforting action instead of anything else. He sniffled yet again, holding Goggles' hand real tight and not wanting to let go.
He never really knew why he was so scared of storms. He's heard worse noises than thunder, and there's been more threats to his life than 50 mph wind and pouring rain.
He heard the thunder clap again, and before he knew it he was whimpering again. This was not a very good night for him.
Well, until he felt something on his lips.
…
Whatever it was, it was soft. It was a pleasant soft. Wait, this is Goggles…
Oh.
This is Goggles.
…
Rider would've gotten up and ran out of the house had it been anyone else on the entire planet. But instead he sat there and felt Goggles' lips on his.
They were kissing.
Hm.
He felt the blue teenager wrap his arms around Rider's form, and he had no objections to it anyway.
He heard the thunder clap above them yet again, but this time the green inkling had felt calm, safe even.
Rider can't say he didn't like it. He couldn't say that it bothered him.
Because it didn't.
…
He could feel himself getting drowsy.
He could faintly hear Goggles say something along the lines of "Stay calm and you'll fall asleep in no time!" Or something like that. He couldn't really tell. He was too tired to care.
…
…
"I love you."
Well that was a surprise.
He could feel Goggles' lips on him yet again, and even though they were both basically dead, there was still a hint of love in the smooch.
They had stayed like that for a little bit, smooching each other. It was nice.
He could get used to this.
The green inkling yawned, sleepily nuzzling Goggles. He got a nuzzle and a calming head rub in return.
They had both dozed off together, no longer minding the thunderstorm and instead just embracing each other's warmth and comfort.
With slurred words and a sleepy expression, a tired Rider replied, "I love you too…" and fell asleep without another word.
Rider didn't really expect this to happen.
There's like 7000 breaks in here but I could care less ghsdhgg
I just wanted to get this fic out there, share it with all of you guys
That's right, I've become RiderxGoggles garbage and I am sorry (not really)
This story was written for fun! R&R, I am eager to hear what you guys think!
Btw: There's not enough facts in canon about these two, so I decided to make up a whole bunch of headcanons about them myself!
If you don't like my headcanons, you don't have to like my stories! Okay, that was all, bye bye!