Thx for the positive comments on the 1st 2 chapters across ao3 and wattpad! I don't have much to say other than follow me on deviantart for my sfm posters and follow me on tumblr for my cool personality (I go by cxlliefxn on both sites)
Shortly after Gloves and Rider left Goggles' house, the blue inkling went out to the ice cream shop to meet up with Hachi. "Hachi!" called the blue inkling, running into the octoling for a big hug. "Goggles!" Hachi smiled back, returning the hug. "What flavor are you getting?" he asked. "I want chocolate!" Goggles replied enthusiastically. "I want a hundred scoops of it!"
Meanwhile, Gloves and his team just won a close turf war by 0.1%. "Hey, you seemed off while battling." said Half-Rim to Gloves. "I was?" asked the cool inkling. "You were all spaced out, did something happen at Goggles' place?" asked a concerned Clip-Ons. "He was probably just upset that he couldn't share a bed with Goggles!" laughed Straps. Her remark definitely got Gloves talking. "Geez, can a guy have one night where he can't sleep well?!" he shot back, unusually irritated.
"Okay, something is off." said Half-Rim. "What happened at Goggles' house?" he asked. "Nothing." replied Gloves, cooling off. "We should give him space guys." cut in Clip-Ons. Gloves sighed in relief. "Thank cod for nice people like her." The team decided to get food from the Crust Bucket. He usually ordered for the team, but this time Gloves sat at the table while the other three got the food. "Do I really like that jerk? Should I just keep pursuing Goggles? I can't make up my cod damn mind!"
Half-Rim put the food on the table. "Food's here." But Gloves didn't hear him. "I think he's spaced out." commented Half-Rim, who looked at Clip-Ons. Both knew something was wrong. "Earth to Gloves! We got the food!" called Straps. Gloves noticed what was going on and pretended to shrug his thoughts off. "Finally!" he smiled.
Everything seemed fine now, the team eating and talking about normal stuff like the latest trends. Around ten minutes later, Gloves caught someone in the corner of his eye. "Squit, that can't be him!" he mumbled. "Who?" asked Clip-Ons. Gloves didn't answer, he kept staring at the inkling. "Hey, isn't that the gold dynamo guy you keep fighting with?" asked Straps. "HUH?!" Just mentioning Rider startled Gloves a bit. "Yeah, something happened at that sleepover." remarked Half-Rim.
"Wait a sec! The party incident, the sleepover, the constant spacing out, getting startled like that, the blushing…" smirked Straps.
"I see what you mean." Half-Rim smirked back. "What?" asked Gloves, confused.
"You know Gloves, you can tell us anything." smiled Clip-Ons, who looked innocent but she definitely knew as well.
"YOU LIKE RIDER!" exclaimed Straps. "W-what?" Gloves blushed harder than ever. "Don't be silly! He's my rival!" he laughed nervously. "Ooh, let's ask Goggles then!" Straps snickered. "It's not like he knows anything." shrugged Gloves as Straps began to type in the phone number. The other two inklings crowded around her phone. "Not you guys too!" sighed their leader.
Goggles was waiting for Hachi, who was using the bathroom. The blue inkling's phone rang, and he answered it. "Straps? Why are you calling me?" he asked, confused. The green inkling girl never calls him, he doesn't even know why she has his number!
"Goggles, did Gloves and Rider have any funny business going on last night?" she asked with a huge smirk.
"Huh?" Goggles was confused.
"Did they do anything unusual together?" she reiterated.
"Well, they were sleeping together, and they looked really cozy!"
"WOAH WAIT WHAT?! REALLY?!"
"Yeah! I couldn't disturb them like that, so I slept on the couch!" Goggles also explained a few more details about last night.
"Thank you Goggles! See ya!" she smirked as she hung up. The three teammates all turned their attention to Gloves, smirking.
"...What?" Gloves grew a bit nervous after hearing Straps' reaction to something Goggles said. "Did you guys really sleep together so closely like that?" asked Clip-Ons, amazed. "It's not like that!" Gloves laughed, sweating. "Oh really? Would two enemies sleep in each other's arms so peacefully?" Straps snickered. "Well, I guess that's why you've been so off lately." remarked Half-Rim. "Hey, we can help you confess if you want!" chirped Clip-Ons.
"I don't like Rider!" shouted Gloves. "I KNOW!" yelled an irritated Rider, who was still where Gloves first spotted him. "R-RIDER?!" gasped the green inkling as the yellow-green one began approaching the gang. "Honestly, I'm glad you didn't think too deeply about last night." added Rider. "Yeah, it didn't mean anything anyways!" replied Gloves, repressing his thoughts. "It didn't sound that way to me." muttered Half-Rim. Gloves shoved some of his deep-fried shwaffle into his friend's mouth, whispering a quick "Shut up!" to him. "So Rider," laughed Gloves nervously. "What brings you here?"
"I got bored." answered the yellow-green squid. "Hey!" exclaimed Straps. "Ya know, Gloves was actually meaning to ask you something!" she smiled. "What?" asked Rider.
Gloves silently panicked. "I actually wasn't-"
"He wants to know if you wanna get ice cream with him!" cheered Straps. "...Ice cream?" questioned an unimpressed Rider. Team Gloves anxiously watched him think, including Gloves himself. "Sure, whatever." sighed Rider. "Straps, you…" Gloves whispered, not finishing the sentence in order to catch up with Rider. He was going to call her something very mean anyways. The two went off to the ice cream shop, and the rest of Gloves' team stayed back and began giggling, as well as doing things like singing wedding music.
Goggles and Hachi were at the park nearby the shop, they found themselves lost in conversation. "We should have a big turf war party!" said Goggles, who had a huge smile and was amazed as he pictured all of his friends having turf wars. "Like a tournament?" asked Hachi. "Yeah!" replied Goggles. "We'll all fight for a giant pickled plum flavored cake!" The blue inkling didn't notice that he was blushing, he was just so happy to talk to Hachi. The octoling, however, noticed it. He just smiled. "Hachi, I think we should talk about the whole thing with Rider and Gloves…" said Goggles, who looked a bit serious.
The other two boys had just walked into the parlor. "You're so weird sometimes." sighed Rider. "You should loosen up!" shrugged Gloves. "I will once I finally confess to Goggles." said the yellow-green squid. "Well he'll be going out with me, so I guess you'll never find peace!" Gloves laughed. "YOU LITTLE-"
"What are you two ordering?" asked the cashier, who was clearly tired of the two already. "I'll have mint chocolate on a cone!" replied Gloves. Rider sighed. "Vanilla." The cashier nodded, and the two got their cones after a few moments. "So, you two are confessing to Goggles?" asked the cashier. "Shell yeah!" said Gloves. "And he'll choose ME!" he added. Rider was pissed. "You?" he growled quietly.
"It's funny," began the cashier. "Because that boy was in here just ten minutes ago with this octoling in red." The two inklings' felt their jaws drop. "Yup." said the cashier. "He looked pretty into him too."
"H-Hachi?"
"Don't get too upset about it. I got no idea if they're dating, I just thought I'd tell you boys." said the cashier as she handed Rider the change. The two went to sit down, both a bit miserable after hearing about that. "Carp, there's no seats left." muttered Rider. "Let's go outside then." said Gloves. "Besides, you should touch grass anyway!" he laughed. "Shut the fuck up." sighed the other inkling boy.
They went into the local park, and sat down on the first bench they could find. "It's pretty nice out!" commented Gloves, who saw a butterfly fly by. "I guess." replied Rider. "Why were your teammates laughing about me?" Rider suddenly asked. Gloves stammered, which confused Rider a bit. "They…found out about last night." said the green squid. "As much as I love them, my team really thinks I have a thing for you." he added. "Funny, right?" he laughed.
"What idiots." scoffed Rider. "Why would you have feelings for your worst enemy?" he asked. "Haha, exactly!" replied Gloves. "Yeah, why would I?" A small frown snuck onto Gloves' face. "You good?" asked Rider, oblivious to the obvious Gloves. The green inkling finished his ice cream and put his usual smug smile on. "How about we walk around a bit? Sitting is boring."
"Uh…Okay." replied Rider. Not too long after getting up, the two saw exactly what the cashier told them about: Goggles with Hachi. Gloves and Rider looked at each other, both a bit worried about their chances. Feeling confident, Rider went to make the first move. He didn't notice Gloves being unusually quiet. "Hey Goggles." Rider smiled. "Oh, hi Rider!" waved the blue inkling. "I'm with Hachi!" he added. Rider and Hachi waved to each other. The octoling also waved to Gloves, who awkwardly waved back instead of his usual thumbs-up or something.
"I got two tickets to the movies." said Rider. "They're for the new Diss-pair film tonight, you wanna go?" he asked. "Sure!" smiled Goggles, who saw this as a platonic hang-out despite knowing exactly what the yellow-green squid intended. "Rider, is Gloves okay? He's usually confident and, well, cool." asked Hachi. Rider shook his head. "No idea. He's been acting weird lately." The yellow-green inkling turned around, and Gloves was gone. "Very weird…"
"Gloves?!" gasped Clip-Ons. The three green inklings saw their team leader burst through the door, if they looked a bit closer they may have even caught tears forming in his eyes. "You're right, I like Rider, but you're crazy if you think I have a shot!" Gloves shouted. "What makes you think that?" asked Clip-Ons, concerned. "Ain't it obvious?!" he replied. "He's been into Goggles for the past five years!" he shouted before sighing. "Like how I was for the past three…How the hell did I get here?"
Half-Rim put his hand on Gloves' shoulder. "You have a shot, don't doubt yourself." The usually reserved inkling smiled at him. Their moment was cut short by a fired-up Straps. "HOLD UP MAN!" she shouted. "GLOVES, the COOLEST and MOST CONFIDENT inkling I know thinks he couldn't win that jerk Rider's heart?!" she yelled. "Straps, I-" Gloves was cut off by the inkling girl covering his mouth. "NUH-UH! DON'T TRY TO ARGUE WITH ME YOUNG MAN!" she even wagged her index finger. "The Gloves I know doesn't give up so damn easily, you must be Jared!"
"...Jared?" asked the other inklings, who were very confused. "Jared is Gloves' evil doppelganger!" explained Straps. "We don't get it." muttered Half-Rim. "You see, Gloves is cool, confident, optimistic and would never give up when pursuing a good looking guy!"
"Or girl since he's bi." added Clip-Ons.
"You get the point!" said Straps. "Jared on the other hand, however, is pathetic, always doubting himself and he thinks some bitch like RIDER is too cool for him! Jared is the polar opposite of cool, which means he's definitely not the Gloves I know!"
"...Weird way of putting it, but I get it." replied Half-Rim. "Gloves, I understand love is an uncertain thing, trust me…" Half-Rim looked at his friend, remembering how he had a crush on Gloves during their childhood. "But you can't lose that confidence. You can't lose that fire you've had for so long now." sighed Half-Rim.
"Gloves," said Clip-Ons. "We don't want to lose you."
Gloves looked at his team. "Guys…I think you're right!" he smiled. "Let's woo Rider the cool way!"
In the evening, Goggles and Rider walked into the movie theater. "Let's watch the Diss-Pair movie!" cheered the blue inkling. "Wait, who's Diss-Pair again?" In response, Rider sighed. "You live under a rock?" he asked as the two went to line up for popcorn. "Rider, Gloves looked sad earlier." said Goggles. "Look, I don't know what's up with him." answered Rider, in a slightly aggressive tone. "Maybe the incident from last night made him uncomfortable or something."
"Then you should apologize to him." Goggles replied. "I don't know." mumbled Rider. "Why?" asked Goggles, which surprised Rider since the blue inkling wasn't meant to hear that. "The truth is, I don't know if I'm his rival anymore." answered the yellow-green inkling. "The more I insist last night meant nothing, the more I believe it did…I guess it's painful, because if Gloves is uncomfortable then…" Rider stopped. "Nothing. It's…Whatever."
After getting their snacks, Goggles ran over to their seats, with Rider following behind. As the film began, Rider was trying to quietly flirt with the blue inkling by doing things such as sneaking an arm around his shoulder. Goggles didn't mind it too much, he may only see Rider as a friend but he also doesn't think gestures like that need to be exclusively romantic. The blue inkling just enjoyed the movie while probably enjoying the popcorn even more.
However, after a little while into the film, something began to feel off…Off to Rider, at least. He suddenly moved his arm away from Goggles, and even slightly leaned in the opposite direction. In fact, he never blushed around the blue inkling once today, and even began to think that his offer for a movie date felt…forced? When he looked at Goggles, he wasn't getting the same warm and fuzzy feeling he usually got.
The movie ended two hours later. "Wow! Warabi is so cool!" grinned the blue squid. "Yeah, it was nice." smiled Rider. But while Goggles left feeling happy to have seen such a good movie, Rider left feeling a bit…different about Goggles, a somewhat sad feeling he couldn't describe. He hopes that it was just a passing thought, but he also doubts that…
To be continued!
Poor Goggles can't vote for chocolate ice cream in the new splatfest lol. Also i'm OBSESSED with the new Octoprism song Sugar Crash!...and I wrote 95% of this chapter in the span of 2 days even tho i started over a month ago!
Also if you don't get the jared joke: Basically since Gloves isn't acting like himself at all, and that's not the Gloves Straps knows so she calls the current Gloves "Jared." It's kinda like those memes that are like "don't fall for his lies!" and the old character has been missing since a certain year and the meme calls the modern character a different name.