Work Text
"Ay! Ayayay! (Hot off the press! Big Man here with a super urgent announcement from Grizzco!)""Yeah, I bet they're hiring. They're always hiring. It's not really news. Lemme see… AHH! This is a Big Run alert! And there's something else too!""Breaking news—We have reports of a new King Salmonid inkoming! Witnesses are referring to it as 'Horrorboros' and there is a high likelihood of it appearing during the upcoming Big Run at Inkblot Art Academy!”"Ay! (If you want to help restore order, head to Grizzco and volunteer!)" rang out the Anarchy Splatcast broadcast from Ocho's Sea-cucumber phone."A new King, huh? I hope it isn't worse than Cohozuna..." the indigo octoling mumbled to himself as he closed his phone.He looked around, hoping to spot a certain orange inkling, before huffing to himself and walking inside the Battle Lobby Tower. Upon entering, he was met with Shady and 8-Bit practicing in the test range."Hey," he called out to them.The two inklings stopped what they were doing and turned to the source of the voice. Shady pointed his E-liter 4K scope towards Ocho while 8-Bit rested her Dynamo roller on her shoulder."What do you want?" 8-Bit asked.Ocho walked up to them. "Do you wanna team up with me for the Big Run happening this weekend? They say that the fish scale drop rate is gonna be doubled.""Okay," was Shady's prompt reply."I don't know... You guys won't be slacking on the job, right?" 8-Bit narrowed her eyes at the other two."Of course not! I take my job at Grizzco very seriously," Ocho scoffed, "I'll have you know that I'm an Eggsecutive VP."Shady simply shrugged in response.Heaving a sigh, the bespectacled inkling rolled her eyes. "Fine. Only 'cause your rank is higher than mine.""Cool, I'll text you the details later. By the way, do you know where Wire is? I can't seem to find him anywhere and he's not answering his phone.""I haven't seen him around either," 8-Bit replied."I think I saw him at Um'ami Ruins with his team a while ago..."
"What? What's he doing there?" the .96 Gal user looked at Shady questioningly."Beats me."Ocho grumbled and quickly left the lobby before making his way to the train station. Just as he was about to go to the platform that led to the excavation site, he saw the very inkling that he was looking for."Wire!"Wireglasses was walking towards Ocho with his hands in his pockets. "Hey.""Why didn't you answer my texts, where were you?" Ocho lightly scolded."I was—""You know what, nevermind," Ocho cut Wireglasses off before he could explain himself, "Wanna be in my team for this next Big Run? I managed to get 8-Bit and Shady to agree."Wireglasses, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered getting interrupted. "Sure. When is it happening again?""This weekend. I'll text you when to meet up later, just don't be late. I don't want to waste time.""Sounds good."
"Ugh, I don't like how the slopsuits feel on me," 8-Bit complained."Stop whining, it's required PPE. It's supposed to protect you from danger so you don't, y'know, get splatted," Ocho explained as he put on his black work helmet.Meanwhile, Wireglasses and Shady were waiting for the two to finish getting ready so they could get to Inkblot. Wireglasses scrunched his nose at the fishy odor wafting through the building as he sat on one of the foldable chairs in the Grizzco lobby."It's kinda smelly in here, huh?" Shady commented."Not just 'kinda', it reeks. I'm only doing this because Ocho asked."Right when Shady was about to say something, Ocho had a question for the group. "You guys probably heard of the new King Salmonid, right?"The others hummed in agreement.Shrugging on his lifesaver, the octoling continued, "Since there isn't much information on how to defeat it yet, when we encounter it, just—don't fuck around and be aware of your surroundings and stuff so we can complete the shift without failing. I don't want to get demoted because of you guys either.""Normally I’d be annoyed with you bossing us around but since you know this stuff better than I do, I guess I can let it slide for now," 8-Bit retorted."Hey, I asked you guys instead of anyone else 'cause you're tolerable enough to work with. Plus, Wire mostly knows what to do from the times we worked together."A low, raspy voice blared from the wooden bear figure on the counter. "The next shift begins in 10 minutes. Sounds like the next helicopter's about to head out—let's get you down to Inkblot Art Academy so you can help protect the city!”
The group of four made their way towards Grizzco's helipad after listening to the message.
The first few shifts went smoothly, with Ocho mostly leading the group on what to do and how to effectively beat the boss salmonids. It wasn't long before the sky turned darker than the usual reddish-pink color and an unsettling silence filled the air as the wave began. The water level rose from the other end of the map until the middle part of the campus, indicating that it was a normal tide.The team of four looked at the weapons they were supplied with—Wireglasses had the Explosher, Ocho with the Splatana Wiper, 8-Bit with the Splattershot, and Shady got the N-ZAP '85. "I'm not that good with shooters," Shady muttered to himself.Looking up at the sky, Ocho widened his eyes. "Shit, it's a night wave... Everyone get on the platform, who knows what'll be coming!"Wireglasses, 8-Bit and Shady followed behind Ocho as he swam up to the platform in front of the egg basket and readied their weapons.
Sounds of metal clanking could be heard in the distance."Great, it's a Griller wave." Ocho glanced at the other three cephalopods and saw that there was a laser pointing at Wireglasses. "Wire, the Griller's marked you! Stay on the platform—Shady, 8-Bit and I will take it down."Nodding at him, Wireglasses obeyed Ocho's instructions and remained on the platform. The other three jumped down and got near the egg basket to make sure that there was ample space between them. As the first Griller surfaced the land and headed towards the orange inkling, Ocho began slashing at the salmonid's exposed tail. 8-Bit did the same with her Splattershot while Shady and Wireglasses were busy clearing the Smallfrys gathering at their feet.
The Griller exploded and left behind multiple golden eggs, to which Ocho and 8-Bit collected and deposited in the basket. The laser pointer was now targeting Shady."Shady, it's on you now!" 8-Bit called out to him."Huh?" Shady looked down at himself and saw the red line on him. He then quickly climbed up on the platform and traded places with Wireglasses, the latter now with Ocho and 8-Bit.They repeated the same tactic as before and took down the second Griller. Right as the last egg that it dropped got deposited, two laser beams were now targeting the group.
"Ocho, Wire! Look out!"Both of them looked at each other before getting on the platform once again; however, one of the Grillers emerged from the water nearer than the previous two did, making it approach Wireglasses (the one it had its laser on) faster than usual. Wireglasses noticed this but due to the weapon he was loaned with, its weight rendered him slower when running and swimming in ink.
"Wire, get up here!" Ocho yelled."I'm trying! This Explosher is so heavy," Wireglasses grunted in response.The Griller was increasingly gaining distance on the Splattershot Pro main—the moment he was climbing up the wall, the Griller was right on his tail. Luckily, Wireglasses managed to escape getting crushed by a hair, but unfortunately, his right leg got grazed as he got on the platform.
"That was close," 8-Bit breathed."Yeah, but we've got two Grillers on us now," Shady pointed out.Wireglasses was slightly wincing as he stood up from his squid form. Ocho saw this and asked, "Hey, you good?""I'm fine."Raising an eyebrow at him, Ocho decided to trust his word and not press any further. "Okay."
The rest of the wave as well as the next few shifts ended successfully with everyone defeating the salmonids and meeting the egg quota. The (ex-)Hierarchy had recently finished a low-tide wave when alarm sirens blared out an emergency warning.
"Got a King Salmonid coming in. That means mandatory overtime! Here's an egg cannon. Now get to work!" came Mr. Grizz's voice through their earpieces.
"Oh Cod, here it comes."A long, dragon-like salmonid emerges from the water and flies into the air. An ear-splitting roar comes out of its mouth, causing the group to wince at the sound.
"That's a Horrorboros. Do I even need to tell you to avoid the bombs that it periodically launches out of its mouth?"
8-Bit stared at the King Salmonid in horror. "What. Is. That.""Did he say... it shoots out bombs at us? Periodically??" Wireglasses questioned.Ocho interrupted them, "No time for that! Let's just shoot at it and gather golden eggs to damage it more!"The group currently had Shady on the E-liter 4K, Ocho on the Grizzco Brella, 8-Bit on the Carbon roller, and Wireglasses on the Dark Tetra dualies."You're so lucky you got your main," 8-Bit grumbled, "At least I got a roller.""Dualies aren't too bad, they're similar to shooters," Wireglasses added, "But I'm not used to dodge rolling."Ocho started painting the ground with the Brella and taking out hoards of Salmonids while 8-Bit and Wireglasses focused on taking out the bosses. Golden eggs were launched at Horrorboros but it didn't seem like it was getting weakened nor was it slowing down its bomb's charge.
Eventually, the bomb grew and was launched at the center of the Academy. Everyone tried to escape the blast as fast as they could; Wireglasses was dodge rolling but the pain from having his leg injured during the Griller wave earlier was starting to get to him, making him unable to avoid the blast radius in time. He ended up getting even more injured."What the hell are you doing, Wire?!" Ocho shouted at him before swimming to where he lay."S-Shit…" Wireglasses cursed."You fucking idiot—" Ocho helped Wireglasses get to his feet and led him to a corner free from salmonids. "Stay here."Wireglasses could only nod and stay put as he was too weak to move.An exasperated expression could be seen on Ocho's face as he glared at the King Salmonid. He was examining its body to see if there was any weakness they could take advantage of and noticed that the only "special" feature about its appearance was its bomb. He glimpsed at Shady before an idea popped into his head."Shady! Try aiming at its bomb while it charges up!"Shady nodded and did as he was told. To their surprise, the bomb was actually diminishing in size! This meant that Ocho's hunch was correct—Horrorboros' only attack was also its weakness."The bomb is its weakness! Keep shooting at it, Shady. 8-Bit, launch golden eggs at the bomb since you don't have the range with your main weapon," Ocho commanded."Alright!"Ocho regrouped with the other two and helped take down more bosses to get golden eggs. Everyone targeted the bomb as it charged, resulting in the bomb bursting and dealing massive damage to Horrorboros."It worked! Let's keep this going 'til it's down!"The remaining three proceeded to attack Horrorboros until it was weakened to the point that it exploded. Celebratory alarms rang out and Mr. Grizz greeted them once again, "Never had a doubt! Great work. Now get back to the helicopter. Fuel isn't free.”The four super-jumped to the helicopter and returned to Splatsville.
With an arm wrapped around Wireglasses' waist, Ocho helped the injured inkling sit down on a foldable chair and began looking for a first aid kit. When he found one, he opened up its contents and started disinfecting Wireglasses' wounds."Cod, Wire, what were you thinking? You know better than to stay in that— that Booyah-bomb-thing from the new King," Ocho berated.Wireglasses, on the other hand, hissed in pain as his burns and cuts were tended to. "I-I know, I just..." he began."You just what?"Looking away, the inkling mumbled, "Nothing, I'm fine."The octoling squinted his eyes at the other. "Stand up.""Huh?""Stand up, Wire."Wireglasses furrowed his eyebrows at Ocho’s instructions. "Why?""You hurt your tentacle during that one Griller wave, didn’t you?""N-No...""Then stand up and prove it to me," Ocho ordered.Wireglasses sighed before begrudgingly standing up from the chair, doing his best to refrain from wincing. Unfortunately, the longer he stood, the more pressure he was putting on his left ankle. It took a few moments of Ocho staring him down until he couldn’t take it anymore and sat back down."Take your left boot off.""I swear I'm okay!" Wireglasses insisted."No, you're not!!!"Staring at him in shock, Wireglasses grew quiet at Ocho's outburst."Y-You're always like this—You don't think before you do anything and your reckless actions end up getting you hurt. You brush it off and act like you're fine when you’re really not.""That's becau—""And then you do some stupid shit to get yourself even more hurt! What would happen if I wasn't there to help you get away from the Horrorboros bomb?""I-I don't—""I can't believe you—"
"Can you just let me speak?!"
This time, Ocho was the one who shut up and gaped at Wireglasses in stunned silence."I would've still gotten away somehow, okay?" Wireglasses spat, "You don’t need to worry about me."Upon hearing that, something inside of Ocho snapped. "' I don't need to worry about you? ’ Of course I have to worry about you! What if you died?!""I mean, I have my lifesaver—""Yeah, but who knows what could've happened? You could be thrown into the water and drowned, or crushed by oncoming salmonids—I don't know, but keeping injuries like a sprained tentacle quiet can be so dangerous! Do you even care about the consequences?"By the end of his emotional eruption, Ocho was panting and had tears prickling the corners of his eyes.
"Ocho…"With a trembling voice, he continued, "I-I don't know what I'd do if you were gone… I'd never forgive myself." The tears finally spilled from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. "I care about you too much for you to just throw away your life like that," he whimpered.Wireglasses glanced down at his lap. "I just don't like worrying others..."Ocho sniffled. "Don't ever do that again. You have no idea how scared I was when I saw you like that, on the ground…" He sucked in a shaky breath. "I-I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt. It terrifies me."Wireglasses immediately felt bad after listening to Ocho express his fears. "I'm sorry. I'll be more careful next time, and I'll let you know if I get hurt."Meekly nodding his head, Ocho muttered in a small voice, "I can't lose you, I haven't even told you I love you yet."Wireglasses perked up at that. "What?""Fuck— Nothing ." Ocho abruptly stood up and tried walking away to dismiss what he had just said but Wireglasses was quick to grab his hand and stop him before he could leave."Did you… did you just confess to me?""A-And what if I did? You know what—just forget I said anything."Tugging his hand, Wireglasses got up and stepped closer to the shorter octoling, smiling gently at him.Wireglasses' expression was quite unsettling to the octoling. He had never seen Wireglasses make a face like that before—let alone at him . "W-Why are you looking at me like that?""Because I love you too.""What? R-Really?" Ocho gawked at Wireglasses with an intense blush on his face.
"Yeah. And I want to say thank you for caring about me." The taller of the pair cupped Ocho’s cheek and tenderly caressed his tear-stained face."You’re not fucking with me again, are you?"“I’m not! I know better than to do that.” Wireglasses slightly frowned at him. “I may be an asshole but I won’t do that to you.”Ocho's stern façade softened. "You're an idiot, you know that?"A faint smile formed on Wireglasses' lips. "I've been told."Sighing once more, Ocho let a small smile creep onto his face as well. "Just promise me that you'll think before you act next time.""Will do."Brown eyes stared into red ones. Ocho could feel himself slowly leaning into Wireglasses; the other took notice of this and gently tilted his chin up before pressing his lips onto Ocho's.In the stillness of the room, all the tension from earlier seemed to have completely melted away as the both of them shared a long, yearning kiss.
Bonus:
"Hey Ocho, have you seen my— Oh."The two broke apart and snapped their heads towards the door where 8-Bit stood."I-I— We were—" Ocho stammered.Snickering at Ocho's flustered state, 8-Bit teased, "Sorry for interrupting, you love birds. Don't mind me, feel free to continue~" She walked over to her locker to grab what she was looking for (it was her squid friend plush keychain)."Well, you heard her," Wireglasses playfully responded.
"W-WIRE!"
8-Bit left the building promptly after, though not before telling them, "About time you losers confessed!" much to Ocho’s dismay.
"Fucking 8-Bit," Ocho huffed, "L-Let's just change out of our work suits before we do anything else…""Alright. Does this mean we can continue later?""...Yes."