OK RLLY IMPORTANT DETAIL I FORGOR: quartz's squidmas takes place after broken quartz (without spoiling that book) but before sparkling quartz…idk if i said this in chapter 1 lmaoo

enjoy this very gay chapter :3

"WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!" Celeste shouted through a megaphone while laughing. Quartz sprung awake and glared at his sister standing by his bed. "You're as evil as Ember sometimes!" he groaned. Celeste winked. "You're evil for not waking up on time for that date!"

"My what-" The octoling boy's eyes widened as he slowly turned his head towards the clock. It said 11:30am. The date is at noon. "SHIT!"

Quartz threw his blankets off the bed and ran out the room to try throwing together a somewhat presentable look. "Damn it, damn it…DAMN IT!" he yelled, catching Haru's attention. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

"I'm running late!" answered Quartz, his mouth full of toothpaste. "Could you maybe hold back Dad Ceru so he doesn't get all overprotective?!" he pleaded as he speedran his morning routine. "Of course I will." smiled Haru.

When he finally finished up, Quartz ran out the door and dashed down the street to find them. "H-Hey…" he panted in exhaustion. "Am I late?"

"Right on time." smiled Kai. "Did you sleep in again?"

Quartz blushed. "I was having a nice dream, okay?"

"Oh really? Were we in it?" asked Bay. "Shut up." scoffed Quartz. "I know damn well you were gonna turn that into a way to fluster me." he sighed. "You're no fun..." sighed Bay.

"We should go watch some turf wars!" suggested Kai. "Rebuilding a team is almost like starting fresh, so we should take notes."

"That's what nerds do." sighed Bay and Quartz, who looked at each other when they realized they jinxed. "But if Bay doesn't like it, then I'll love it." winked Quartz. "Besides, Heliodor could use those notes a lot…"

"Can't say no to a cutie~" shrugged Bay, kissing Quartz and taking his lovers' hands. They began their walk to the lobby. Quartz was once again reminded of the days he met them, both events being related to turf war. He felt a smile form on his scarred face.

"If it isn't the rat." growled a familiar voice.

Quartz's smile instantly faded. "I'm ready to fight you this time, asshole."

"I bet it's easier to fight without that pink weight pulling you down!" shot back Touma. "HE'S NOT JUST A WEIGHT!" shouted Quartz. "You're too unloved to know anything about protecting others!"

Touma nearly froze at the remark. "U-Unloved…" he muttered before clenching his fist. "WHY THE HELL DO I NEED TO BE LOVED?!" he shouted. "Friends, lovers, family, pets…THEY'RE ALL DISTRACTIONS!"

The peach octoling punched Quartz to the ground, but the purple octoling got right back up and pulled out his mini splatling. "I-Isn't it illegal to just pull that out?!" panicked Kai. "I don't care." responded Quartz. "I'm winning this fight."

Meanwhile, Heliodor finally woke up from the best sleep he's had in years. "Quartz must have gone on his date already…" he thought. "I really want to keep exploring Splatsville though. Maybe someone else could take me?"

The pastel pink octoling left his room and began looking around the house. Celeste was nowhere to be seen, but she was clearly out shopping since her favorite bag was also missing. Cerulean and Haru left a note in the kitchen about how they had to run to Inkopolis to find a specific store. Akari likely went with one or the other.

Heliodor frowned. "I could go myself, but…" he sighed. If he was out there alone, Touma or his father could easily catch him if they found him. "I've been able to get away from them for all this time, what makes this any different?" he asked himself.

Ultimately, he decided to head out alone. It didn't seem so bad, friendly inkfish waved to him and the sunshine made the trees look livelier than ever. The sight of strong ink battlers passing by made him feel a bit starstruck over inkfish he's never even heard of. "It reminds me of the day I finally got to leave the Octarian army and my past mistakes behind…"

An old octoling in a worn-out lab coat passed by the distracted Heliodor, and quickly took notice. "If it isn't my little lab rat…" he grinned crookedly. Heliodor slowly looked back at him. "D-Doctor Aikawa…" he mumbled anxiously.

Heliodor had no other choice– Run.

The doctor's son was still locked into a fight against Quartz. Bay continuously blocked hits from Touma to protect his lover. Kai wasn't sure what to do. "I'm a man, I have to fight…But they're on another level…"

"Kai! Back us up!" called Bay. The lavender-pink octoling felt a knot in his stomach. The truth was, he was nervous. He's had turf war rivals, but he's never fought someone as evil as Touma before.

"I promised Heliodor I'd help protect him, and this is what I have to do." thought Kai. He nodded to Bay. "Okay." The lavender-pink octoling pulled out his own weapon, his krak-on splat roller, and slammed Touma from behind.

The peach octoling growled in anger, heading straight for him. Bay pulled Kai out of the way and Quartz threw himself at the front. Touma charged forward, shattering Quartz's weapon. Kai's hit badly hurt his back, which made it difficult to fight. "I can't let you win…" he muttered, frustrated.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" shouted Doctor Aikawa, glaring daggers at his son. Touma froze. "These three-"

"HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR GOAL!" cut in the older octoling. "Picking meaningless fights instead of looking for that lab rat is inexcusable!"

Touma growled. "But-"

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood, I found that thing in a nearby neighborhood. Come with me at once." grumbled his father. Touma sighed, giving up on explaining things. Quartz glared, about to shout something at both of them.

"Don't worry about them, I think they've found Heliodor." said Kai. "We have to find him before they do."

Heliodor ran around the corner, looking back to see if he lost the doctor yet. "I think I-"

He ran face first into an older inkling. He had light green hair, a hula punk shirt and a bucket hat. "Can I help you?" he asked politely. "S-Sorry Flint!" exclaimed Heliodor, looking up at him. The inkling was of course Flint, Ember's younger brother.

"It's okay, just watch where you're going." Flint smiled a bit awkwardly. "You look like you're around Quartz's age…"

"You know him?!" asked Heliodor.

"Wait…How do you know my name?!" gasped Flint. Heliodor panicked. "Q-Quartz told me of course!" he laughed awkwardly. "I know t-this is sudden, but can I hide at your place? I'm being hunted down by kidnappers…"

"Of course, follow me." smiled the green inkling. "I'm Ember's brother, by the way. You've probably seen her around."

He led Heliodor back to his house, which was clean and full of photos Flint took with his sister. "It's very organized…" mumbled Heliodor.

One photo that stuck out was the one with Flint next to an orange inkling boy, who affectionately leaned on his shoulder as the green inkling blushed and smiled awkwardly.

"Who's that?" asked the pastel-pink octoling. Flint blushed. "J-Just a friend…He's just Ash, Cerulean's older brother." answered the inkling. "We met last Squidmas…"

"He reminds me of someone…" thought Heliodor. That's when the doorbell rang. Before anyone could answer it, the guest barged in. "FLINT! YOU HOME?!" he shouted. Heliodor was a bit surprised– He's the same inkling in the photo.

"Heya little guy, I'm Ash!" grinned the orange inkling. "I'm Heliodor…" greeted the pastel pink octoling, a bit shyly. "Flint's behind the couch." he added, confused on why he's hiding there. Ash surprised the green inkling in hiding, giving him a hug.

"What's the hiding for?" laughed Ash. "I-If I hid, you'd think I'm busy and leave…" replied Flint, blushing. "Busy with what?" asked the orange inkling. Flint sighed and shoved Ash off him a bit. "A helpless boy needs to stay with me, and you just come in like nothing's happening! If you're gonna stay, then you're helping Heliodor!"

Ash smiled. "I can do that."

Flint scoffed. "What do you know about younger inkfish?"

Heliodor almost let out a laugh as he listened to the two go back and forth.

"I'm literally the oldest of three!" laughed Ash. "I've got Ceru, then I was technically two minutes older than Mili…"

Mili– Vermillion.

Heliodor's heart nearly came to a stop.

That's exactly who Ash reminded him of.

"Hey Helio! Tell Flint I should stay!" called Ash, bringing the octoling back into reality. "Y-Yeah!" responded Heliodor. "Flint, you need to stop pushing your friend away!"

Flint blushed for the hundredth time. "I'm not pushing him away…" he muttered. "He can stay…"

Ash cheered. "I WISH CELESTE HAD HER MISTLETOE RIGHT NOW!"

"N-NO YOU DON'T!" panicked Flint, getting flashbacks from the Squidmas party. His blush darkened as he remembered how he fell in love with this man. "Please don't remind me…"

Ash brought his arm around Flint's shoulder. "I'm still up for that trip to the coffee shop I asked you about back then~"

"Not today!" barked Flint. "We should make lunch or something."

"WHAT'S COOKIN?!" shouted Ember as she walked through the door, as if it couldn't get more embarrassing for Flint. She noticed him and Ash. "Oh, am I interrupting something?~"

"Oh nothin', just helping your bro with lunch!" winked Ash. "Cool." smirked Ember, who then turned her attention to the octoling. "Wait a sec, are you the new guy Haru told me about? Your name's Harold or something right?"

"I-It's Heliodor!" corrected Heliodor. "And that's probably me."

"I'm Ember, also known as Agent 4!" smiled Ember. "You've met Flint and his boyfriend~"

Flint groaned. "HE'S NOT MY-" his mouth was playfully covered by Ash's hands. "Focus on dinner, silly!"

"There's no way they're just friends…" Heliodor said to himself.

Outside, Quartz fell to the ground in defeat. "They didn't take him…Right?" His phone went off, and he quickly checked it.

E: heliodor is at my place if you didn't know

Q: Thanks, I didn't know.

The dark purple octoling sighed in pure relief. "He found Ember and is staying with her…Thank cod."

"That takes care of that!" shrugged Bay. "Let's get you a new weapon, yeah?"

That evening, Heliodor finished showering and passed by Flint's room. The green inkling was pinned to his bed by the taller orange inkling, whose face was mere inches away from his. He blushed like mad when he spotted the octoling. "H-Hey! It's not what it looks like! I was fixing a picture on the wall and-"

"I won't tell Ember." chuckled Heliodor. He laughed all the way into the guest bedroom. "This is a pretty good position to be in though…" smirked Ash. "Get off me, you brute." grumbled Flint. "If you're sleeping in here, then stay on your side of the bed!"

In the guest room, Heliodor looked up at the sunset. "I hope Quartz's date went well…"

Quartz just finished walking out of Ammo Knights with a brand-new mint decavitator. "This looked cool, so I wanted to try it out."

Bay instantly snatched it from him. "Aw, it's a toothbrush? That's pretty cute~"

"G-Give it back!" barked a blushing Quartz. "Can I see it next?!" asked Kai. "You two are gonna be the death of me!" sighed the dark purple octoling, taking his weapon back. "My weapon isn't cute or whatever…"

"It is though." smirked Bay. "Let's get you home before you start arguing about it~"

To be continued...

I FINALLY GOT TO WRITE ASH X FLINT I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE CHRISTMAS LMAOO- i plan to show more of the agents but i'm also setting up bay and kai's roles in the story since i rlly want them to be involved in the conflict unlike last time!