tysm for all the support on this fic! i'm glad ochowire shippers rlly like it cuz when i started this fic there wasn't much of them, i don't even think that one salmon run chapter was on mangadex yet!
shellbit fans come get ur food ;)
originally published on july 12~ (the title had to be shorted lmao)
Ocho woke up, still shaken by the embarrassing events at the grocery store. Over the last few days, he focused on battling and tried to ignore it– He didn't even run into Wire once. He checked his phone to see a voice message from…Goggles. "Hey Ocho! I'm gonna battle Hachi at Scorch Gorge today at 2! Come watch us!" said the message.
The purple octoling checked the time and his jaw dropped. "IT'S ALREADY ONE?!" he gasped, rushing out of his bed and speedrunning his morning routine. "I hope Wire doesn't see my sloppy dressing job." Ocho muttered to himself, before blushing "Wait, why am I so worried about that?" he groaned.
Goggles and his team, despite their idiocy, are great in battle which would help him think of new strategies. Ocho didn't know Hachi very well, but heard about how he and Goggles somehow got trapped in a weird simulation with Off The Hook Dedf1sh, and their other friends. Apparently the two had romantic tension between them as well, giving Ocho a thought. "Wait NO! Why the hell would I go to Goggles of all squids for romantic advice?!"
Unexpectedly, there was a knock on the door. "Hey, we're dragging you out to Scorch Gorge!" greeted Shellmet. 8-Bit was with her, but Ocho's gaze went straight to the third figure– Wireglasses. "We're helping you." whispered 8-Bit, smirking. "I'm sure you are." Ocho sighed. The three headed out to Scorch Gorge together.
"SHOW HIM YOUR GUTS!" cheered an inkling with a fishbone in her mouth. "Yo Gakuran!" waved 8-Bit. Gakuran noticed Wire and froze up, becoming unusually nervous. "Is she…in love?" wondered Ocho. Without realizing it, the purple octoling glared at her. "Glaring like that is rude." said Shellmet.
"I'M NOT GLARING!" snapped Ocho. "Ocho?" asked Wire and Gakuran. "NOTHING!" yelled the octoling boy, running off into the small building that was selling drinks. "What's gotten into him?" asked 8-Bit. "Let's split up and find him." replied Wire.
A blue inkling stepped into the same building Ocho was running towards. He had a white T-Shirt and a pair of goggles on his head. "Ocho, is that you?" he asked, surprising the octoling. "Goggles?"
"You're never this upset! What happened?" asked Goggles. "Goggles, you're with Hachi or whatever right?" Ocho's question made Goggles blush. "W-Well, yeah…" chuckled the blue inkling. "How did you ask him out?" asked Ocho. "I dunno…We just kind of kissed…" answered Goggles. "I think the best ways to ask someone out is-"
"OCHO!" shouted Gakuran, texting the others about finding the octoling. "GO AWAY!" shouted Ocho. "Are you in a fight?" asked Goggles. "He looked upset and ran off." replied Gakuran. Ocho shook his head. "THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED AT ALL!" he shouted before running off, leaving both inklings confused.
"Is he okay?" asked Goggles. "No clue what his deal is…" replied Gakuran. "I'm gonna tell our group about this." She waved goodbye to Goggles before going out to find the others out in the crowd. "HEY! OCHO RAN OFF AGAIN!" she yelled to them.
"WHAT GIVES?!" scoffed 8-Bit, but Shellmet stopped her from getting any more angered. "There must be a logical explanation for this." said the octoling girl. Wire's expression darkened the most. "Why?" he asked lowly. He needed to know what could've made Ocho run away so suddenly.
Wire's intimidating air was enough to send shivers down Gakuran's spine. "I d-don't know…When I found him, he shouted at me to back off, and even shouted at Goggles before taking off again."
The fact he got angry at Goggles, an inkling he had so much respect for, was really surprising to the others. "We need to find him!" spoke up Shellmet. "You're right." nodded Wire. "You and 8-Bit will look around the general area, while I go with Gakuran to see if he's on his way home."
"Sounds good." smiled Gakuran, excited to work with him. "He better not be slacking off somewhere!" shrugged 8-Bit. Wire glared at her. "This is likely very serious, I think it's all of you that shouldn't be slacking off."
When the four split up, Wire and Gakuran began heading for the nearby train station. "I haven't seen you this heated in a while." said Gakuran. "It's because I'm worried." replied Wire, who quickly realized what he just confessed. "I mean, I want to know why Ocho just got up and left!"
"For a second there, I thought you were in love with him!" laughed Gakuran. A small blush creeped onto the inkling boy's cheeks. "I am. He's really cute when you get to know him and I'm not ashamed to admit it! I'm just not usually so vulnerable like this…"
"Vulnerable?" asked the inkling girl. Wire nodded. "Lately, I've been noticing more of Ocho's vulnerable side." he said. "I guess that's what I saw back there…" sighed Gakuran. "We started fighting over the smallest things, and after we made up…He's been blushing a lot and stopped keeping his tough front all the time." replied Wire. He felt that Ocho was in love with him, but the way he disappeared today began to make him second guess himself.
"Westbound to Splatsville!" said the speaker in the train. The two got on, and made their way to town. Shellmet and 8-Bit were on their own adventure in the Scorch Gorge area.
"UGH! It's all desert!" growled 8-Bit. "I think we should switch up where we're looking." replied Shellmet. "There's a bus that runs to a small town nearby, we can look for Ocho there and maybe buy something to eat." The octoling girl put her arm around 8-Bit's shoulder, making the inkling blush. "I'd enjoy a quick pizza with you." she smiled seductively.
"Yeah, that'd be great." 8-Bit smiled, trying to look confident after the other girl made her lose her composure. "Plus, there's a good chance Ocho could be in one of the shops!" The two stood in the bus shelter, only waiting around 5 minutes for the next one to arrive. The LED display on the bus said it was going to Oasis Hills, a small town near Scorch Gorge.
The town was in a small green area in the vast desert, featuring a park with the town's oasis and many small stores. The first thing 8-Bit saw was the video game store with a giant sale sign on the window. "THEY'RE SELLING THE NEW SQUID BEATZ AT HALF PRICE! PLEASE CAN WE GO?!" the inkling girl begged. "Yes, yes! Calm down!" chuckled Shellmet.
Meanwhile, Gakuran and Wire were laughing about random turf war memories. Gakuran told Wire about her battle against Goggles, while Wire told her about many small moments he experienced in his battles against Ocho's teams. "He often came running to me about how he got ripped off on Linkedink." he chuckled. "I don't know why he paid inkfish to fight with him, I never found out…"
"Meanwhile I'd never abandon my teammates!" replied Gakuran. "Both him and Mitsuami are looking for permanent teams right now, I wonder if he'll stop that crap and team up with her."
"They're so damn cheerful together, aren't they?" a purple octoling thought to himself, quietly looking for the door furthest from them. "NOW ARRIVING AT SPLATSVILLE STATION!" boomed the speaker. That's where the familiar octoling got off. Wire and Gakuran stepped out of the nearest door, heading towards Ocho's house. "I swore I saw him on the train…" Wire thought to himself.
After booking it the moment he got off the train, Ocho finally got home and slammed the door. He walked upstairs to his room to let out all of the emotions he's spent so long repressing, as well as his feelings from earlier. The sight of Wire and Gakuran laughing together broke his already cracked heart. "She's better for him! She actually respects him and doesn't embarrass herself like I do…Not to mention she can actually keep a team together where it's not driven by money! Wire deserves someone who actually likes him more than I do…"
A tear fell from Ocho's eye, he was ashamed that he was going to cry over this. Even after the past while, he still wasn't sure why he was suddenly so emotional over Wire.
In Oasis Hills, 8-Bit and Shellmet finally made it to the pizza place after they failed to find Ocho in the other shops, the two needed a break. While 8-Bit began going at their pizza like a dog, Shellmet rested her elbow on the table, her hand holding onto her cheek. "This is my chance. I can't keep secrets from her."
"You think the others found him?" asked the red inkling. "I doubt it. They would've told us if they did." answered Shellmet. 8-Bit smirked. "Or maybe they found him and the boys are making out, since Ocho would bend over backwards for him! No wait, he'd bend forwards~"
"8-Bit, really?!" Shellmet spoke firmly. "What? You know it's true!" laughed 8-Bit. The octoling girl couldn't help but chuckle softly. "I love you sometimes." she smiled. The red inkling couldn't help but grow a bit flustered, it fueled her urge to make a move. "Ya know, we should ditch this place and have an evening date at home!"
"D-Date?" stuttered a blushing Shellmet. 8-Bit's confidence only grew from there. "Look, Ocho's definitely not around here, and I'm sure he'd want Wire to find him anyway. I've got the latest movie starring Front Roe and every Nintendo Switch game ever!"
The octoling girl wasn't sure if she wanted to abandon their mission like this, but 8-Bit had a point– Ocho might prefer to talk to Wire if he's this upset, so it might be good to leave him be. She finally came to her decision. "Alright, we can hop on the train."
When the train the others took finally came back to the station, the girls got on and enjoyed the 20 minute ride. When they got off, they took a cab to 8-Bit's house. "There's so many video game posters…" thought Shellmet, looking around her living room. Most of them were pastel and had the cute characters from their franchises on them. "Cute posters."
8-Bit blushed. "Don't ask why I have the cute ones, my brother got them for me." she muttered, embarrassed. "I wasn't going to." replied the octoling. "Thank cod." sighed 8-Bit, opening a case full of cartridges. The case was like a binder, and it also looked thicker than the bible. "So, wanna play one of these or watch the movie? Or should we look for snacks first?"
"I think we should find snacks first." smiled Shellmet. 8-Bit nodded, her more cheerful and bubbly side was something only Shellmet really got to see. She was still worried about Ocho, though. "I really hope Wire and Gakuran update us soon…"
Ocho was still quietly sobbing about everything in his room. The ring of the doorbell interrupted him, he felt that he had to answer it. "The hell do you want?" he asked lowly, glaring at Gakuran. "And where's Wire? Waiting for you at some fancy restaurant?"
Gakuran shook her head. "Ocho, you're going to tell me what's wrong. I'm not going to judge you or tell anyone." she said in a serious tone. Ocho could only look at her, feeling intimidated. He's never felt so intimidated by someone who's much weaker than him in battle.
"You're a bitch!" he blurted out. "I like Wire, but you admire and respect him so damn much, I can't stand how you two never argue or anything! I constantly fight, yell and embarrass myself in front of him, it's ridiculous, but I also need him…I need him more than you!"
The inkling girl was surprised, and Ocho kept talking. "You weren't the one who struggled to figure themself out, you weren't the one who fell so hard they became a vulnerable shell of their former self! You weren't stuck in the back of a store helplessly with him, or got to sleep at his house…"
He began to ramble as if he was Shady. Wireglasses finally caught up to Gakuran and let himself in, instantly seeing the sight. Without noticing the inkling, Ocho decided it was time to finish his tangent. "WIRE IS MINE!"
Wire blushed upon hearing that, and that's when Ocho finally noticed him. The octoling blushed harder. "I m-mean…I…"
Gakuran decided to break the tension. "Ocho, I'm not in love with Wire. I guess I do blush and get nervous around him, but it's because I admire him and his strength. I love watching him battle and destroy his foes, but not Wire himself! We're not love rivals." she explained to him.
After a brief feeling of relief, Ocho then remembered that Wire heard it all. He blushed again, and looked away from the both of them. "G-Get out, I need space."
Gakuran nodded and left. Before Wire followed, he gave the octoling a warm smile. Ocho didn't see it, but he definitely felt its presence. "Cod…"
The octoling boy wanted to die of embarrassment, yet he was secretly glad Wire heard all of it. He quietly wished that Wire would come back and comfort him. He sighed. "I was a former hierarchy member, why would I need comfort of all things?"
To be continued...
SO CLOSE YET SO FAR...again tysm for all the nice comments, i rlly appreciate them!
the next chapter is the finale, there's gonna be gay kissing in it :3