Inigo's PoV
"Almost there..."
Right now, Inigo and Naomi were at the former's house, playing the multiplayer mode of a 3D version of Squid Racer. The boy with the ponytail was on the edge of his seat, focusing on the screen as his character, a red squid, approached the finish line. However, Naomi's character, a blue squid, was not too far behind him. Soon enough, Inigo saw a red pufferfish powerup coming his way. He pressed against the joystick of the controller, guiding his character towards it. However, he narrowly missed it, much to his disdain.
Naomi's character ended up taking the powerup instead, zooming past him and straight to the finish line. Inigo crossed the finish line a few seconds later, and the announcer called the race to an end.
"Player 2 wins!" they announced, showing a graphic of a blue squid dancing. The red squid and the jellyfish CPUs were crying around the blue squid.
"Yay!" Naomi cheered. "I won!"
"And I lost," Inigo remarked with a frown.
The olive-skinned girl looked back at him. "You wanna play again?"
He thought about it for a few moments, but he ended up shaking his head. "Nah," he replied. "Let's do something else."
"But what else could we do? We're at your house."
"We could go out to see a movie or something. Or eat at a restaurant. Or just take a walk."
"Hm..." Naomi put a hand on her chin, thinking. "We could go out to the movie theater, but we have movies here, don't we?" She got up from the couch and kneeled down next to the TV, pulling out a stack of DVDs from a shelf. "Let's see... 'Swim and Serious 8?' Eh... 'Space Turf Wars: The Octarians Strike Back?' Maybe. 'We're Contemptible?' I don't know. …'Mean Squids?!' Heck yeah; let's watch that!"
Mean Squids? It wasn't his favorite movie, but he didn't mind watching it. "Sure," he agreed.
"Fresh!"
She proceeded to turn off the Nintendo Shift and turned on the DVD player instead. She opened the case and inserted the DVD into the player, the disc soon disappearing into the machine. The television soon shifted from a bright blue to some previews. After the previews were finished, a menu appeared. The remote in her hand, Naomi plopped back onto the couch and pressed play. Smiling, she scooted closer to Inigo and rested her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her, a blush creeping on his face. He soon returned his attention to the movie.
"Isn't Alyssa Cabezon such a good actor?" she remarked about ten minutes into the movie. "She really brings life to Lindsey!"
"Eh..." he muttered. "She falls kinda flat, in my opinion. I think the girl who plays Tatiana is the best."
"Huh?!" The olive-skinned inkling sat up, removing her head from his shoulder. "Tatiana is a world-class jerk! You like her?"
"Well, she's pretty, too."
Naomi sighed. "I'm not surprised."
They continued to watch the movie. Inigo wasn't as invested in the movie as she was. When Naomi paused the movie to go to the bathroom, he opted to make some popcorn. He pulled a bag of microwavable popcorn from the kitchen cabinet and placed it in the microwave. He leaned against the counter as soon as the timer starter, the sounds of popping soon pricking his ears.
Naomi soon returned from the bathroom and went wide-eyed when she saw Inigo taking the bag of popcorn out of the microwave. She ran over to him, jumping up and peeking over his shoulder.
"Popcorn!" she bubbled. "What flavor?"
"Butter," he replied, opening the bag. "Just what you'd expect."
"Well hey, I love butter, so it's a win for me." She reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of popcorn, stuffing it into her mouth. "Let's get back," she suggested after swallowing the popcorn.
Inigo nodded, and they headed back to the couch with the bag of popcorn. Inigo hit the play button on the TV remote and set it down, letting the movie play. They continued to watch it, commenting on the movie when the opportunity arose. When the popcorn bag was half-empty, he reached up to his hair and grabbed his hair tie, pulling it out and letting his tentacles fall. He brushed one out of his face and placed it on Naomi's hair, the suction cup now sticking to the top of her head. The olive-skinned girl noticed and rested her head on his shoulder again. Now, the edge of his tentacle brushed her ear, ever-so-slightly, sending a jolt through his body.
He missed that feeling ever since Geneva broke up with him. Now, he could have it again.
The movie soon finished, and now the popcorn bag was empty. Inigo nudged Naomi, who's yellow-green eyes soon focused on his.
She raised a hand and looked at it. "My fingers are so oily now..."
"Aren't we already oily?" he pointed out.
"Yeah, but this is a different oil."
"Fair."
She got up and went to the bathroom again. In the distance, he heard the sink faucet turn on and presumed she was washing her hands. She returned after she finished, putting her hands on her hips. In the meantime, he had started to lick his fingers clean of the popcorn residue.
"You gonna wash your hands?"
"Maybe." He probably should, but he didn't particularly care if they were dirty. Only if he was going to read a book or something like that.
"So, what now?" she asked him, stretching her arms.
"Hm..." He paused to think, and then he offered, "Do you want to see my Carbon Roller Deco?"
"Huh?" Naomi's eyes went wide. "Y-Your Carbon Roller Deco?"
"Yeah, I have it in my closet," he explained. "I haven't used it in a while, and it still has seekers on it. You use rollers too, right? Thought you might want to see it."
She muttered something quietly in response, but louder, she answered, "Oh, OK. Sure."
"Great!" Inigo sprung up from his seat and gestured for the olive-skinned girl to follow him. They went to the stairs and climbed up them, soon arriving at the door to his bedroom. He opened it and stepped out of the way, allowing Naomi to enter first. He closed the door, grabbed her hand, and guided her to his weapon closet, where he proceeded to open it up. Two Tri-Sloshers fell from the top shelf, one landing on his head, the other tumbling to the ground. Naomi giggled and placed the second Tri-Slosher on top of the first one.
Inigo sighed and took the sloshers off, placing them back on the shelf. He grabbed the Carbon Roller Deco and pulled it out, making sure not to knock over any of his other rollers in the process. After he removed it from the closet, he closed the door and held out the roller. Its wheel had started to become slick with indigo ink upon his touch, though he didn't intend to use it.
"My Carbon Roller Deco," he introduced it. "Like it?"
Naomi spun the wheel, some ink sticking onto the palm of her hand. "Looks old."
"Well, that's because it is." He threw the roller over his shoulder. "Last time I used this thing was the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest."
"Why haven't you used it since?" she then inquired.
"Eh, I just like the normal Carbon Roller better. It's more aggressive."
"But isn't the Carbon Roller now less aggressive? The new Carbon Roller Deco has burst bombs and Autobomb Launcher, while the original has autobombs and Ink Storm."
Inigo frowned. "Things...have changed since then."
In the days following his break up with Geneva, he fell into a depression of some sorts. He didn't battle, he didn't see anyone, all he did was stay locked up in his room. It was then he had started to reconsider his weapon of choice. Inkzooka didn't seem too fitting anymore for him. Why not take a supportive role instead? The first battle after the break-up, he attempted to use the Dynamo Roller. He found it too heavy. He then tried a standard Splat Roller. But none of the variations clicked with him. So, he returned to the Carbon Roller, less enthusiastic than before. His rank started to plumet, falling all the way down to A- after maintaining S rank for months.
"Ya can't keep throwing," Roy scolded him one day after a Squad Battle. "You're holding us down."
"Yeah, we've lost every match so far!" Octavia had agreed.
"I'm not throwing," he had simply muttered in response, avoiding their glares.
The Rainbow Squids' reactions to his unusual behavior hadn't particularly helped. He was already on the introverted side, but the break-up only had him withdraw more and more. Becoming the Vigilante had helped him regrasp some of his former self, but looking back on it, it felt odd to him. He knew now that he would rather be himself.
Eventually, the others came around about a month after the break-up. He finally explained why he now acted the way he did. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking, but at the very least, they seemed to regret their earlier words. They apologized and comforted him. Thankfully, they changed for the better. They all did.
When he first heard of Ink Storm, he became intrigued. He demoed the new Custom Splattershot Jr. in June of last year, and he ended up liking it a lot. When he heard that the new Carbon Roller had the same kit, he was overjoyed. The new version of his favorite weapon reignited his love for it, and he fought with more enthusiasm than ever before, climbing back up to S rank after being stuck in A rank for who-knows-how-long.
"You're not gonna talk about it?" Naomi said after a long silence.
"Yeah." He returned his attention to his girlfriend. "You don't need to know."
"Oh, OK." Her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket, her eyes going wide at the notification. "Shoot, the Salmon Run rotation ends in two hours! And I haven't gotten the superbonuses yet! I gotta go!"
"Wait," he interjected, dropping the Carbon Roller Deco and pulling her towards him. "Can we at least kiss?"
Naomi blinked, a smile growing her face. Instead of answering, she leaned towards him and pressed her lips into his, catching him off-guard. But he didn't mind. She had a habit of doing that. He placed a hand on her back and kissed her back. One kiss turned into two, two kisses turned into three, and so on. They stepped towards a wall, a simple kiss turning into a make-out session.
Inigo released his mouth from hers, out of breath as his heart pounded in his chest. He wiped his lips, tasting blood in his mouth from where Naomi had bit him. He stepped back, stumbling onto his bed.
"Inigo!" the olive-skinned inkling gasped. "You alright?"
"I'm fine," he huffed. "Just...need to...catch my breath." He looked up at her. "You go ahead. I don't want to keep you here any longer."
She nodded. "Thank you. I don't want to waste any more time." She opened the bedroom, looking back at him. "See ya." She winked and walked away.
"Bye." He leaned back, falling face-up and staring up at the ceiling. He did not expect to make out with Naomi today, but that was what it evolved into.
He chuckled, smiling to himself. "You bring new surprises every day, girlie."
A/N: Yay, fluff! It feels nice to write fluff sometimes. Well, the last part isn't necessarily fluff, but most of the chapter is, and that's the important part. I think I'm better at writing angst, but I like reading fluff better. It's a double-edged sword, if that makes sense. But, it's good to practice writing fluff sometimes. Well, that's all I have to say. Branchwing, out.