Thea ran through the busy streets of Inkopolis. Vision blurry from the tears. Throat dry and hoarse from crying. Gasping for air to fuel her weary lungs. She weaved in and out of surprised, staring people. She didn't care, she just ran. She didn't know where to, she didn't know when she'd stop, she didn't even know why she was running. She just knew that she needed to run. So, she ran.
Thea hadn't run like this since she had escaped from the training camp of the Octarian underground or the police force that hunted her down. She didn't run in any particular direction. She would run in straight lines down multiple blocks one minute, then zig-zag between them the next. She had no idea where she was going, but something spurred her on.
"Thea! S-stop! Please!"
The Octoling girl tried to block out the voice of the panicked Inkling giving chase. She was torn in two. Half of her was aching. It wanted to just fall on the ground and cry into the shoulder of a friend who cared for her. The other half was afraid. It wanted to flee from the apparent pervert that had lied to her and abused her.
Thea kept on running. There was no reason. No logic. Just blind panic as she put one foot in front of the other and tried to figure out what to do.
Jason ran in the sobbing Octoling's wake. Desperately calling out to her. Trying to understand what was happening. His heart pounded. His legs ached. If he had grabbed his blaster he could've made an ink trail to swim in, allowing much faster and easier travel. But there was no time to equip an ink weapon. He would've lost Thea.
He didn't fully know what went wrong. He had a theory, but it wasn't the time to dwell on that. His friend was upset and was running from him. He needed to know what was wrong. He needed to help. He needed to make sure she was safe.
Jason found it tricky to keep up with her. Her direction was random. She seemed completely lost and clueless about where to go. But she was fast. Jason was getting fatigued, and it seemed that she was too. He didn't think he'd ever run so fast in his life. Yet they kept at the chase. "Thea! Wait!" he continued to call out her name. Trying anything to make her stop. He couldn't let her get lost in the city all alone. He squeezed he way past the on-lookers that where fixated on the two crazed cephalopods who ran through the city. He was pretty sure he saw some people with their phones out to film the chase.
Jason was scared for his friend. Scared that his friend was willingly running from him. Did she suddenly become scared of him? He was mad. He was mad at his other friend. The friend he thought he could trust. He didn't know exactly what happened, but he knew it was somehow that friend's fault.
Thea and Jason continued to run at their absolute limit through the city. The afternoon wore on and the warm sun sank lower toward the horizon. Street lights came on and tired Inklings and Octolings made their way back home after work and play. Still, Jason and Thea ran as the sky started turning gold and crimson pink. And they ran for different reasons.
Thea finally slowed and stumbled into a dark alleyway on an empty street, no one else was around. The sun was nearly below the horizon. The few clouds in the sky were casting pink and golden rays across the sky and the Inkopolis cityscape. The alleyway was dark as the last of the sun's light and the few working streetlights around weren't enough to shine between the shadowy walls.
Thea stood there in the darkness for a moment, hands on her knees and panting hard. Her throat felt like it was on fire and her legs felt like jelly. Once she had caught her breath she stood up straight to get back to running, but suddenly, all the exhaustion and emotions washed over her. Her knees buckled and she fell against the wall and slid to the ground in a miserable, sobbing heap.
"Th-Thea..." Thea heard Jason call weakly. His quick and loud footsteps drew near. Jason ran past the alleyway looking for the weeping Octoling girl. He skidded to a halt and turned back into the alley. He saw that Thea had finally stopped running and was leaning against the wall on her knees, crying softly into her hands. Jason sighed deeply. He also needed a break.
Jason waited a moment to get some air into his lungs, then walked over to Thea. Jason leaned on the wall next to Thea, to exhausted to stand, and slid down it until he was sitting next to her. He reached out to comfort her. "Thea?"
"Don't!" Thea flinched and turned her back on him. "P-please don't touch me..." Feeling dejected, Jason swallowed the lump in his throat and retracted his hand. She needed space for a while so Jason pushed himself away from her to give her some. He needed to think too.
Thea cried for several minutes. Eventually, her sobbing was reduced to a sniffle every once in a while. She sat with her back against the wall like Jason and they sat in the silence of the dark alley, staring through the opposite wall for a while. Both of them were lost in their own thoughts. The sun sank closer and closer to the horizon. Jason had to do something or they'd be there all night.
Finally, Jason worked up the courage to say something. "Thea? What's wrong?"
No response. Unless more sniffling counts as a response.
"Thea, it's getting late." Jason sighed. "Please tell me what's wrong so we can sort this out." Thea drew in a shaky breath but still didn't say anything. She absent-mindedly wiped some tears away with the palm of her hand.
"Did I do something wrong?" Jason asked. Still no response. "Did I say something wrong?" Jason tried again. Again, Thea was silent. Jason was getting worried.
"Did Sam say something to upset you?" Jason had thought that Sam had done something to offend Thea, but he couldn't imagine what he could've done to make her run away. Still, nothing but another sniffle from Thea.
Jason sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere. Thea wasn't talking and the evening was getting cold. He hung his head in defeat and rubbed his eyes. "Cod clam it, Jason! You blew it, Jason, you stupid squid! And you don't even know how!" he yelled internally.
Jason was about to get up when Thea finally whispered, "I don't know what to believe anymore."
Jason barely heard Thea and turned to look at her. "W-what?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore. Or who to believe in anymore." Thea whispered. Her voice was broken and croaky. "I'm just so confused.
Jason hesitated to say anything but finally asked, "What are you confused about? Why are you confused?" Thea was back to silent mode. "What happened while I was gone?"
There was another minute of tense silence before Thea finally answered. "Sam told me that you were messing with me. He said that you were lying to me."
Jason was confused. He had suspected that Sam was behind this but he hadn't expected this. He was also upset that his 'best friend' had been saying negative things about him behind his back. He needed answers. "What do you mean?" Jason asked with furrowed eyebrows.
All of a sudden, Thea broke into tears and she buried her face in her hands. "He said that you were trying to gain my trust and tying to make me like you only for you to 'bang me'!" Thea sobbed into her hands, bent over and shaking. "He said that you only rescued me so that you could use me and that you're actually rich and you do this all the time a-a-and that you're not really awkward and you only did every-!" Thea gasped for air.
"I j-just...AHHH!" Thea looked up at a bewildered Jason. "COD! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" Thea practically screamed.
Thea dropped her head again and went back to quiet sobbing. "Why? Why why why?! I th... I thought I could trust you! I-I thought w-we were friends..."
Jason sat in stunned silence. Eyes wide and his mouth slightly open and quivering. He was a fish caught in the headlights. He felt so defeated and shamed. He felt betrayed. He felt overwhelmed. What in the world had Sam done? How in the world was he going to fix this?
Jason searched his brain for answers. Something to sound smart and collected. Something to bring comfort and light to Thea. But nothing came. He was in too much shock. So he did the only thing that had gotten him to this point: Go by his guts and hope for the best.
"T-Thea...I-I don't really know what to say." Jason hung his head. "I'm really sorry that you feel this way. B-but I gotta ask...what makes you believe Sam?"
Thea paused and thought about that for a moment. Why had she believed Sam over Jason? If Sam knew what was going on, why would he tell Thea? He'd be ruining Jason's plan. She had just taken Sam's word for it. But there was still the issue of Jason being in Thea's bed/couch. Was that really a perverted scheme or a coincidence that lined up with some things of her past? Thea's head swirled with even more questions.
"I...I don't know..." Thea relented with a sniffle. She wiped her nose with her shirt. "I don't know..."
"Oh." Jason bit his lip. "Can you tell me exactly what he said?" Thea didn't answer. "Please, Thea. I want to sort this out so we can go back to being friends. I want to help. But I can't unless I understand what happened.
Thea nodded and took a deep breath. "Ok." she said with an obviously fake smile and smug tone."Ok. He said that you do this often. T-t-that you take in a girl a-and gain their trust and make them fall in love with you or something and t-then you 'bang' them!" Thea exclaimed. She looked Jason in the face. Her pained face was red and tears ran from her eyes down her cheeks. "How do I know that's true or not, huh? I do I know you haven't done that to me?!"
"Thea..." Jason was lost. What could he say to convince Thea that he was genuine? "Well, what about your clothes and Inking lessons? And food? Would I have bought you all that just to gain your trust? If I was going to be rid of you in a week or two? You said it yourself. All that wasn't cheap."
Thea shook her head and looked away. "Sam said that you actually make a lot of money."
"Wha-"
"You work in a high-class restaurant, Jason! I even saw the employee chart!" Thea was almost yelling again. "I saw how much you earn! I don't know how much that converts to in Octarian currency, but I doubt it's an insignificant amount!"
"You're right!" Jason interrupted before Thea could say anything else. "I do get paid well. But most of my income goes back to my struggling family and into my savings account. I don't actually have a lot of cash to throw around, so taking you in really has been a problem for my wallet. That's why I got you the job, remember? So you could pay for your own expenses and so you can make a fresh start in this city!"
Thea reluctantly nodded. Jason did have a good point. "But...how do I know you're telling the truth?" Her voice croaked.
"It's my word against Sam's, Thea." Jason shrugged. "What you have to understand is Sam is a prankster. He pulls pranks on everyone, all the time! He did one on me the day I met you! 'Caused me a lot of embarrassment." Jason's face flushed a little.
"Now you're just saying what he said." Thea sighed. "'He does this from time to time' and 'He gets a kick out of it.'"
Jason sighed and shook his head. "Like I said, it's my word against Sam's. Question is: who do you trust more?"
Thea groaned and dropped her head down again. "I don't know! I don't know what to think! This is all too much!"
Jason nodded to himself. He shuffled closer to Thea and put his arm around her back to comfort her. Thea didn't flinch away, which was good. Jason swallowed the knot in his throat before asking, "Thea? Why did you run?"
Thea hesitated to answer but was opening up a bit. "If Sam really was trying to scare me, it definitely worked." she said with a phantom of a laugh. "I was scared. When I saw you, I had so many conflicting thoughts...I didn't know what to do...so I ran." Thea said with a huff.
"Oh." Jason smiled a bit. "Well, at least I now know how you've gotten so good at turf wars so quickly!"
"Hmm?" Thea looked up at Jason again.
"Holy squit, you run fast!" Jason laughed. "Seriously! If you hadn't been zig-zagging so much I wouldn't have been able to catch up to you in the corners!"
Thea laughed too. Jason couldn't believe how much he had missed that giggle. "I guess I have gotten pretty good at evading!" Thea smiled.
"Yeah, who needs strategy in sports? You just outrun your opponents!" Jason continued with a big grin. "Roller barrelling down on you? Nope! Just doge out the way, turn around and SPLAT!"
"Haha! Well, being a troublemaker in the army for a few years certainly drives you run a lot!" Thea laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes and face.
The two calmed down and returned to silence for a while. The sun had fully dipped below the horizon taking all the color in the sky with it. The two cephalopods sat, leaning against the cold brick wall of the dark alleyway. Jason left his arm around Thea's back because she wasn't protesting and neither was he. "Wow! A week ago I would never have imagined myself in this situation. Sitting alone, in a cold, dark alley, with my arm around a girl. An Octoling girl no less! And yet, it feels...almost...normal!" Jason smiled to himself. He felt like he was getting better with girls.
Thea sighed. "Jason?"
"Hmm?"
"I've made a decision."
"Oh. And what is your decision about?"
"I...I trust you." Thea looked into Jason's eyes.
"Thea?"
"I trust you!" Thea's voice cracked, tears beginning to run down her face again.
"Oh, Thea!" Jason, nearly in tears himself, pulled the Octoling in for a big hug.
Thea cried into Jason's shoulder. "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I ran! You were right, I fell for Sam's trick! I didn't trust you! I'm so sorry for what I've put you through! I should've trusted you o-or talked with you sooner!"
"Hey, hey, it's alright! It's not your fault!" Jason rubbed Thea's back. "Sam is the one who crossed a line. And I should've known better to leave you alone with Sam!"
"No! It's not alright! You've been so nice to me, and we were friends, and I went and ruined it!"
"But you didn't ruin anything!" Jason persisted. "It was a misunderstanding! Just like yesterday morning! It was a mistake for both of us. Nobody got hurt. Nothing is broken. We need to just move on."
"But I feel so guilty and...I'm just so sorry!" Thea continued to cry into Jason's shoulder.
"It's ok to feel guilty, Thea. Everybody has something to feel guilty about. Even me!" Jason pulled out of the hug with Thea. Thea still had her head down, sobbing. Her lips quivered and tears fell from her eyes to the stone pavement. Jason was tearing up too. "We can't change the past. What's done is done. What's important now is we move on with our lives. Learn from this, and work to be better in the future."
Thea nodded a bit. Jason lifted her chin and the two looked into each other's eyes. "It's ok!" Jason reassured the Octoling. "We're gonna be fine!"
Thea smiled. "Yeah. Thank you so much, Jason! For everything!" She pulled Jason back in for another hug.
"You're welcome, Thea." Jason said as he smiled wide returned the hug.
The full moon was rising in the dark sky to join the stars. It shone directly into the alleyway where the squid and octopus sat in each other's arms.
As Jason thought about how crazy his situation was, he remembered something that would top off the evening. "Oh!" He ended the hug with Thea and fumbled with his pockets. "Thea, the reason we got back so late was because I picked up something!" as he pulled a small, red box from his pocket and handed it to Thea.
Thea's eyes grew wide. "For me?"
"Yeah!" Jason nodded enthusiastically. "Open it up!"
Thea slowly opened the lid of the box. What she saw inside took her breath away. A small. Golden ornament. The same one Thea had seen in the store window a few days prior. It looked like a ball with a beautiful swirling pattern molded into it and a spike running through the middle.
"Oh my-" Thea whispered. "Where did you find this?!"
Jason chuckled. "Does it matter?"
Thea shook her head with a big grin. "No!" She inspected the golden trinket in her hands. The moonlight sparkled off its surface making it seem as though it was radiant. "This is just like the one I used to have!"
"I take it you like it?" Jason asked with a bit of cheekiness.
"Like it? You have no idea how much this means to me!" Thea held the ornament to her chest. Jason had to concentrate to keep his eyes up.
"So you said it was symbolic to your people?" Jason asked to get his mind off that.
"Yeah. It's called a Golden Toothpick. They used to be extremely rare and only the wealthy could afford them. They became more and more common when I was still young." Thea explained, still looking at the ornament. "Wow, this is amazing!" Suddenly, a frown washed over Thea's face. "Wait, how much did this cost!?"
"Not quite enough to drive me to instant noodles for meals!" Jason laughed. On the inside he thought about how annoying it was that he had to break into his savings account. But he didn't want Thea to feel guilty about that. "Don't worry about it! It's my gift to you!"
Thea wrapped her arm around Jason again in a tight hug. "Thank you so much! I love it so much!"
Jason just continued to smile wide. "You're welcome, Thea! Now...uhh, you're supposed to wear it, right?
Thea nodded. She brought the golden toothpick up to her head and tried to put it in her ponytail headband but she couldn't quite get it in.
"Here, I'll try." Jason reached up to help. He took the golden toothpick and attempted to stick it in Thea's tentacle band.
Thea blushed. "Thanks. I-it's been a while."
"No problem!" Jason managed to fix the ornament to Thea's tentacles. He pulled back to get a look at her.
"H-how do I look?" Thea sheepishly asked with a deep blush on her face.
Jason had to watch that he didn't audibly gasp. The golden toothpick sicking in Thea's tentacles added an adorable, childish and whimsical feeling. But the shiny gold coating gave off a more beautiful, elegant and mature feel. "Stunning." was all Jason could say.
Thea giggled. Never had she met such a charming, yet genuine guy before. And an Inkling no less! He always tried so hard to stay cool and honest. He really cared about her and wanted her to be happy. Even to run halfway around the city for her. Perhaps he was the one who could help her start over and forget about her terrible past. Thea finally understood the feelings she had kept so guarded and bottled up inside her. She needed to say something but couldn't figure it out what.
Jason thought about his time with Thea. All the happy, sad, frustrating and embarrassing moments they'd had in their short time together. Meeting Thea was the best thing to have happened to Jason in a long time. She was the first girl in his life that had become his friend. The first girl in his life who actually wanted to spend time with him and make him happy. She was the first girl he had really opened up to. He didn't even feel that awkward around her anymore. Jason realized that he could no longer dismiss the feelings he had about Thea as simple shyness. He needed to do something, but he couldn't figure out what.
The full moon shone brightly upon the Inkling city of Inkopolis, reflecting the light of the retired sun. Millions of distant stars joined the cosmic dance across the sky. In old alleyway next to a deserted street, an Inkling and Octoling sat alone, thinking about each other, not really wanting to do anything else.
Jason realized that he and Thea were holding hands. He then realized that their faces were getting closer together. "This is like something from a cheesy teen movie!" Jason thought. "Holy carp! I never thought I'd get to this point!"
The Jason from a week ago would've pulled out and ran away in embarrassment. But Jason didn't care about his awkwardness anymore. His heart was pounding out of his chest. The little voice in his head was screaming and setting off alarm bells. But Jason couldn't care less. All he was focused on were the beautiful, shimmering sapphire eyes in front of him.
Thea pushed aside what little doubt remained. It felt like removing a wet and heavy coat. She was sure of her decision, nothing was going to change her mind. She felt Jason holding her hands and she saw that their heads were slowly moving closer and closer together. It felt automatic, natural. She dropped any reservations she still had and just focused on his blazing green, emerald eyes. Moving forward with her life. No backing out now.
Jason was about to close his eyes and commit to his first kiss when a light shone into his eye. The moonlight reflecting off of something on the ground. At first, Jason was going to ignore it, but something stirred in his subconscious. A feeling of dread washed over him, like a flash flood of anxiety, ruining this perfect moment.
Thea saw Jason stop and frown. He was looking at something on the ground behind her. "Jason?" Jason stood up and walked over to the shiny object. He crouched down to get a look at it.
A knife. Lying on the ground and reflecting the moonlight in just the right angle to get Jason's attention. Jason felt memories coming back to him. Something clicked. "Oh, my Cod." He muttered with wide eyes. He started running towards one of the alleyway's exits, the one they came in, but skidded to a halt and ran to the other one. He got there and looked around.
Empty plastic bags, rotten fruit, and damaged tin cans. "Squit, squit, squit!" He hissed through his teeth. He put his hands on his head and tried to sort through the swirling memories and emotions.
"Jason, what's going on?" Thea asked from the other end of the alleyway. She started walking over to the knife.
Jason ran back over and knelt over the knife again. He grabbed a piece of cardboard from the trash and used it to turn the knife over.
"Uhh...What are you doing?" Thea asked confused at what Jason was doing.
Jason found what he was looking for. "That basstard!" Jason whispered loudly. "SON OF A FISH!" Jason got up and bolted for the exit.
"Wait, Jason? Jason!" Thea called after him, but the Inkling didn't answer. He ran out of the alleyway, turned at the exit and ran down the sidewalk. Thea was left alone. She bent down to get a look at the knife. What she saw made her blood run cold.
Wow, what a chapter!
I've been dreading doing this chapter for a long time. This is like the downbeat, emotional part of the movie right before the climax. I'm sure you know what that means! But I'm happy with how it turned out. It sure was a grind, but I think it was worth it. I have been dying to use that 'son of a fish' pun for a while!
I'm truly sorry about the wait on this one. Life has been crazy busy with ice dance and work. I went to South Korea for a week and a half for a training seminar for crying out loud! Hopefully, the lengthy chapter made up for it. No? Ok. :'(
I need to give a big thanks to you, the readers, for keeping me sane. The positive feedback has been wonderful and it spurs me on to actually sit down and write. This story began as a little exercise for a much larger story. Now it's an obsession. It's all I think about. I'm constantly thinking of new ways to improve the story. It's amazing! And I have you to thank for it!
So to actually do something more than saying 'thank you' I've come up with a little something for you guys. I've made a little discord server for us to hang out and chat about The Little Differences. A place to talk to me and other people who like this story or other Splatoon fanfictions. I'd also be able to give more frequent updates on the status of new chapters and give out fun teasers and...I don't know I just thought it would be fun! I'd love to meet some new people! (If you're in the SWC discord server already then don't worry about it...unless you really want to join that is.)
So if you want in, send me a PM and I can get you a link. It will only take you a few seconds to ask. You will have to log into your fanfiction account to PM me though. If you don't have a fanfiction account, they're absolutely free. And in case you don't know discord, it's also free...and it's awesome! I already have a few friends in the sever. Hope to see you there!
Sorry for the long author's note.
Until next time,
Dashanerocket