Summer wasn't exactly Nicholas' favorite season of the year. At least there were no blooming flowers to make him sick as a Salmonid, but the heat waves really were something else – especially when you were a secret agent taking on more and more high-risk infiltration missions into enemy turf. Cod, why couldn't the Octarian domes at least have some good ventilation?
But at least, after a day's work, he got to take a breather under the shade of Cuttlefish Cabin's roof, and this time, snuggled up with the squid form of his dearest Agent 1. Marie was nice enough to buy some caramel milkshakes for them in advance, so they decided to bask in an icy respite while flipping through a tiny album of family photos that Nicholas happened to bring to the Canyon today.
"That's me during the school's badminton event. See, there's Dad in the background cheering for us." Nicholas directed his finger to a masked Inkling amongst the crowd. "Mom was standing behind someone else, though, so you can't see her here."
"Has anyone ever asked your father about his mask?" The black-and-pink squid in his lap placed a tentacle right beside said finger. "No offense to him, but it's rather… eye-catching."
"Oh, definitely. We rarely go out to the central regions, but when we do, you can expect adults to give him stares, and kids to make some innocently loud remarks. He's gotten used to them, but from what Mom told us, he used to hate going out specifically because of that, until she dragged him out of his slump." Despite reaching 20 soon, Nicholas still hasn't seen his father's face without his visor, and probably never will. But, knowing just what happened to cause him to start wearing it, it was probably for the best. "Since Allison got second place in the sprinting event, we decided to go out for some roadside donuts as a celebration. We were all hot and hungry after such a long day, but my sister tore into the loaf like wet paper, and got vanilla all around her mouth. See?"
Callie had to cover her beak with her tentacles to stifle her laughter; they wouldn't want to wake the snoring DJ inside an oversized snow globe across them. "Aww, that's cute! Did you take it, or was it your parents?"
"It was Mom. Allison complained really loudly, but you can't just delete this gem, now, can you?"
"You're so mean!"
Nicholas merely laughed it off. With the Octarians on the move again, this time led by someone far more ruthless than Octavio ever could be, peaceful downtime like this was very much cherished by all of them. As he reached for his almost-empty cup of milkshake, he mentally rechecked how much more time he had before his next mission with Coraline; 1 hour sounded like a little too soon to go back home, so staying here on standby until then would be the best course of action for now. He could always just order something online if it was too late to prepare dinner afterward.
"Hey, uh, Nick?"
The boy's ears perked up instinctively. "What's up?"
"You don't have anything important to do, do you?"
"Uh…" Turf Wars weren't sounding very attractive right now, nor was Tower Control, so the answer was obvious. "Nah, nothing of note."
"Okay. Can you wake me up after 15 minutes? I'm-" The pink squid yawned quietly. "I'm suddenly feeling a little tired."
"Oh, sure. A nap could help beat the heat." The photo album was put aside as Nicholas gently pulled Callie a little closer to him. "You can count on me."
"Alright, thanks, Nick…" Her sentence barely finished, the senior agent quickly fell into a peaceful slumber. Nicholas couldn't help but smile as he stroked her black mantle with a thumb; it reminded him of the times Mom would soothe him back into sleep with a quick song (the Calamari Inkantation came to mind). He'd really been missing the simple days back home; maybe he should visit them this weekend. It would… be nice, going out to the roadside barbeque together… like old times…
The sound of rough graphite against paper tugged at Callie's ears amidst the warmth. She didn't quite know what was going on, but she felt nice; this was like those sleepovers she used to have with Marie back when they were still little squidkids. Sometimes it would rain really badly, and her cousin would hold tightly onto her as thunder roared outside.
But… it was way too hot to be a storm, and whatever was surrounding her didn't feel like Marie's old PJs. The texture was thicker, more rigid, and… yellow…?!
Oh.
Oh no.
How the heck did this happen?! Did Nicky fall asleep too? What even was the time now? What if they've missed out on a mission?! Not to mention, Octavio…!
While she felt herself burning up within Nick's hold, she left one eye slightly open to observe her surroundings. They were still outside the shack, the DJ's globe right in front of them. Octavio was definitely awake now, although she couldn't tell what he was doing, with the big guy's back turned towards them. Oh cod, what if he was the type to have no hesitation in teasing someone mercilessly?! That would surely be the death of her…!
"By the heavens, they're still sleeping?" Callie quickly slammed her eye shut and put on her best impression of being asleep when she heard the old DJ's gravelly voice. "It's been 2 hours already. You'd think one is more than enough for an afternoon nap. I bet they ain't getting any sleep tonight."
2 hours?! This was so much worse than she thought!
Okay, okay. Panicking wouldn't do her any good right now. She needed to analyze the current situation and then figure out the best course of action to get herself out of this predicament, before it took a turn for the wor- no, don't jinx it! Argh, I've. Gotta. Stop. Panicking!
So, right now, she was trapped by a… tight embrace by Nicky, enough that she couldn't just switch out of her squid form (technically she could, but it would disturb him, and the thought of him waking up to her sitting on his lap was just…!). Octavio had also been keeping an eye on them, so he would definitely notice her moving around if she tried to wake Nicky up. As for him, she could only pray that he wasn't like Marie and would show them mercy…
Next, if she remembered correctly, Nicky was supposed to go onto a mission later with… was it Marie, or the… yeah, the new kid, Coral! Right, he was supposed to go on a mission with her on… oh geez, what time were they supposed to head out again? She knew Marie had discussed this with them just last night, so why couldn't she remember now?
Neither Marie nor Coral were around right now, so what she should do next was to: wake Nicky up, then pull him inside the shack to freshen up a bit before going off for his mission, provided he hadn't missed it entirely while napping, and do it quickly before either of them arrived to avoid any more embarrassment. What she wouldn't give to disappear right here, right now…
Her plan set, Callie began tapping on Nicky's arm with one tentacle. She would still have to keep her eyes shut and her voice low so that Octavio didn't know she was already awake. "Heeey! Nicky, get up!"
"Nnnngh…" The boy's eyebrows furrowed a little bit.
"Come on, we've been sleeping for 2 hours already! Isn't that enough of a nap for you?"
Nicky only shifted around in his position. Cod, this was just like having to wake up Marie in time for a broadcast back in the Plaza. Maybe she'd rubbed off on him…
Soon, slurred words began coming out of his mouth. In the silence of the outpost, it wasn't difficult for Callie to hear what he was mumbling.
"Mom, it's a Sunday… can't I get up for shower after Allison…? I want half-boiled eggs… and toast with chocolate…"
Was he… dreaming? Oh boy. The difficulty setting just jumped all the way up to "Risky"; how do you even wake up someone who waa dreaming?
With a grunt, she stretched another tentacle to poke at his cheek. "Nicky, you need to wake up; you still have a mission, remember?"
"Good afternoon."
Oh carp.
Callie was positively petrified as she slowly cracked open one eye to catch a glimpse of a certain someone's signature green jacket. Her vision was then focused on Octavio, who was now staring straight at them with a raised eyebrow.
How much worse can this get…?!
Marie's chuckle sent shivers all across her squid form. Her face was currently burning brighter than the world's biggest scoop of strawberry ice cream. She didn't have the guts to face her, but she reckoned her cousin was probably taking soooo many pictures with her phone right now (with the shutter silent, of course). What deity from on high did she forget to pray to that cursed her to be stuck in this situation?!
"Four's a heavy sleeper, isn't he?" If Callie could just explode like a Splat Bomb here and then, that would be really, really nice. "Seven had to ask me last-minute to accompany her for the recon because she didn't have the heart to disturb him."
The new kid was way too nice… she just hoped Marie would have mercy on her protégé for sleeping through his mission.
"And apparently he's such a heavy sleeper that poking him in the face couldn't wake him up." Callie couldn't help squeaking at Octavio's quip. Did he catch her trying to poke him awake? She thought he wasn't looking…
With no other options, Callie finally surrendered. "Come on, you two, help me out here…! Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
After yet another devilish smile, Marie finally reached into her military pouch and dug out a… was that a Suction Bomb?!
"Cal, turn green. Now."
"Wait wait wait! Is it really necessary to-"
"Do you want to be set free, or not?"
… Fair enough. Callie quickly switched her normal lavender pink to the same emerald green as Nicky, just as Marie tossed the bomb down on his lap. Seconds later, a burst of green splashed harmlessly onto her mantle and onto Nicky's legs, but the sound alone was enough to finally, finally shake him awake.
"Whu- wha-?!" As Nick's arms instinctively loosened, Callie quickly hopped away from his hold and landed in front of Octavio's globe on her feet. Oh, sweet freedom, at long last…!
"Ugh… what happened?" Poor Nicky was dazed from the sudden noise, but Callie was just glad to finally be free from his death grip. Marie just sighed and facepalmed with her free hand, while Octavio chuckled quietly behind her. Oh, she'd get back at him later, hmph!
Slowly, but surely, recognition began to fill Nicky's eyes, before he all but leapt away from the pillow he was sitting on. "Oh cods! M-My mission- Coral- the recon-!"
"Calm down, Four." As if she needed to expect anything else, Marie took his freak-out in stride. "Seven and I have already scoped out the place when we realized you, uh, won't be available. Just pretend I gave you a break for the rest of the day, alright?"
"Ngh… I'm so sorry, Marie." The junior agent rubbed his eyes. "I was supposed to go with Coral, and yet you had to fill in for me."
Marie simply rolled her eyes, but gave him a sincere smile. "Seriously, don't sweat it. It wasn't anything the two of us couldn't handle, even with the last-minute change. And, if it makes you feel better, you and Callie looked pretty cute together. Seven agrees as well."
"Stooooop…!" Callie whimpered. This was already mortifying enough, and Marie was just pouring gasoline on the fire. "Can you just let us go now…?"
Her cousin cackled loudly. "Alright, alright, I'll let you two off. The cabin's got a sink if you need some freshening up."
"Y-Yeah, we'll uh, we'll get to that. Thanks, Two." With that quick mumble, Nicky haphazardly shoved the door open before diving into the refuge of Cuttlefish Cabin, and Callie quickly followed suit. As she was shutting the door behind them, however, she could just barely hear Marie calling for Octavio. She had to force herself to not pay attention to their gossip; she really could not take any more after all of that.
"That was probably the worst moment in my life…! Ugh, that sucked more than the time we had to improv the announcement for Naughty vs Nice after I spilled my cereal all over our script!"
When she lifted her head up from her hands, however, Nicky wasn't looking as mortified as before. In fact, he had this blank and kinda goofy-looking stare as he merely smiled at her.
"…" Marie's teasing may not have done her in, but that stupid smile surely would.
"Sooooo… am I allowed to prod Marie for the deets on that later?" At Callie's best attempt at a pout, Nicky burst into bubbly chuckles. "Alright, sorry, sorry. I really landed you in hot water just now, didn't I?"
"Nah, it was just really embarrassing, but it wasn't anything serious, trust me. I was more worried about you having missed out on your recon." A small smile tugged at her lips as she clutched at her elbow with the other hand. "I even heard you sleep-talking, you know? You were really into it, weren't you?"
"Haha, got that right." In one motion, Nicky stepped forward and placed a hand on her cheek. "Holding you in my arms in the afternoon sun made me a little too comfy. Maybe we can do something like this again in the future, when we actually have nothing important to attend to."
Callie swore her chest was about to explode into tiny little pieces. She gently pulled away the hand on her cheek, swallowing the bubble in her throat. "Stop it… you're too good at making me blush like crazy…"
"I guess there's a reason your solo album was named 'Bomb Rush Blush', then, eh?" His quip finally pushed her over the edge, and she stepped forward to hug him, if only to shut him up. Ugh, the nerve of him…
But, even if he was being a total meanie, she couldn't deny his words – for all the embarrassment she had to endure, it really was comfy, to let time tick away with Nicky and make the world just the two of them, no matter how long.
Yeah… she could really get used to this.
Ending notes: Hello, people. I rise from the grave once again!
With the release of Splatoon 3, I've found myself being pulled back into the ink™ kicking and screaming, so I decided to whip up a oneshot I got inspired with last night. Although this uses several established headcannons OCs in my previous series, the focus on pre-existing characters should help in preventing continuity lock-out.