Roy's PoV
One day, Mr. Carp summoned Roy to his office.
"Roy Blacktip," he started, one white-tipped tentacle hanging in front of his face, "by your next shift, there will be a new member joining you."
"Why are you telling me this?" the younger inkling asked. "Newcomers have joined my shift before."
"It's more than that." He cleared his throat and continued, "The new employee told me he knows you personally."
"Personally?" He gulped. "Is he on the baskfishball team with me?"
Mr. Carp shook his head and focused his orange eyes on his employee. "His name is Oscar Margina. Do you know him?"
Oscar. "I do," the red-haired boy replied, trying to say calm. Though his dislike of him was not along the lines of Giovanni and Iris, he still was not particularly fond of the octoling. Why couldn't it have been someone else?
"Well, don't get into any fights with Mr. Margina, alright?" he instructed. "I do not want this business to have a bad image."
"Alright," Roy agreed.
"Good," the older inkling finished. "You are dismissed."
"Thank you." He rose to his feet and walked back behind the counter of Starfish Drinks to continue his shift.
A few days later, Oscar appeared to have beat him to the coffee shop. By the time he walked in, the octoling already stood behind the counter, brewing something. The red-haired boy took a deep breath and walked towards him.
"Hello," he greeted, crossing his arms.
Oscar looked over at him and smiled. "Hello."
"...You work here now."
"I do." He took the cup he was brewing a drink in and wrote a name on it. "Deliver this latte."
"OK." He took the latte and walked over to the pick-up counter, setting it there. "Latte for Beatrice!" A familiar, middle-aged inkling with long red hair came over to grab it. "M-Mom?!" he gasped, bewildered at her appearance.
His mother simply sighed. "Roy, you realize I have a life outside of the office, right?"
"Yeah, but..." He shook his head. "Mom, please, just sit down. You'll hold up the line if we just stand here and chat."
She took her latte and frowned. "Alright..." Roy watched as she walked out of the building, and suddenly he felt a little guilty for dismissing her.
"You are lucky to have the mom," Oscar commented from behind him. At his voice, the tan-skinned inkling turned around to face him. "I no meet my parents..." he murmured with a heavy expression.
"How...?" Before he could finish his question, the boy with hair swept to the side shook his head. "Parents or not, we need to work."
The bronze-skinned octoling sighed. "Of course you say that..."
Red eyes drifted towards the cash register. "You wanna take orders, or...?"
"I like the making of drinks," he replied. "I can no speak Inkling well; you know this."
"I know, I know..." Now, it was Roy's turn to sigh. "Fine, I'll take orders."
"OK. Be having the fun."
For the next few hours, Roy worked the register, taking orders whenever a customer came up to him. Near the end of his shift came one particular customer. A funny-looking inkling boy walked up the counter. He appeared to be around his age, with tan skin much like himself and blue eyes the same shade as Bonnie's. His head was shaved on one side, but on the other side laid four blue tentacles that reached his chin. Covering his mouth was a King facemask, and he was wearing a prune parashooter. Roy couldn't tell what kind of shoes he was wearing.
"Pardon," he greeted, "I would like some standard coffee. Decaf."
"Standard... decaf." The red-haired inkling wrote the order down on a slip of paper. He then entered the information into the cash register, and once the total popped up, he told the customer. "That will be 1,100G."
The blue-haired boy slid a pile of coins towards him. "Great."
"What is your name?" he then asked.
"Brayden," he replied. "B-R-A-Y-D-E-N."
Roy wrote it down and nodded. "Alright, we will call you over when your drink's ready."
"Thank you." Brayden walked over to the waiting area, while the other boy walked over to Oscar and gave him the order slip.
The octoling read over it, and a worried look proceeded to form across his face. "The name 'Brayden' is the familiar," he mused.
"With that spelling and everythin'?" Roy questioned.
He nodded. "The friend of Iris is named Brayden." He leaned closer to the red-haired inkling and whispered, "An octoling, like me."
"Is it this Brayden an octoling?" Roy asked.
"I can tell, but where is he?" He turned Oscar around and pointed to the blue-haired boy. The bronze-skinned looked up at Roy and nodded.
"Really?" he gasped.
"I do not lie, do I?"
"Stop chatting and make the order!" one of their coworkers complained.
"Sorry, sorry!" Oscar apologized, snapping right back to the machine to continue brewing the coffee. After he made Brayden's order, he handed the cup to Roy, who proceeded to call for him. The blue-haired boy approached the counter and swiped the coffee out of the red-haired inkling's hands before going to a table and sitting back down.
He returned to the cash register and took the next customer's orders. As he took orders, however, his red eyes were focused on Brayden. The supposed octoling sipped his coffee every-now-and-then while scrolling through the contents on his phone. Just at it seemed like Brayden was finished drinking, Oscar retired from the coffee-brewing machines and started to head towards the exit of Starfish Drinks.
"Oscar!" the tan-skinned inkling called. "Where are you going?"
"My shift is done," he replied. The bronze-skinned octoling had stopped in the doorway, turning his head to look towards his coworker.
"Already?" Red eyes glanced up at the clock, then back into orange eyes. "Then my shift's done, too." He walked towards Oscar, hoping to follow him out of the coffee shop. Unfortunately, he crossed paths with Brayden, who was trying to leave the building, too. "Umm..." Roy started, annoyed. "Can I leave?"
"I was trying to leave, too," the boy with a sidecut argued. "You might work here, but I have better things to do."
"Like what?" he challenged, crossing his arms.
"Roy...!" the octoling with the afro whined. "No fight!"
"Oscar, leave," the red-haired inkling demanded. "This isn't your problem." Oscar's eyes widened, but he simply gave a nod and darted away into the streets. There goes my chance to talk to him, Roy grumbled to himself. He focused on Brayden again, narrowing his eyes.
"Is he your friend?" the blue-haired octoling questioned.
"I-" Becoming flustered, he shook his head. "N-No!"
"It seems like he is."
"We just work together, nothing more than that!" Roy straightened and started to march out of Starfish Drinks. "Good day!" he concluded.
Still in his uniform, the tan-skinned inkling traversed the streets of Inkopolis, towards the square, where he could potentially play some turf wars. Yet, he was not in the mood for turf wars, or any ink battles, right now. I need to talk to someone... He could talk to Oscar, but he had seemingly disappeared after leaving the shop.
Eventually, he arrived at the square, standing on top of the marking resembling the one found on spawn points. He put his hands on his hips and scanned the area. Past the Crust Bucket sat a group of familiar inklings. The Rainbow Squids. Except, he was not present. He gulped.
Would they really accept me after all I've done? Everyone he had talked to seemed to think so, but the doubt still remained. He started to remember facing Bonnie on the ship, ready to beat her up. He remembered Octavia jumping in front of her, demanding him to stop. He remembered the fear in those blue eyes...
His friends seemed to notice him, as they looked in his direction and waved. He waved back and, after giving himself some encouragement, approached them.
"Hey," he greeted, putting a hand behind his head.
"Yo!" Perry greeted back, making a gesture in the manner of Pearl. Yuri fist-bumped with the pale-skinned inkling and nodded to acknowledge Roy's presence.
"Hi," said Inigo. Octavia said the same thing after him.
"Hey!" Alexis cheered, smiling. "You're here!"
Bonnie was the last to speak. "Nice to see you."
"N-Nice to see you too," Roy concluded. "Can I... join you?"
"Of course," the boy with the ponytail replied. The red-haired inkling walked up to the empty chair at the table and took a seat. He sat down and placed his elbows on the reflective surface, digging his fists into his cheeks. "Hey," Inigo noted, "you don't look happy." He chuckled. "But then again, you're usually grumpy." The Rainbow Squids, including Roy, laughed at his comment.
"But seriously, what's wrong?" Via followed up.
"Nothing," he lied. "I'm fine."
"C'mon..." she teased, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "You're lying."
"No, I'm not," he emphasized.
The wavy-haired girl sighed. "Alright..." She leaned back in her chair. "Just... call us if you need anything."
"Umm..." He started fidgeting with his fingers. "I'm sorry," Roy apologized, looking at Bonnie. Her eyes widened at his statement. "For trying to hurt you."
"Roy, it's fine," Bon-Bon assured him.
"You sure?" he asked quietly.
She nodded. "Yeah. The past is the past. I wouldn't hate you forever just because you tried to hurt me one time."
"Really?"
"Really." The blue-haired girl stood up and held her arms out. "Wanna hug?"
Teary-eyed, Roy simply smiled and threw himself into Bonnie's arms. The girl was a little offset by his height at first, but once he settled in, she gave him a pat on the back. After a few seconds, they let go, smiling.
"We're glad you're back, Roy," she stated.
"All of us," remarked Inigo.
The red-haired inkling wiped a tear from his eyes. "Guys..."
At last, the Rainbow Squids were reunited.
A/N: I hope you guys noticed that the members of Octa Prisma parallel the members of the Rainbow Squids by now. So, by that logic, you would assume that Brayden would be described with Bonnie's skin tone, right? Well, obviously that isn't the case, and there's a reason for that! Anyways, you know what tomorrow is... the one-year anniversary of The Rainbow Squids! As promised, I'll post a new chapter tomorrow, same time as always. Normally, I would have school tomorrow, but due to current events, school is cancelled for the next few weeks. Which only gives me more time to write. Anyways, prepare yourselves for my one-year anniversary speech tomorrow, and Branchwing, out!