Tenta and I were in my room a couple of days later, standing in front of the long mirror that was hung opposite of my bed, allowing me to see what I was wearing as soon as I woke up. We both were comparing our appearances to each other, to see how much of an inkling I truly was.
First off was our heights.
I groaned, realizing that Tenta was noticeably taller than me. A couple of inches at most, the inkling easily able to look down on me, and me up at him.
"Should I nickname you 'shortstack'? Is that a good name?" I heard Tenta say beside me.
I turned to him with a sly smile, "No, that should be your name, Mr. 'I throw up pancakes I just ate five minutes ago.'"
"I SAID I WAS SORRY FOR THAT!"Tenta shrieked, his cheeks shining a bright pink in embarrassment. He roughly folded his arms and scrunched up his face, huffing through his nose and pouting.
"Say that to the pants in the trash with your vomit that you wiped all over them!"
"THE P-….IT- Uh…" Tenta stuttered as he tried to think up a reply, "Why didn't you just wash them?"
"I'm not touching your vomit on my pants." I said with a disgusted face, subconsciously wiping my hands on my shirt at the thought of my trashed jeans.
"Gloves."
"..."
"..."
"...Anyway, back to our appearances."
"You had gloves, shortstack."
"You're still gonna call me that, even though you're the one who deserves the name even more?"
Tenta grew defensive, "It's just a neat little nickname! And you're short, so that's also a thing."
"Y'know what's also short?"
"What?"
"The goddamn patience I have for you."
"I'm taking that as a compliment." Tenta snorted, then tilted his head once he looked in the mirror again, "What color's your eyes now, shortstack? They're different."
I shrugged my shoulders, "They're golden colored now. Y'know, yellow with a bit of red mixed into it like...in a gradient? But yeah, tt's off-putting to have such brightly colored eyes now. Living all my life as a black human with brown eyes, it's kinda fucking with me with this sudden color change. I mean, golden eyes? Straight up gold? It's jarring."
Tenta curiously tilted his head and looked into the mirror once more, "Y'know, golden eyes aren't that common in inklings. I mean we have regular yellow, but pretty golden eyes are rare. I guess you're special."
I hummed and tapped a finger to my chin, "So am I the ginger of the inklings?"
Tenta glanced back at me with a curious expression, "Giiiing-er? What's that?"
I clicked my tongue, "Right, inklings don't have hair. That's one word to add to your dictionary, I guess. Well, certain humans are born with red colored hair, rather than the normal blond, brown, or black. Those humans are really rare, so we refer to them as gingers."
I then remembered a second part of his statement, "Did you just call my eyes 'pretty'?"
"Ohh, well that sorta makes sense, I guess. And yes, I did. Your eyes actually are really pretty, for an inkling anyway."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that, "Er, thanks? Your eyes look nice too, I guess. They're very bright and lively, suits you."
Tenta smiled and stared down at the floor with a bit of sheepishness, "...Thanks. People don't really comment on my eyes."
"They don't? Well that's stupid, your eyes are a very pretty green. They're very bright, like a lime, a very nice lime. Or maybe an emerald? I'm not sure, I'm not that great at naming colors."
"Neither am I! I guess your eyes...look like lemons, then? Was that a shit fruit choice?"
I squinted, "That was definitely a shit fruit choice. I'd say that my eyes look more like honey, but slightly more on the yellower side. Or maybe a peach? Peaches are good."
Tenta tilted his head and frowned, "I've never had a peach, they're kinda rare and I never really had the time to go and get one."
I gave him a strange look and scoffed, "What? How could you not have had a peach? How in your entire life, have you never tasted a peach? In all of your...wait, how old are you?"
"Fifteen. What about you? Did you just turn fourteen or something?'
I scowled, absentmindedly messing with my ponytail, "I'm fifteen too, asshole."
He narrowed his eyes and scanned my form, judging my height, "...Really?"
"Yes." I sighed exaggeratedly, my ear flickering ever so slightly in agitation, "I was short for my age as a human, and I guess I'm short for my age as an inkling too."
"All the more reason to call you shortst-"
"MY PANTS ARE IN THE TRASH, TENTA!"I screeched jokingly, causing Tenta to burst into laughter.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"What were you even thinking that day? We gave you fresh pancakes and you went ahead and threw them up and wiped the gross vomit all over my pants!"
Tenta irritatedly threw his arms up, "I dunno! I had just came out of a terrible, shit place and was apprehensive as shit! I wasn't thinking straight, I dunno!"
"Why the hell did you eat the pancakes we gave you and then start attacking us? That's some backwards as hell thinking right there."
"I was hungry!"
"So what you're saying is that you think with your stomach?"
Tenta looked like he desperately wanted to retort, opening his mouth and closing it a couple times as he struggled to think of what to say next. Eventually, he sighed, twiddling his thumbs together as he admitted bitter defeat.
"...Sometimes."
"That's really sad, man."
The other inkling gave me a playful shove, "I wasn't being fed much before I came here, okay? I was tired, hungry, and upset. I only think with my stomach when I'm desperate for food."
I narrowed my eyes, "You basically just said that you only think with your stomach when you're starving, literally just like every other person."
Tenta promptly twirled around, heading towards my bed with the most neutral expression on an inkling I've ever seen, "I quit."
I barked out a loud laugh as Tenta grumpily climbed onto the bed and shoved his head into one of the pillows. I attempted to follow after him, but climbing on the bed proved to be much more difficult in this body than I expected, since I had a solid fifteen seconds of struggling to even jump up onto the mattress. After falling to the floor twice, I groaned and asked Tenta to help me onto the bed and he, like the good friend I hoped he was, helped me onto the bed with only a little bit of laughing.
"This new body fucking sucks." I complained, awkwardly adjusting my position to feel comfortable for my weird proportions. I mean, my hands were the size of my face. That doesn't sound bad until you remember the fact that my face was upscaled three times because of my big, goddamn head.
Tenta shrugged, "It's awkward at first but you'll get the hang of it."
I gave him a cold, hard glare, "My Legs Are Twigs, Tenta."
"So are mine, and I'm just fine."
"How the fuck do you even walk? Our feet are huge and our legs are so far apart that teenage girls with low self esteem would die to have our gap."
"What kind of teenage girls live in your world?"
"They're all terrible. Awful. They're all over the place, I don't like them. Have you met my sister?"
Tenta made an odd noise, "You have a sister?"
I snickered, "Yeah, she's the one you spat in the face after she gave you a sandwich. She hates your guts."
"Whoops."
I lazily let my head tilt to the side, "Why don't you like her? I get that she's annoying but she's still my sister."
He shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno, she just gave me weird vibes. She's weird."
I snorted, "You can say that again." I muttered under my breath.
My curiosity piqued when I thought about returning the question.
"What about you? Do you have a sister?"
Something changed. The air around us felt different, going so quickly from light and fun to suffocating and stuffy. Tension flooded the air and a gross silence was ringing in my ears. This was fucking me up, this was fucking me up pretty bad. I felt so unsettled by whatever the hell was happening that I wanted to jump off the bed and run out the room.
I looked over at Tenta to see what was the deal, and I felt a painful twist in my chest at what I saw. His eyes were downcast to the mattress, staring at nothing. The light in them had disappeared so fast, leaving nothing but an odd emptiness. Second by second it felt like the world was getting darker, more grayscale. It scared the living shit out of me.
"I don't want to talk about it." He mumbled quietly with a somber tone, shaking his head ever so slightly.
That was incredibly shitty of me to ask.
Feeling unsure on how to fix this situation, I did the only thing I thought was right. I leaned forward and gently wrapped my arms around his shoulders, doing my damned best to give him a hug that'd help even just a little.
I heard him breathe in a shuddering breath as he returned the hug for a couple seconds until he eventually pushed me away. Tenta shook his head as he wiped his eyes, laughing sheepishly.
"'M sorry about that."
"We can change the subject if you want."
He sighed and rested his head into his hands, "I can...I can talk about the rest of my family if you want, and what my childhood was like. To make up for...all that."
I shifted awkwardly in my seat. This didn't feel right. "Please don't. Let's change the subject to something different from family."
Tenta stared at me for a second with an unsure expression on his face, then he snorted, "Like your droopy ass ears."
There was a pause.
"What."
He snickered, reaching over and messing with my ears, "Your ears. They're drooping. It's actually kinda cute." He made a mock pouty face as he reached up to his own ears and pulled them down, "I'm Will-ee, I look grumpy all the time. I mock innocent inklings for eating pancakes and fearing for their lives. I also wanna marry my pants."
"That's real mature of you." I deadpanned, but was actually kinda amused.
"That's weal matwure of youw." Tenta mocked with a large grin, visibly trying his hardest not to bust out laughing.
I snorted, playfully shoving Tenta off the bed. He yelped as he fell over the side of the bed, hitting the ground with a loud thump. Moments later I could hear him start laughing, and saw him stand back up and preparing to jump back onto the bed.
"So what's the diet of an inkling?" I inquired curiously.
Tenta laid down on the bed, facing upwards toward the ceiling. "We're omnivores, but our main diet is fish, fish, and more fish."
"What kind of fish?"
He exhaled through his nose and rubbed his eyes, "I dunno, fish. We eat the unevolved fish, the ones that don't talk 'n shit. It's really good cooked, but I'm one of the few inklings who prefer some fish raw."
"...R...Raw?"
Tenta glanced up at me with a confused expression, "Do you guys not eat raw fish?"
I waved my hand in a so-so motion, "We do, but we have to clean it up first and stuff so we can eat it. We evolved over time to not be able to eat raw shit anymore. Now we usually just cook it."
"That's lame. I love to eat raw fish." An odd, greedy smile spread on his face, "I love it when I tear the skin off and it comes off clean. The red blood and flesh of the fish is soooo gooood. Sometimes I can't wait to separate the bones and just eat it whole."
I stared at him, "What the fuck."
He got defensive again, "Raw fish is delicious! You gotta try it man, it's amazing."
"Pass."
A quick silence passed over us.
Tenta scooted a little closer to me, taking my hands into his hands with a stern look on his face. "You guys...You guys have algae flavored ice cream, right?"
"A-Algae-flavored ice cream? Excuse me?" I turned my head to the side and gave him a bit of a repulsed look, trying to back away.
"Do you have it? Please say yes, it's my favorite flavor."
"Can't say we do…?" I said hesitantly.
Tenta at that moment looked incredibly heartbroken, that ice cream flavor not existing seemed to be almost as equal as a girl cheating on him.
He reached his arms up and grabbed my shoulders, starting to shake me, "ALGAE FLAVORED ICE CREAM IS SO FUCKING GOOD!"
"You're being dramati-"
"Why don't your people make algae ice cream? What the fuck, shortcake?"
"Tenta, algae is just a pla-"
"That ice cream flavor is the only flavor I like! I try to stay away from sugary shit but I CAN'T go without that ice cream at least once a month."
"So you're saying you're almost out of time? What kept you for getting it for so goddamn long?"
"I was captured! What was I supposed to do?!"
It was at that moment that Alyssa opened the door to my room. Without knocking. She just waltzed right in here without a care. Just thought I'd clarify to emphasize how terrible of a sister she was. The door even banged into the wall because she decided to open it that fast.
She looked into my room for a second before her brown eyes landed on me and Tenta, "...Sup."
I wasn't very impressed, "Hola." At least I could speak Spanish...though that's not really an improvement, honestly.
Tenta saw my bitter expression and chose to give Alyssa a better welcome than she deserved despite their whole 'feud' going on, completed with a small hand wave and everything, "Hello!"
My sister gave him a look, then stepped inside my room (unwanted) and sat on my bed (without permission). She looked around once more, giving a small side comment about my room (it radiates my personality, thank you very much), before shrugging and looking back at the two of us.
"So...watcha doin?"
"Oh, you know...Just talking to my squid friend, while being an inkling myself. We were comparing dick sizes, and your head's shaped like a peanut. Just two weeks ago I saw a demon walking behind you, but it's a tiny little gremlin creature and it's pretty ugly. The door probably lost some of its paint due to you slamming it, I saw the waiter spit in your drink the last time we went out but I didn't say anything, and one of your friends is a backstabbing bitch because I saw one of her posts about you online two hours ago and you lost your phone in the couch so you don't know yet."
By the time I was done, Tenta was giggling rapidly and was covering his mouth with his hands, while Alyssa rolled her eyes and lazily waved a hand.
"Sorry I asked."
I'm very glad she didn't get a word of that.
"You are gonna tell her about her ex-friend when you can, right?" Tenta asked, hints of amusement still in his voice.
I shrugged, "That is, if she hasn't found out by the time I can speak English again. If she finds out before then, I get to tell her 'I told you so' and not be decked in the face for once."
Tenta tapped a finger to his chin and stuck out his tongue, glaring down at the ground in concentration, "Maybe you can speak it, but just don't know how? I mean, it'd be weird for you to suddenly not be able to speak it at all."
I unknowingly did the same, resulting in us both looking pretty stupid, "...Possibly. I can try speaking English, but I don't know if it'll come out right. What if I got an accent or something? What does an Inktonian accent even sound like?"
"You both look stupid." Alyssa decided to comment, still trespassing in my room.
"Says you." I replied with a poker face, "Why are you still in my room? Get out."
"What?"
"Get out."
"Whaaaat?"
I pointed towards the door, "Get out."
My sister stared at the door for a moment and then looked back at me, "Nahhh."
Tenta raised a hand, "Have you tried telling her to get out?"
"I hate you."
Alyssa looked between the two of us, her eyes constantly looking at both me and Tenta. She was studying us for...something. It was hard to tell, especially with my sister. She was a lot smarter than she let on, and usually very observant too.
"Y'know, you and Tenta look exactly alike."
W...What?
"No we don't!" I replied, a bit of a miffed tone to my voice, "We look nothing alike!"
"Did she say we looked the same or something?" Tenta asked with an equally miffed voice, "We really don't look anything alike."
Alyssa couldn't understand us, but she easily detected the disbelief in our voices, "You two literally look the exact same. Except for maybe like, your skin and hair color. And eye color too, I guess."
I scoffed and pointed at Tenta's nose, "Look at his nose! It's smaller than mine!" I pointed at mine too, to show Alyssa that she had to compare.
She glanced between our noses and shrugged, "Looks the same to me. Face it, Will, you're both practically twins. Except one of you is colored differently."
"That could not be farther from the truth!" I whined, "Twins would have to look the same, and we look nothing alike! You're just blind! Get your glasses checked!"
"Yeah!" Tenta butted in, "I'm way hotter than him!"
"Yeah! He- What?" I whipped around to face Tenta, "We're both inklings, we're the furthest thing from hot."
"That may be true for you but-"
"Oh my fucking God Tenta. We're really doing this right now, we're really doing this."
"I'm just saying! I'm more attractive than you, that's all."
"We're inklings you shithead."
"And? Inklings can be hot."
"No, we can't! We're literally the opposite of hot! What the fuck are you ta-"
Our delightful discussion grew more heated as more and more bullshit poured out of our mouths. At a certain point I barely even understood what I was even talking about as we kept getting louder in whatever the hell kind of dispute we were having. Potato chips were mentioned at some point and I'm not sure why.
"You guys are bickering like an old married couple and you've only been able to talk to each other for like, three days." Alyssa eventually interrupted, now lazily lounging on my bed with a bored gaze. "This is a record for how fast you've made a friend, Will."
"He's NOT my friend, I hate his guts." I stated bitterly, earning an offended scoff from Tenta.
"Well, geez, glad to see you appreciate me and all I've done for you."
"You've done NOTHING for me! God, you are the most sarcastic piece of shit I have ever met."
Tenta winked, a sly grin spreading across his face. "That sounds like something a grumpy, not hot inkling would say-"
"If I knew you were this annoying as an inkling, I would've kicked you out the second you got into this house."
I turned back to Alyssa, her presence was making me even more irritated, "Please get out of my room."
She stared at me with amused eyes, not regretting trespassing in my room one bit, "I still can't understand y-"
I began wildly gesturing at the door, desperately trying to let her know that I was tired, cranky, and straight up ready to spontaneously combust if she remained in there for any longer.
Alyssa snorted, "Okay, if you can physically shove me out of your room, I'll leave. Deal?"
I had already begun shoving her out the door.
…
Trying to, anyway. Turns out inklings naturally have very, very little strength. I did my best to pull my sister off the bed and out the door, but all I could manage was small little arm tugs on my sister's arm. At a certain point, my grip slipped in the middle of me pulling her arm and I fell straight to the floor and onto my back.
After enduring the mocking laughter of my sister and Tenta, I gave a wicked smile. I had one more secret weapon that was always guaranteed to work.
I took in a deep breath.
"...TERRELL-"
Alyssa immediately shoved her hands over my mouth, frantically trying to keep me quiet, "Okay okay, I'm leaving!"
The Terrell card works every time.
As Alyssa begrudgingly trudged out the door, I got up and gave her a mockingly polite wave as she left.
"Bye-bye!" I said in a cheerful tone, shutting the door behind her and locking it to ensure that she wouldn't barge back in with a plan to keep me from using the Terrell card. Oh, hey, looks like I can speak English after all.
"Why did your sister come into your room in the first place?"
I slumped tiredly against the door, "It's a power move she's trying to make. Y'know that whole thing about how certain siblings like to try and have free reign all over the house, including their older siblings' rooms? That's her, that's what she's doing."
"...She's younger than you?" Tenta asked with that large, stupid grin of his. He already knew the answer to that one.
I looked up at Tenta with a tired glare and opened up the door once again, tired of his and Alyssa's bullshit, "You can leave too."
"Where would I go?"
I gave him a confused stare, "I dunno, the kitchen? Get us some snacks."
"What kind? Chips?"
I yawned and rubbed my eyes, "Yeah, sure. Get the spicy kind. Get us some soda too, while you're at it."
"I don't drink so-"
"Lemme rephrase that, get me soda."
Tenta whined and started shaking my shoulders once again, "Then what do I get to drink?"
I stared at him blankly, "Nothing, you're staying parched forever."
"Sweet."
"Speaking of sweets, get us some Poptarts too."
Tenta tilted his head, "What are those?"
"Tarts with frosting on top of them."
"I've never had those, but I've always wanted to try one."
I shrugged my shoulders and gestured out the door, "Well, now's your chance. Go get 'em. They're in a blue box and a picture's on the cover."
Tenta stared out the door for a second, and then looked back at me.
"...Hey, Will?" He asked slowly and hesitantly, changing the mood of the entire conversation.
I exhaled through my nose and propped myself against the door, "Yeah?"
"You know that I was messing with you earlier, right?"
I snickered and shook my head, folding my arms across my chest, "'Course I did. I don't get bothered that easily and I knew immediately that you were trying to be a fuck."
"Cool."
"..."
"..."
We sat in an awkward silence.
"Hey, Will?" Tenta asked yet again, sounding even more hesitant and unsure than the last time.
"Mhmm?"
"...Thanks."
I gave him an odd look, "...You're not going passive aggressive on me, are y-"
"Nononono!" He rapidly shook his head, then awkwardly shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts.
"I jus-I just wanted to say thanks, for not genuinely getting upset with me."
I wanted to ask what he meant in particular, but at the same time I really just wanted some snacks, so I tried to just move the convo along.
"No problem…?"
"I mean it, Will." He insisted.
I shrugged, "I get that, but I'm not entirely sure by what in particular you 'mean'."
There was a quick pause as Tenta struggled to get his thoughts together, "I...I mean that...despite me freaking out on the first day and hurting you all, you're still treating me like a guest in the house and didn't kick me out. I'm...I'm really thankful for that."
I...didn't really know what to feel about that.
"Well, we're the type of people to forgive and forget, y'know? Sure, you bit my brother, spat on my sister, and kicked me in the nuts, but we're all willing (more or less) to put that aside and forgive you since you were, y'know…" I shrugged my shoulders and gave a forgiving smile, "You were scared."
Tenta looked off to the side, seemingly deep in thought, before looking back to me with a thankful glimmer in his eyes, "You're a cool dude, Will. Thanks for being by my side and putting up with my bullshit."
I smiled, "It's no prob. Really. I think you're a cool dude too."
I then pointed outside the door and into the hallway, "Now go get those snacks, I'm fucking starving."
Tenta briefly stared out into the hallway once more, then glanced at me with a mischievous glint in his eye. Without warning, he ran towards me, grabbed my wrist, and tugged me out of the room with him, laughing the whole time with extreme delight.
I'd say that I was unamused and not laughing at all with him but...I was.
