A/N: HEY sorry for the possibly larger than usual amount of typos in this. I don't really have the energy to revise this rn, I just wanted to get it out here ASAP because it's honestly a pretty exciting chapter.
"You know… I'm kind of starting to think your boyfriend doesn't like me, Kama."
Fen stared at his drink, figuring out how he was going to get the remaining chocolate pieces out of the now empty glass. He could just call the waitress and ask for a long spoon or something, but was that how it was supposed to be done? Should he just make pieces slide into his mouth by tilting the glass? Was he supposed to have eaten them before the juice was over and now it was socially unacceptable for him to eat the chocolate? Would it be too weird to ask Kama for advice after saying a sentence as loaded as that?
"What? No way, he does!" Kama spoke with his mouth still full of cake. "He does like you, dude!"
"I don't know, he seems kind of... Suspicious when talking to me." Fen threw his worry aside and chose his second option. Nobody on the tables around them seemed to mind, nor did Kama himself, so he thought he probably chose the right option.
"Well... That's kinda my fault. I didn't really tell him much about you or what I needed to help you with until last weekend, so he got some bad ideas." Kama chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Ah, I understand. Should I stop with the jokes about you cheating on him with me then?"
"No! Well... Probably, but I don't want you to think this is your fault."
"Don't worry, I understand." Fen smiled reassuringly, finishing off the last of his drink. "Um... Also, are you really sure you should be paying for everything? I mean, I know Sal said you're rich and all that, but I still don't feel very comfortable in using you like this."
"It's really fine! No worries, we'll get you some cash right now. Right after I pay for your first set of clothes, that is."
"Eh? I thought we had already bought some."
"We did, but turf war clothes are different than regular ones! They give you abilities when you wear them during a match, like more speed or making your ink recover faster."
"Isn't that cheating?"
"Nope, everyone uses them! It's part of the game, in a way. You gotta choose the best combination of abilities for each situation."
Fen nodded in silence. Kama had finished his cake already, so they got up to pay for their meals and walked towards the Inkopolis Square.
Even though the Square was one of the most popular places in Inkopolis, it wasn't nearly as full as the rest of the city. The average inkling didn't spend a lot of time at the plaza, instead just using it as a meeting place or browsing the stores located in it before hopping into a match. They were all managed by different owners, although they did gave a passage connecting them so one could quickly hop from store to store while checking the products.
"Nice! Looks like you're pretty much all set up in the clothing department."
Although Kama wasn't going to admit it, he found it extremely boring to watch Fen browse and speculate on the different clothing combinations for a whole hour. Eventually, Fen came out of the central changing room, wearing a skull bandana, a dark bomber jacket and a pair of Orca woven high tops.
"Just put on some eyeliner and you'll pretty much look like me when I had a punk phase." He let out a chuckle. Joke apart, the octoling boy had picked up an interesting combination of main abilities (special saver, special power up and ink saver sub), and he did look pretty good in it! Pretty good indeed… Kama had to internally slap and remind himself that he already had a boyfriend so he'd stop staring like a weirdo. The inkling was wearing a Takoroka visor, a black Squideye shirt and navy Emperrial shoes. He'd have opted for a shirt with more sub slots if he was going solo, but he kinda wanted to look god around Fen.
"Hey, speaking of that… There should be one of those around here… Hang on!" Kama hushed to the counter and asked the current store's clerk, Jelfonzo, for a clothing catalog. He called Fen to the counter and started flipping the pages, going back at least two or so years worth of clothing lines until he'd stopped at one particular section. It read, "featured in Inkopolis Collection 2016". He ran his finger over the pictures until he stopped with a gasp, pointing at one of the clothing sets. A boy with his tentacles tied in a bun behind his head, wearing aviator glasses, a leather jacket, black jeans, moto boots and a belt that had a belt buckle in the shape of a squid.
"Rockenberg! I remember it was like, super hot in the event and I almost passed out twice. But it was pretty fun! That's how I got my name out there."
"Eh? You were a model?" Fen's eyes widened. He took the catalog and started flipping the pages to see if he found any more of Kama.
"Still am! Sal's not the only one who does cool things around here, you know." He let out a chuckle. "It's pretty fun! And I can't live off turf war alone anyways. Well… I could, but I don't like it that much."
"You do look good in a cape."
"I do! We should just wear more capes in general. I gotta pitch that to Tentatek or some other company." Kama nodded. "Anyways! One more shop to go. And it's pretty much the most important one to play turf war."
Walking through another one of the interconnected doors, they found themselves in a new store. This one had plain colored walls that were filled to the brim with shelves upon shelves of weapons. Some even looked like they weren't commercially ready yet, and others clearly looked like they were being repaired. A cheery voice came from behind the counter, its owner popping from under it a few seconds later.
"Welcome to Ammo Knights! Say, have you got your Octo Shot with you right now?" Sheldon smiled. "A few octolings have been coming here with them, but they're not fully battle-ready yet. Just hand it to me and I'll prepare it for you, free of charge!"
"Oh. Um… Here." Fen nodded and took out the Octo Shot he had found at the Kamabo Corporation interior.
He put it on the table, and Sheldon simply placed two stickers on the barrel before handing it back. "There we go! Now you have access to splat bombs and the inkjet as well. Make good use of it!"
"Thank you!" Fen bowed politely, taking a look at the weapon. Nothing looked different from the outside, but he assumed those stickers would work only during a turf war match.
"Let's go have a look around! Usually you have to wait until you're a certain level to buy certain weapons, but Sheldon is making an exception for octolings since it's kinda hard to determine what level they would be. C'mon, go have fun! I'll pay for it as well, of course, don't worry about that."
Kama headed straight for the rollers' display, while Fen quickly browsed the whole store. Unlike during clothes shopping, it didn't take long until Fen found what he wanted. Kama was both surprised and relieved by the short wait.
"Splat charger and heavy splatling deco! Nice picks, I see you're more of a backline player." Sheldon quickly went into the backroom and got brand new versions of the weapons for Fen, still inside a box. "Do you want me to get them ready for you? Only takes a few minutes, and they'll be delivered to your Deca Tower storage space in case you already have one! Free of charge as well."
"That would be good, thank you." Fen nodded. "Though… I think I'd like to test the charger now, if that's possible."
"Of course! You could have done that before the purchase, but it's alright." Sheldon handed Fen the testing model of the charger and an ink tank, pointing to a door in the back of the shop. "Have fun out there!"
"Wait for me!" Kama hushed after him, carrying the test version for the carbon roller deco. After a rather lengthy explanation of how things worked during battles, including special weapon mechanics, ink color meanings, splatfest to good sportsmanship and squid (octopus, in Fen's case) form etiquette, they finally started testing their weapons.
The carbon roller deco was… Good in theory. Being able to splat enemies with a single close-ranged swipe was the main gimmick of the weapon, and the burst bombs provided a decent way to finish off opponents that had been weakened and out of the range of the roller. The special was probably the best thing in the set, though. One autobomb was already annoyingly dangerous, but a whole rush? It was sure to turn the tide of the battle. The major flaw, however, was that one would have to possess stellar positioning, speed and maneuvering to properly utilize it. Kama decided he'd stick to the original splat roller for now.
He after swinging his weapon around for a bit in the left side of the training area – the one with the moving targets – he crossed over to the right to check on Fen. It looked like he was testing the minimum and maximum range of the weapon and subweapon, as well as examining the design of the splat charger itself. He then pulled out a small notepad from one of his pockets, and started scribbling away his discoveries. Kama couldn't help but smile a little, recognizing that as something Sal did as well (though with much less frequency).
"So! What do you think?" Kama finally asked, walking towards Fen. He was glad to see the other wasn't startled by his sudden approach.
"The reload time is pretty long. And there's a bit of recoil. I don't think this would be very good in a war."
"Well… Probably not, but it's that way because it's not a war. Every weapon has some major flaws so everyone can have fun! It also incentivizes smart team compositing, since you have to choose something to compensate for your teammate's weaknesses as well as get an advantage on the opponent's bare weapon choice."
"It does make sense when you put it that way." Fen tilted his head to the side slightly, processing the new information, then smiled. "I think this is pretty good. I never thought something as blatantly violent as weapons could be used in a lighthearted game, but inklings never cease to surprise me. In a good way, now that I'm out of the battlefield."
"Yeah! Hey, you should try something related to philosophy or writing when you choose a job. You're pretty good with words." Kama smiled, making the faintest blush appear on Fen's face. "You wanna test the splatling as well? We don't need to get back into the shop, just shout and Sheldon will deploy it right here using some fancy drones."
"Well… Actually, I'd like to try it during a game, if that's okay." Fenn nodded. "It's just for fun, right? So there's no problem if I do that, I assume. And splatlings are supposed to ink the ground better than chargers, so I'll be way more useful than with a charger anyways."
Kama agreed to it and they soon headed out of the store. It was a short walk until their destination – Deca Tower. It was a structure that mimicked the famous Inkopolis Tower, but had a completely different story and aesthetic. Their primary function was the same, though: provide a lobby for all kinds of ink battles, as well as house a complex set of underground transportation rooms (like elevators, but also horizontal) to actually take the inklings to their destination.
Kama and Fen entered the main area of the tower, which was a massive waiting room with multiple sets of doors. Since they opted to form a duo, they would be paired together with other duos and squads. It was a way to make things fun – and also fair, since playing with friends usually implies that the coordination of a team will be much better. Soon enough the boys' duo number was flashed on a screen above an elevator, signifying the matchmaking had already begun. They stepped into the futuristic looking room – with techno music blasting at a moderate volume – and the room suddenly started moving around an undetermined space. After a few seconds, on a screen on the inside of their room, a message saying "squad found" flashed in bright letters, and the doors opened.
"Oh! Nice to see you here!"
It was a group consisting of three inkling girls. Two of them had two long and vaguely rectangular tentacles running in front of their face, a dark skin tone, pink eyes and matching pins orca pins. The third one was the tallest of them, with a "haircut" similar to Sal, except that the tentacle covering her right cheek was longer and thinner. They were all using different pieces of gear, but one thing they all had in common is that they all had the word "Tailslap" on the back of their body wear. They also all had the same color of ink – a deep and vibrant purple.
"Oh, hey girls! It's nice to see you here too." Kama smiled, holding his hands behind his back. "Sorry I couldn't watch the past training sessions, I was showing my new buddy around."
"I'm still pretty sad. But that's justifiable, I guess." One of the twins said in a monotonous tone. She directed her gaze towards Fen. "Hi. You look like use chargers frequently, your splatling stance is a little off."
"Eh?" Fen realized he had unconsciously gotten his splatling from the ground and started aiming towards the door. He released it, looking a bit embarrassed by his actions. "How did you know?"
"It's a long and boring answer." Her twin replied, looking down at the rapidly moving LED patterns on the wall. "I thought Sal was going to spend the day with you. What is he doing?"
"Ah, his Arrowbands broke so he's getting them fixed. Long story, but don't worry. I'm sure you're all going to do amazing at the match regardless of whether or not Sal is slacking off right now." Kama chuckled, redirecting his attention towards the taller inkling again. "So… Lin, what're you doing here? I thought you should be warming up for the match tomorrow or something?"
"We are. And what a better way to warm up than to do some charity work?" Lin smiled, though she frowned as she looked around her feet. "It's okay, sweetie, you can come out. The battle didn't start yet."
After a few moments, a short octoling girl came from behind Lin's legs. Her tentacles were tied in a bun above her head, uncovering the view of her pale and round face. She was missing a few of them, incidentally, and also had a bandage over her left eye. She didn't look like she was older than 14. Her face suddenly lit up as she saw Fen, and she hushed to talk to the octoling boy while loosening the grip on her Octo Shot.
"She… Well, we're not sure about what happened with her, but it seems she was abused by her clan back home." Lin frowned, glancing at the two octolings peacefully chatting. "I knew the next wave of charity matches would be with octolings, because of their recent en-masse arrival on Inkopolis, but still… Some of these kids are definitely not okay."
"Ah." Kama frowned as well, glancing besides him. "I'm… Lucky Fen doesn't hate me, since I was pretty much going to splat him for good if the Inkantation hadn't started played in time. I still say sorry to him a lot, but…"
Before Kama could finish the sentence, the doors to the room opened again, and two random inkling boys entered the lobby. The conversation between the inklings ceased, ending with a simple nod between the two. And after a small while, the teams were set: The three members of Tailslap and the octoling girl were obviously a full team, which led to Kama and Sal being grouped with the two low-level inklings. The stage was Piranha Pit, and their ink was turquoise colored.
Kama didn't know how to behave in that match. Tailslap was the number two team in Inkopolis, but they'd probably hold themselves back so they could fully support and make the octoling girl the star of the team. He hoped the two other guys on their team had gotten the message, otherwise…
Kama didn't have time to finish his sentence, as next thing he knew he was splatted by a rapidly moving blur. He climbed onto one of the platforms near the spawn point on his way back, and was amazed at the sight. The octoling girl was swimming around the whole map in just a few seconds, trying to ink every corner she could even though the range and mediocre fire range of the Octo Shot put her in a disadvantage. On the other side of the fight was Fen, who wielded the splatling with almost perfect accuracy and ink management. Kama and the Tailslap members looked at each other from opposite sides of the map, mouths wide open in amazement. In the end, each team would have painted exactly 50% of the match. However, Fen stopped shooting a millisecond earlier, which led to the purple team receiving the winning decimal.
Kama and Fen watched with small smiles on their face as the octoling girl cheered and hugged the Tailslap members. For Fen especially, it was a truly heartwarming sight. Besides the whole "promised land" incident, his migration to Inkopolis had been relatively peaceful and free of conflict. That little display of affection reminded him that, even though things were rough back at Octopolis, and even though some of the older inklings still harbored hate towards their kind, the octolings would now have a place to live under the sun like they once had. Peace, once such a distant and shallow concept, never looked so bright.
Kama, Fen, the octogirl and the Tailslap trio continued to play for the whole afternoon. They cycled through pretty much all of the maps available that month, used a little bit of each weapon class, and had a ton of fun. The two people on Kama and Fen's team alternated each time. Some of them were quiet, others talkative, but no one was really rude or annoying to them fortunately. Fen was especially glad about that, since he had read some news online about people being racist towards octolings during matches. The idea made him shiver a little - but he was certain his friends would protect him and use their popularity to report the aggressor if anything happened.
Kama was happy to see Fen enjoying himself so much. The once shy octoling was slowly warming up to him, and he was starting to become… Infatuated with everything he did. His movements were precise and smooth. Even though cephalopods were mostly the thin type, it was possible to notice how little issue Fen had to run around with the heavy splatlings. And his smile… Oh my god, his smile. Every time he smiled, Kama wished he could frame it and put it above his fridge besides the pictures of him and Sal.
Sal… Sal wouldn't be very happy if he knew what Kama was thinking. Jealousy was a trait he usually reprehended Sal for, but this time… Due to the tricky situation involved in the befriending of the octoling, Kama felt like he had to take the responsibility of whatever "suspicious" behavior happened in between him and Fen.
He loved his boyfriend dearly – he really did! But he was slowly starting to get enamored at Fen's every characteristic. The calming sound of his voice, the way the main tentacle on his head was never fully colored (the tip would always remain some variant of red independent of the ink color chosen), how soft his lips felt, the deep blue of his eyes…
Wait, lips?
Kama's brain suddenly entered panic mode, trying to redo the last few minutes to detect what was currently happening and what events led to it.
The thirty last seconds of a turf war match. The two average members of their team had been taken out, leaving Kama and Fen alone to deal with the whole opponent team. Kama tried waving his splat roller around, but they were spinning around them like sharks ready to strike. The sound of barrels spinning echoed through the air, and three of them were gone. Lin, using her Splattershot Pro, started walking backwards while trying to splat the two. Kama took the opportunity to swim in zigzag towards her. Reaching an intersection, Lin took a little too much time to decide which way she was supposed to go, and suddenly the ink that shot out of Fen's splatling covered her. With nowhere else to go, she braced for the impact of Kama's splat roller hitting her square in the face and causing her body to burst into orange ink.
The timer rang. Judd and Lil Judd appeared on a screen above them, being held by drones. Lin's explosion had given them the final percent they needed to win the match. The boys cheered, they hugged, they smiled. They were so close to each other. They kissed.
"Ah, sorry about that!" Fen's voice was what led him back to the present. How much time they stayed with their lips glued together, or who started the act, he did not know. But it was like figurative spotlights were shining down onto the two. "That was a pretty intense match! I think I'm completely done for today, though, I'm starting to get too tired."
"It's fine! I'm gonna head home too, my back's starting to hurt a little." Kama didn't know how Fen could be so nonchalant about what had just happened, but it was rubbing off him as well.
The group was surprised to see there was a large group gathered in front of the main Deca Tower building. And in front of the crowd, Sal. Kama was happy to see him at first, but upon closer inspection, something was off. Sal's face was bright red just like the ink that ran through him. He had his hands clenched into fists. The tentacle that usually obscured his right eye was slicked back just enough so he could glare at the screen above his head with both eyes.
"Were you cheering for Tailslap? Geez, I know that girl was cute, but…"
Kama suddenly froze dead in his tracks as his eyes were redirected towards the same screen Sal was looking. A single picture, with the caption "Kiss cam!" under it, was all it took for the fear and panic to reinstall itself into his mind. Two boys, one inkling and one octoling, kissing passionately in the middle of the battlefield. Their eyes were closed, and what they experienced at that moment had most likely been pure bliss.
The exact opposite of what Sal felt when his head tilted back down and put Kama in his camp of vision. He took a step forward, then a step backwards. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then he simply started powerwalking away from the crowd. Kama and the remainder of Tailslap ran after him. Lin grasped his arm with a fair amount of strength, forcing him to stop and turn backwards.
"Sal, look, I just… We weren't d–"
"I don't want to talk to you." Sal's words stung more than the pressurized blast of a stingray.
"Hey, calm down, don't stress over it. I saw what happened, he didn't mean to–"
"I don't want to talk to you either, Lin. I don't want to talk to anybody." Sal pulled his hand out of her grip, almost causing her to lose her balance. And then he walked away. He didn't need to run. He knew no one would dare to follow him this time.
Kama's mind shut off. He couldn't cry. He couldn't scream. He couldn't do anything to make his boyfriend come back. That had been the second chance, and he ruined it and his entire relationship with Sal in a matter of seconds. Fen was probably worrying over it as well, thinking it was his fault. But none of the comforting words were being absorbed by him at the moment.
His body did all the work for him. As soon as he knew, he was back in his own home – his family home. And he had a plan. A plan that would most likely end in failure, but a plan he had to try nonetheless.
Something has to go wrong eventually, Sal always said.
And some things were broken before they even shattered.
