Pretty excited to write the next few chapters! My favorite thing to write is just silly and chill slice of life stuff (also i'm not satisfied with the last chapter so I need to work on more intense stuff cuz if i'm gonna make Octavia get revenge it better be good)

It's not much rn but i'm thankful for the reception my story's getting, both positive and critical across Wattpad, Fanfiction and ao3, plus the questions I got on r/octolism!

It was just under a month since Quartz was back in Splatsville, thanks to the help of The New Squidbeak Splatoon–His family. Haru insisted he stop avoiding the doctor and actually treat his injuries properly, as a result he spent a lot of time resting at home while he recovered.

Today, he just got the last of his annoying and "in the way" bandages off, and was out in town with his new parents, Cerulean and Haru, who officially adopted him during his recovery. "I wish Celeste was here." sighed Quartz. "She had to study for her exam, remember?" replied Haru. "Dad, what's an exam?" he asked. Haru wasn't entirely sure himself. "It's kind of-"

"It's an important test that doesn't really matter in the end." Cerulean answered, cutting off Haru. The older octoling nervously laughed. "Yeah. It's also done by cephalopods that go to school." Haru added. Quartz was visibly disgusted. "You mean that place Ember talked about?" His parents looked at eachother, and shook their heads. Cerulean sighed. "What did she tell you?"

"She said it's where you find love, and I don't want to see that idiot's face!" Quartz scoffed, sticking his tongue out in disgust. "Quartz, who is this idiot?" Haru asked, hiding the fact he was as curious as Ember would be about it. Cerulean saw right through his boyfriend and mouthed a "you're terrible!" while their son had his back turned. "Is she selling cakes?!" Quartz pointed and asked, excited. "Let's get one!" he sang as he took Haru's hand.

The two skipped over to the booth. "THEY LOOK DELICIOUS!" Quartz shouted, he was practically squealing, the young octoling had a sweet tooth. Haru looked at the price and nearly fell over. "FIFTY EIGHT DOLLARS?!" Quartz looked up at Haru with very innocent eyes. "Please get it!" Haru then sighed. "Ceru, we're a little low…" hummed the older octoling. "Of course." Cerulean sighed. "Thank you!" said the inkling girl as she took the money. "Your son looks a bit familiar…" the girl said, eyeing Quartz, who just asked "why?"

"Sorry! Uhm, I'm Daisy, and you are..?" asked the inkling girl. She had the hippie haircut in dark blue like Cerulean, and wore a pink hoodie with a special forces beret and punk whites.

"I'm Haru, it's nice to meet you." Haru smiled. "These two are my son Quartz and my lovely husband Cerulean." he said. Cerulean blushed really hard at those words, they weren't even married! "Quartz?" asked Daisy. "Look lady," said Quartz. "I think you're thinking about someone else."

"But you're Quartz, with a manatee swag sweat, blobmob mask, acerola rain boots, and a REEF-LUX 450, you match my younger brother's description perfectly!" Daisy exclaimed. "You even look like you'd scoff at people!"

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" the young octoling barked at her. "You know Bay, right?" Daisy asked him. Quartz shook his head, he didn't know. "Well, i'll tell him you said hello." she said. The three sat down at a nearby table, and Cerulean just sat around while two (out of three) of his favorite octolings devoured the delicious cake, as it was pretty small. The poor guy paid for it and didn't get a single piece, at least that's what he thought until Haru surprised him by suddenly feeding him a piece of it. Haru laughed as Cerulean looked away, flustered.

Quartz was about to relax as he finished his food, but then he saw a familiar inkling. "That stupid hat and that stupid…STUPID IDIOT!" he said to himself. Haru noticed his son eyeing that inkling. "Is that the idiot?" he asked. "Yeah." answered Quartz. "Look how stupid he is."

Cerulean tried to discourage his boyfriend from doing anything, but his efforts were futile. "Let's talk to him." smirked the older octoling. "No, no way in hell." Quartz grumbled. Haru threw a paper airplane at the mysterious inkling, getting his attention. He looked over at the three. "Quartz, is that you?!" he called out, coming over to them with the paper airplane.

He gave it back to Haru. "Are these your parents?" he asked. "I don't even know your name." Quartz grumbled. "Oh, I'm Bay! You were kinda rude back there with your celebrity friends." Bay answered. "But I saw you and your sister watching my turf wars later on, so I assumed you-" The octoling then cut him off. "I'm not sorry!" groaned Quartz. "Cod, you think I'd forgive someone who smiles like a demented shark?!"

"What did this man do to you?" Cerulean asked, slightly concerned after hearing his son say an insult like that. "He pretended to be happy for me when I beat him in turf war, and he's clearly pretending to be all nice now." Quartz scoffed. "Pretend?" Bay was confused. "Quartz, I didn't fake anything! Let me explain!"

Haru convinced Quartz to talk it out as his parents stepped aside. "There's no way you were praising someone who completely kicked you." began Quartz. Bay noticed a bit of anger in his eyes. "Quartz, did someone hurt you?" he frowned. "Yeah, you couldn't tell?" growled Quartz. "I've been endlessly tortured for almost my entire life, I would never-" The octoling's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden hug. "Uh, okay." Quartz muttered. "I couldn't help it." laughed Bay, nervously. "You looked really emotional…"

Quartz just rolled his eyes. He then heard faint cheering coming from the nearest bush, and went to see what it was about. An inkling and octoling girl were quietly laughing and whispering things like "Let's go!" and "Get em' dude!"

"WHAT'S THIS?" Quartz shouted at Bay. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF SICK PRANK?" The girls just watched in silence, but small smirks occasionally crept on and off of their faces. "N-no," Bay stuttered. "This is Ariel, and this is Morgan." He said, introducing the inkling girl and octoling girl respectively. "Why were they hiding in the bush and laughing at me?" asked Quartz, angered. "Quartz! I can explain-" Quartz just slapped Bay. "Fuck you."

As he was about to walk off, Bay grabbed his arm, desperately trying to explain the situation, but the octoling boy just yanked his arm out of his grip. The two girls then rushed in and held him back. "WHAT GIVES?!" Quartz yelled. "Your ass is being too stubborn!" Morgan shot back. "You're gonna let my guy explain himself and you're gonna listen to him!"

They brought him to the alley near the lobby, with Bay's friends still aggressively holding him back. Bay was growing scared of him, but tried to hide it. Quartz noticed it, however. He uncontrollably felt a bit bad and stopped squirming in girls' grip. "They're strong." he groaned to himself. "The hell is this about?" is what he said out loud, angered.

"Look," began Bay. "I wasn't being sarcastic back there, I just congratulate everyone after turf war. I care about the fun, not really about losing! And, my friends weren't laughing at you. If anything, they were laughing at me. After you scoffed at me, I felt awful and I wanna be your friend, the two pushed me to talk to you and were laughing because they knew I was…nervous."

"Sorry." said Ariel, very softly.

"Quartz, you gotta learn to not automatically hate people like that!" Morgan called out. Bay shook his head at her, letting her know that now's not the time to start that. "You should play turf war on our team!" smiled Bay. "Kai's injured and we need a fourth player."

Quartz gave it some thought for a moment. "Fine, I will." he said, somewhat passive-aggressively. "But only for Ariel."

"Ariel?!" The three, including Ariel herself, were surprised.

"She was the only one who apologized. Neither of you said sorry." Quartz replied sternly.

Ariel felt bad, but Morgan gave her a thumbs up. "Let's get those wedding bells ringing." she whispered, smirking.

"YUCK, BRINEWATER AND MINCEMEAT?!" shouted Bay, looking at the current stages in the lobby with the others. They weren't going to change for another hour. "Not cool!" he pouted. "We should get coffee!" Morgan confidently suggested. "Totally." Ariel nodded. "I'd like that, how 'bout you Quartz?" asked Bay. "Uh…Sure, I guess." responded Quartz, looking away.

The four went to Squidbucks (very creative name I know lol) and got their orders.

"Quartz, w-what do you see in me?" Ariel asked, flattered by what he said earlier. "BETTER NOT BE ANYTHING!" Morgan cut in. "She's MINE!" the red octoling slammed her fist on the table. Ariel hid her blushing face. "I'm not in love with her, dumbass." sighed Quartz. "I just think she's really nice, compared to you two."

"Bay's really nice if you give him a chance." Morgan smirked. "But I won't force anything. I'll be back." She got up and went to the bathroom. Ariel ran after her.

"I guess it's just us." laughed Bay, somewhat awkwardly. "You look happier compared to when we first ran into each other." he smiled. "I…do?" Quartz felt extremely embarrassed. "You're probably just saying that!"

"No i'm not." said the inkling. "I really like your smile." he laughed. Quartz quickly stopped drinking and put his mask back up in embarrassment. "You can't even see it!" It only sent Bay into even more laughter. "You're too cute!" he laughed. "Don't get too comfortable." huffed Quartz. "I still don't forgive you." Bay sighed. "I mean, I don't want to force you to forgive me."

"Morgan, I think we should give up on this." Ariel sighed. The two were watching them alone out of curiosity. "We can't give up. Besides, Bay's getting confident." said Morgan. "When he gets that way, there's no going back. My guy doesn't know when to quit."

"So that really was your first battle?!" asked Bay. Somehow, the two began talking about Quartz's first turf war with Ember and the Squid Sisters, who won against Bay's team. "So, how'd you spawn camp us like that?"

"Just pretend they're your worst enemy and their clones!" is what Callie told him in the middle of that battle. Those were the words that set him off. They echoed in the young octoling's head. "I don't know, I just remembered something motivational." answered Quartz. "Was that battle why you wanted me to play with you today instead of inviting Daisy or something?"

"Not exactly." replied Bay, Quartz was a bit surprised by it. "While I feel horrible for the misunderstandings we had, it's not that either." continued the inkling. "I just really like you, you're very mysterious."

"YES! HE'S BLUSHING!" Morgan pointed out. "THAT'S MY HOMIE!" Her confidence would slowly turn into fear, however. She saw Ariel shaking in her shoes, and then looked over to what she was looking at. An older inkling with dark blue ink like Bay, but with matching blue eyes and a topknot hairstyle stood behind Bay, menacingly. "D-dad?" Quartz squeaked. Bay was confused and looked behind him.

"THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SON?!" he shouted. If you couldn't tell, the older inkling is Cerulean. "I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR HIM FOR AN HOUR, YOU DAMN KIDNAPPER!" Bay was horrified. "Stop!" shouted Quartz. "I…forgot to tell you he wanted to take me here." he said weakly. "He didn't do anything to you, right?" Cerulean asked, still being very menacing. "No." sighed the octoling. "I'm glad you're safe." said the older inkling, who then glared at Bay. "I still don't trust you, though." He then left the building. Nearly every customer and employee inside just stared.

"Thanks for standing up for me." Bay smiled. "I just didn't want you to get killed by my very tough dad." scoffed Quartz. "So you do care!"

"I don't." the octoling shook his head. "But you didn't want me killed, that's very sweet of you!" the inkling chirped. "I'll kill you myself." Quartz grumbled. "I'm already falling for that face!" Bay flirted, but Quartz took it the wrong way. "ARE YOU CALLING ME UGLY?!"

"We're back bitches!" greeted Morgan, sitting back at the table. "Did you talk it out?" asked Ariel. "This DEMENTED SHARK called me ugly!" shouted Quartz. "I was calling you cute!" blurted out the "demented shark" in question. Quartz didn't exactly say anything, but he was making all kinds of angry sounds into the sleeve he was hiding his face with. The three all knew he was blushing though. "Alright, the stages should be rotated!" said Morgan, looking at the time.

They went to play turf war at Inkblot Art Academy. They were playing against a team of tougher looking inklings, they weren't exactly friendly looking and all had neo splash-o-matics, except for one with a clash blaster.

Weapon lineup:

Quartz: REEF-LUX 450

Bay: Splattershot

Morgan: Inkbrush

Ariel: Dynamo roller

Bay's team were all nervous to varying degrees. "DON'T LET THEIR SCARY LOOKS GET TO YOU!" shouted Bay as they launched off of their spawns. The usual three rushed to the middle while Quartz went to charge up his tenta missiles.

He fired them and successfully splatted one of the opponents. Quartz was too far away to hear Bay's cheering, and went to the center. He felt like he had this, but also felt someone…tracking him? Was it…Octavia? It couldn't be…

…and it wasn't. A moment later and one of the large and muscular inklings stood before him. That "tracking" feeling was from the haunt ability on the inkling's shirt. The inkling snickered. "You're new, I can tell. You've got that inexperienced look in your eye." the inkling smirked. "It's WEAK."

"Who the hell are you?!" Quartz didn't seem too intimidated. "Who am I? I'm going to MURDER YOU." He grabbed Quartz by the neck, holding him in a corner made out of brick. "YOU BETTER LET ME THE FUCK GO!" Quartz shouted. "I'LL SHOOT." In response, the inkling grabbed Quartz's weapon, and threw it on the ground. "WE EAT KIDS LIKE YOU FOR BREAKFAST!" The inkling yelled, tightening his grip on Quartz's neck.

The octoling was about to cry, he couldn't breathe and he couldn't properly speak. "L-let me go.." he said extremely weakly. "MY TEAM'S GOAL IS TO ELIMINATE WEAK PLAYERS WHO'VE SOURED TURF WAR'S REPUTATION!" He stomped on Quartz's REEF-LUX, destroying it. "YOU'RE CRYING?" The inkling cackled. "YOU'RE A FUCKING DISGRACE! I'M GOING TO BASH YOUR HEAD INTO THE WALL AND KILL YOU!"

"Captain, 8, 4, 3…I wish you could save me right now…"

Suddenly, he dropped to the ground, someone splatted the giant inkling. "Are you okay?!" Bay cried, running over to him. "Fuck, i'm so vulnerable in front of this idiot…"

"The game just ended, i'll get you over to the bleachers! I'll even buy you a new weapon!" Bay panicked, carrying Quartz in a hurry. The octoling didn't want to fight it, and just let the inkling do his thing. "I wasn't really injured, you know." said Quartz when they got to the bleachers. "I could've walked here myself."

"Those inklings were nasty, I didn't want you to walk alone and risk getting cornered like that again." Bay responded, bandaging Quartz's cuts. "HEY MG!" shouted Bay, who was referring to Morgan. "GET THOSE BOYS' NAMES SO I CAN KILL THEM LATER!" Morgan nodded. "YES SIR!"

"I'll be right back." said Bay. "I gotta get more bandages." He went into the nearest door. "He cares so much, but why? I was a total jerk to him!" Quartz began to think about Bay, and unknowingly cracked a slight smile while doing so.

"Carp, did I miss the game?!" sighed an octoling with lavender purple ink and red eyes. He wore pilot goggles, an Annaki yellow cuff shirt and arrow pull-ons. His hair was similar to Quartz's. Quartz looked at him, the speed of his heart skyrocketed. "Are you okay?" asked the unfamiliar face, eyeing the bandages around Quartz. "Y-Yeah. Just battled too hard!" Quartz was desperately trying to keep his cool.

"Wait, I think i've seen you before!" the unknown octoling exclaimed. "Not the first time someone's said that today." thought Quartz. "You were that absolute destroyer that played with the Squid Sisters! I'm Kai by the way!"

He held out his hand for a handshake. "I-i'm Q-quartz…" Quartz said shakily, blushing all over as he touched the other's hand. "BAY! HOW'D YOU MANAGE WITH ONLY THREE PEOPLE?!" Kai called out, he saw Bay coming back with more bandages.

"Oh, Quartz played with us. His weapon broke though, so we're going to buy a new one while the girls track down our enemies so I can kill them in their sleep!" Bay said, smiling in a somewhat creepy manner. "How's the arm?" he asked.

"I think I should be able to play tomorrow!" Kai smiled. "Awesome!" cheered Bay. Quartz was a bit sad, he wanted to battle with Bay again, but also didn't want to admit that. "I'm just gonna head home." he sighed.

"I'll walk you!" said Bay, cheerfully. "I will too!" Kai nodded. The moment Quartz got up, the two took his hands from each side, his face went completely red.

Meanwhile, Cerulean was a bit grumpy about Bay. "I don't trust him at all, he quietly ran off with our son like that!" he groaned. "You know, your brother was the same way." smiled Haru. "He didn't like me at first."

"Unlike that bastard who's all over Quartz, you're the perfect husband." said Cerulean. "Oh Ceru, you're the perfect husband." sighed Haru, looking at him lovingly. "Haru…" Cerulean cupped his cheek. "I want to taste your sweet-" The doorbell rang, both sighed and Haru got the door.

"Are you Mr. Moon?" asked Kai. "Pretty much." Haru shrugged while smirking. "Are these your friends Quartz?" Haru asked. "I…guess." Quartz muttered, still flustered.

"IS THAT BLUE BASTARD AT THE DOOR?!" shouted Cerulean, sending Bay into a panic.

"Don't mind him." Haru chuckled. "Thanks for bringing him home." he smiled. Bay and Kai hugged their friend tightly before leaving. "Bye Quartzy boy!" sang the two in unison. They were too far down the street to hear when Quartz muttered "Don't call me that."

"Someone's a men's man!" laughed Celeste, who saw everything but only showed herself when quartz headed upstairs. "They're just friends." he sighed. "I dunno," smirked Celeste. "They looked pretty gay for you."

Quartz sighed. "Celeste, I really like both of them…"

To be continued...

A bit of a different chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing it! I was gonna make this one more about agent 24 but I got too invested in the Quartz love plot lol

So, love triangle or OT3? First of all, Quartz needs to buy a new weapon!