Chapter Text
Around the Squidmas season, it's common for friends and family to have gatherings to celebrate the holiday together. This was no exception for this group of inkfish, who had decided to gather at Stephanie’s house.
Tako and Anemone were seated on the ground next to the Squidmas tree, organizing the presents they and everyone else brought. As the two talked to each other— probably about the cookies they made before the party started, two individuals had been conversing amongst themselves.
“Whew~ These cookies are seriously so fresh!” Hiro grinned as he took another bite of the cookie he had already began eating— seems that they had been talking about the cookies as well. “I would say I’m surprised that Anemone managed to make something this good, but then again, Tako was there with her, sooooo…”
“Pfft— not so loud, she might hear you…!” Narwhal waved a hand cautiously, though he was chuckling a bit himself.
“Hear what?” The short haired inkling turned her head towards the group sitting at the table. A questioning, yet knowing expression painted her face.
“Oh, y’know,” Stephanie grabbed a cookie from the plate sitting at the center. “Just how these cookies are the bomb. Like, a Booyah Bomb, if you will.”
“Y’know what else is the bomb?”
The inkling turned towards her friend. “Oh my cod— Kayos. Don’t even—”
“Tenta Missiles.” The octoling had the most mischevious smile on their face.
“That literally has nothing to do with bombs!” Stephanie gestured incredulously. “Why do you have to bring Tenta Missiles into every conversation?!”
“‘Cause it’s funny.”
“Why— you—”
“Tenta Missiles…” A tall, long haired figure murmured as he passed by the table. “Sorry, the word reminded me of the mistletoe.”
“Mistletoe… missile.. toe— hah!” Narwhal clapped his hands together. “I get it!”
"That is such a reach!" Stephanie gestured incredulously. "This entire conversation is a reach!! How do you even get from Tenta Missiles to a freakin' mistletoe ?!"
"I mean, Narwhal just said that missile sounds like mistle." Hiro grins. "What, did you want him to bring up the sinister other word that's tangentially related to mistletoe?"
The violet haired inkling tilted her head in confusion as Narwhal began howling with laughter, and Kayos choked out a "Oh my cod, Hiro, no ," before slamming their hand into the table as they, too, began to laugh uncontrollably.
"What the— heck is going on over there, you guys…??" The four inkfish turned to look at the octoling with tentatwist styled hair. "Why am I hearing stuff about missiles? And a 'sinister other word'???"
"Oh, y'know," Narwhal began, wiping a tear from his eye (how is that possible? He's literally wearing goggles). "Typical Kayos and their Tenta Missiles. And Steph's disdain for them."
"Huh." Tako raised an eyebrow slowly. "Why… do you hate them so much, anyway?"
She sighed and shook her head, flinching when she noticed Kayos (and probably Narwhal too, but surely her eyes were deceiving her) suddenly wore a wide, smug grin. "No, no no no. I don't wanna talk about it. Please don't make me talk about it."
"Sooooo…" The wireglass wearing octoling drawled, trailing off immediately when Stephanie actually stood up from her seat and grabbed them by their shoulders. Tako and Anemone looked at each other in bewilderment as the horn helmet wearer appeared to be tightening her grip— so much so that her fingers looked as if they were digging into their sweater.
"Steph tried to use the Zipcaster to get to Kayos. But mid-air, she got hit by a bunch of their Tenta Missiles." The tall figure from earlier returned from another room. A half grin painted his face. "And I mean mid-air. Straight up exploded right above the pole at Hagglefish. Like a firework. Oh, I'll never forget that d—"
" CAL. " The tall inkling shrieked as Stephanie slammed the table again and shot him a look that could splat him instantly. He was sputtering fractured apologies and even attempted to run when she actually approached him. And when Cal was unsuccessful in his escape, getting caught in a headlock, wavering his arms helplessly— everyone at the table began laughing wildly, especially Kayos.
"Oh for the love of— knock it off , you guys!" Tako's shout immediately shut almost everyone up, and only when she managed to pull Cal out of Stephanie's grasp effortlessly did Narwhal also stop laughing. "Honestly, you guys… can you not cause chaos for one night?"
"I mean," Kayos shrugs. "We're the chaos trio. It really do be like that sometimes."
"Man, shut up," Tako says with a chuckle— to which Kayos does an exaggerated pout and sad face. "It's Squidmas season for cryin' out loud. Can't we have a truce until it ends?"
"You're acting like I wanted to fight," Stephanie gestures. "The roller freak started it, y'know!"
"Uhh, maybe you just shouldn't have gotten missiled?" Said 'roller freak' shrugged. "Skill issue?"
" Cod , why did you have to be on the same team as me?" The inkling gave the same death glare she gave to Cal towards Kayos. "I wish I could kick your ass right now!"
"I mean… you had the opportunity, Steph~"
"You—"
"Alright alright , shaddup already!" The short haired inkling accompanying Tako approached the group after tossing a pillow right at Kayos' face— to which they yelped in surprise. "We get it! You two wanna kill each other! Save it for after the holidays or something!" Anemone gestures wildly. "Right now we are celebrating our friendship and peace and harmony and stuff!"
Everyone fell silent as they looked at the inkling. Her intense expression became confused as she looked at them. "...What. What is it? Did I say something wrong?"
Tako was the next to break the silence by giggling softly, letting go of the inklings she was holding onto. "No, I don't think so. I think it's just that you don't say stuff like that often, so… I guess we were surprised."
Anemone blinked before realizing what she meant, sputtering and looking away in embarrassment as everyone at the table (excluding Kayos who was still recovering from the pillow throw) smiled softly at the short haired inkling's sentiment.
"Oh, and thank you for stepping in… even if your method was a little…" Tako glanced at Kayos with a smile of pity. "...extreme."
This gesture did nothing to help calm down the already flustered inkling. It just made it worse.
"Well, while you two are busy being gay," Stephanie says as she pulls her phone out of her pocket, moving to sit back at her spot at the table, "and Kayos is busy being stunned by a pillow, I've got something more important to address here." She began tapping away at the keyboard.
"Hahahah~ woo!" Narwhal laughed as he rested a hand on his face, smiling. "It's never a dull moment with you guys!"
"It really isn't," Hiro nodded in agreement. "..."
"Hm?" The goggles-wearing octoling raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Hiro?"
"Um, it's just…" The purple octoling furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Where's Veronika, anyway? She's really missing out right now."
Stephanie opened her mouth to say something, but right as she did so, Kayos— who recovered from the pillow attack— piped up before she could. "Oh, yeah, duh, of course you'd miss your very special squid.. best friend ."
"K-Kayos—..." It was Hiro's turn to express his embarrassment, as his tone wavered and he looked away— was that red dusting his cheeks? Either way, he thanked squod (squid god) that Tako and Anemone had gone back to the tree being as gay as ever, and Stephanie hadn't been paying attention either. Cal had mysteriously disappeared from the room— the usual. Narwhal was still listening and gave him a cheeky grin, but that was only natural given he was a part of the conversation.
"What's wrong, Hiro? It's not like I'm mistaken," Kayos grinned smugly. "You didn't think I never noticed how you looked at her, did you? Hmmm…" They hummed, closing their eyes. "On the mention of mistletoes, perhaps you two…"
That was enough to fluster Hiro a lot more than Tako flustered Anemone— the idea of getting caught under a mistletoe with Veronika, reassuring her that he did want to kiss— of course, only if she wanted to as well! And having to bend over a bit since she was slightly shorter than him—
" Ha! You should see the look on your face!" Kayos pointed as they laughed. "Yeah, you should totally—"
"W-Well, that's only if she actually likes me back…" Hiro's expression became a sad smile. "What if she doesn't? What if she only thinks of me as a friend? I mean, I'd respect that and wouldn't want to overstep that boundary— ah, what if it makes her uncomfortable and things get awkward between us—"
"Oh, trust me, Hiro. In some alternate reality where she somehow doesn't also like you, she would never avoid you or anything like that. Veronika's not cruel enough, not at all, to even consider having you suffer from an unrequited love." Kayos gave him a soft smile that was genuine, only for a moment. "But like I said, it's impossible that she also doesn't like you! If it turns out that she doesn't, I'll like, stop teasing Steph about Tenta Missiles."
"I'm almost rooting for Veronika to not like him back," Stephanie muttered.
"Whaaa…" Kayos' let out a soft gasp. "And let your dear friend suffer, Steph? You're so cruel…"
The inkling blinked for a moment. "Yes. Suffer."
Hiro laughed nervously. "You're… that confident that she'll like me too, huh? I-I don't wanna get my hopes up or anything, though…" He stood up from his seat, stepping away from the table. "Thanks for the chat, I just… uh…" He fell silent before slowly walking towards the duo at the Squidmas tree.
Narwhal slowly turned his head to look at the rest of his trio nervously. "Um… You don't think we.. actually made him upset with that, did we…?"
Kayos shook their head. "Do you have any idea how many times he and I have had this conversation? He's just distracting himself again." They shrug. "Probably for the better so he doesn't overthink to the point where he literally explodes."
"Psh— you think that's bad?" Stephanie scoffs before shoving her phone across the table, so the two octolings could read the screen. "Try talking to the other side who thinks the exact same thing except 30 times worse !"
"Hah! I knew it! I can keep tormenting youuu~" Kayos grinned as Stephanie stared at him tiredly.
Narwhal's only response was a "huh, I didn't know she could get like that" when looking at the screen.
"You're spared for now, we have an important matter on our hands now," the inkling rolls her eyes. She brings her phone closer to her, tapping away at the keyboard again before putting it down and leaning in closer to the two. Her voice drops to a raspy whisper. "So, I have an idea as to how we can get this to work. Hear me out…"
"Well, that was a productive chat we had!" Hiro says as he turns around to leave. "It means a lot, really. Be sure to write that down on your calenders, 'kay? Alright, be right back." He walks away, in the direction of the bathroom— not before bumping into Cal, to which they muttered quick apologies to one another and proceeded on their ways.
Tako and Anemone just sat there, with the former blinking in confusion.
"...When did he become so interested in heavyweight weapons?" She muttered, as the inkling shook her head.
"Honestly, that guy's full of surprises. Who knows, it may be another thing—… for…" Anemone's gaze fell onto the octolings of the chaos trio approaching Cal, with the inkling looking a little bit confused.
"Nem?" Tako tilts her head. "What is it?"
"...What the hell are they doing." She pointed at the inkfish gathering at the entrance of the dining room. They became even more confused when Stephanie came barreling down the stairway, yelling "I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! HERE!"
"WOO! Alright, Cal, please please please you gotta be the one to hang it up there." Narwhal pressed the palms of his hands together. "You can do it so easily since you're the tallest of us four."
"...Sure." The tall inkling huffed in amusement as he hung the object that Stephanie handed him onto the roof of the entrance.
"Oh my cod," Tako pointed. "Is that a—"
Everyone flinched when the doorbell went off— Kayos cackled wildly for a moment before Stephanie lightly smacked them on the back, to which they immediately shut up, but only barely.
"Wait, that's gotta be Veronika. She said she'd be late." Anemone stands up and grabs Tako by the hand, pulling her up and dragging her towards the door. "We should greet her."
The octoling was about to respond when Stephanie suddenly sped past them, giving a quick apology before rushing to the door. Sure enough, standing at the door, was a yellow haired inkling with one side braided. She stood there, smiling awkwardly.
"Roni! Merry Squidmas, girl—" Anemone approached her best friend with a large grin. "What took you so long to get here, anyway?"
Veronika grins and waves back with her free hand. "Merry Squidmas to you too, Nem. And Tako. And Steph— and— and you too, Cal— er, was it really necessary for half of you guys to greet me at the door…?"
"Well, the others seem to be doing their own thing. Anyways, you look like you have your hands full." Tako points at the copious amount of presents being carried by Veronika's other arm. "Could that be why you were late?"
"Uhh…" The inkling blinked, quickly shooting a glance at Stephanie before glancing back at Tako and nodding. "Yeah… yeah, that's why. Yup." She noticed Tako reaching out towards the gifts, so she handed them off to her. The octoling walked off, humming a Squidmas tune.
Veronika gave an apologetic smile to the two remaining inklings. "I seem to have missed quite a bit… sorry about that."
"Psh, it's alright. You're here now , so…" Anemone grins. "It's not like you missed out on much anyway. Me and Tako were organizing the presents and the others were just chatting and eating cookies I made."
The yellow squid raises the corner of her lip in a smirk. "On second thought, maybe it's a good thing I didn't get here on time then."
"Roni, not you too—!!" Anemone drags her hands down the sides of her head, dramatically flopping over as the other two inklings laugh. She slowly got up again. "Oh, yeah, Steph and the others were also—"
She was cut off by Stephanie sneezing really loudly— Veronika muttering a "bless you!"— and blinked when she gave the short haired inkling a sharp look (forget the season of Squidmas, this should be the season of Stephanie Death Stare).
"They were also…?" Veronika repeated, trying to get Anemone to continue.
"Uhh… I'll probably tell you about that later." Anemone waves a hand up and down. "We've been standing here a bit too long and I should probably go help Tako with the presents and stuff." She turns on her heel and skips away into the living room.
As soon as she was out of sight, Veronika let out a sigh she had been holding in ever since she stepped into the house. Steph gave her a knowing look, gently patting her on the back as she muttered a soft "trust me dude" and walked into the living room. Veronika slowly followed behind her.
Once again, Tako and Anemone had been sorting presents together, Kayos and Narwhal were sitting at the table, laughing about who knows what— Cal had been at the table too, munching on some cookies from the plate. Veronika scanned the entire room, hoping to find the one she was anticipating to see. When she couldn't see him, her gaze dropped— up until she bumped into a Stephanie who had suddenly stopped walking.
"Huh— wha—"
"Oh, Stephanie." Cal calls out, pointing. "You two… uh… haha…"
Veronika tilts her head in confusion, looking at Stephanie. "U-Uh— what is it…?" The other inkling laughs.
"Oh, Veronika. Look up." She points to the roof of the hallway's entrance, the same spot where Cal was pointing, and Veronika's gaze follows.
She blinked.
"W-Wait— hold on, surely not—!!" She whispers frantically, waving her hands back and forth as Stephanie fully turns towards her.
"Ahh, wait, hold on, something's not right here…" Kayos mutters, before proceeding to raise his voice. "I mean, shouldn't it be Hiro under there with her?"
"Hm? You rang? What's up?" As if on cue, the octoling in question entered the living room from the other hallway.
"Isn't it bad luck to refuse a kiss under the mistletoe ?" Narwhal hums, completely ignoring Hiro's arrival.
… Kiss? Mistletoe?
Hiro looks over to the entrance the inkfish at the table were focused on.
Stephanie and— wait, when did Veronika get here?!
"Well, that's awkward." Stephanie shrugs. "Can't be helped… don't want us to be cursed with a Turf War loss streak or something like that, now do we?" Veronika simply looks back at her, flabbergasted.
Kayos glances over to Hiro, blinking in surprise when they notice the expression on his face. " Woah , you don't look very happy. What's the deal?"
The purple octoling's expression was one they didn't see often— genuine annoyance. "You guys seriously can't be encouraging this silly mistletoe superstition at the expense of Veronika's comfort, can you? "
"Mmm.. I dunno, man," Narwhal tilts his head. "She doesn't look very uncomfortable. Surprised, yes, but uncomfortable? She is pan, and Steph's bi, so it's not like they'd be against kissing each other."
"You really think you can speak for her…?!" Hiro snapped, glaring at the inkfish sitting at the table. " You don't know what she's thinking!"
The two octolings peeked at each other before smirking and snickering a bit. "And you're saying you do? Pfft… Hey, Hiro," Kayos began. "You sure you're not pissed because you wish you were in Steph's place?"
"Wha—"
"Oh, he's definitely pissed 'cause of that." Narwhal grins. "We all know how much you love her, y'know."
"Oooh, you wanna be Steph so bad, oooooohh." Kayos jeered as the other octoling began to laugh again.
"Oh, shut up," Hiro mutters, rubbing his palm against the back of his neck. They're not wrong, but it's not even just that either. His gaze falls upon an anxious Veronika staring at the horn helmet wearer.
He didn't even hear what the other inkling was even saying— he didn't even realize that he had made his way towards the two, and that he gripped onto Stephanie's shoulder a little too tightly, gazing down at her a little too threateningly. He hadn't meant to be so angry, he just… couldn't help it.
Though she had expected it, it still intimidated her— she never saw Hiro genuinely upset. She grinned nervously, raising her hands and backing off.
The octoling's gaze softened when he looked down at his 'best friend'. "Hey, you alright?" He muttered gently.
Veronika gave a small hum and nod of acknowledgement, standing there awkwardly before turning her head up towards him, but still averting her gaze. Hiro didn't blame her— he had also looked away when her head turned up.
"H-Hey, Hiro."
"...Yes?"
"We— We're under the mistletoe now, s-so…" The inkling rubbed her hand against her arm shyly, a nervous smile appearing on her face.
"O-Oh." He felt his own face grow warm as he slowly found his gaze falling back on the girl in front of him. "You… You want to…?"
"Ah— I hope it wasn't weird for me to ask, I mean I'd only do it if you want to of course- I'm just saying I wouldn't mind if you did- hell I actually want you to so like—" Veronika's rambling was cut off by Hiro putting one hand on her shoulder, and the other cupping her cheek.
"M-May I…?" His soft voice made Veronika's heart race. She opened her mouth to respond, but just as quickly closed it shut as she grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, quickly pulling him closer to kiss him on the cheek before pulling away just as quickly, not making eye contact as she looked down.
Hiro slowly put a hand up to the cheek she just kissed, hardly being able to suppress the disappointed "awh" that left his lips.
"H-Huh? What is it..?" Veronika's eyes flitted back and forth between the floor and the octoling's eyes.
"That—" He paused for a moment. "That was hardly a kiss, Veronika."
"Wha…" The inkling chuckled, smirking. "What, so do you want to show me what a real kiss is li—"
She was cut off when Hiro gently grabbed the sides of her face and leaned in, pressing his lips against hers for a brief moment before leaning away and facing to the left, his face burning with embarrassment. Holy shit I actually—
"Pfft— Ahahaha—!! You're telling me that's what a real kiss is like?!" Veronika began to laugh, but there was no actual mocking intent behind her words.
"H-Hey, did you expect me to have experience or something…?" Hiro gave her a sheepish grin. "I-I mean, you are my first, after all…"
"True… ehehe—"
"Oh my cod , FINALLY !" The two inkfish snapped their heads to look at Stephanie, who was raising both of her fists up in a triumphant pose and yelling. "Finally, finally, finally !"
"You're welcome, by the way," Kayos adds as they clap a bit.
"Wh— huh…?" Hiro narrowed his eyes in confusion before Veronika's eyes widen and she stares at Stephanie. "Hold on. Was this your plan—?"
"Hah!" Stephanie grinned. "Yeah."
"Well that explains the mistletoe," Tako had been observing from the couch, smiling at the new development.
Kayos and Hiro made eye contact, the former giving him a smirk. "I mean, I did suggest for you two to be the ones who kiss under the mistletoe tonight, and would you look at that!"
"To be fair, you guys sort of had to set up this entire thing for it to even happen." Cal points to the mistletoe. "Good thing I was able to help with that."
Stephanie let out a sigh. "Well, it would have been even better if we didn't interfere, but whatever." She looks back at Hiro and Veronika. "Speaking for Kayos here as well, it's been as painful as a Killer Wail watching you two dance around each other's feelings without realizing they were reciprocated."
"...A Killer Wail? Why not Tenta M—"
"KAYOS I SWEAR TO COD —"
"Um. Anyway…" Narwhal stepped away from those two as he gave a double thumbs up towards Hiro and Veronika. "Consider this our Squidmas present to you two."
The purple octoling blinked before laughing awkwardly. "Well. Now I just feel stupid for overthinking earlier. Sorry about that, ahaha…"
"Oh, psh, don't even worry about that. I just stopped thinking entirely and went straight to panicking," Veronika shrugs. "I almost didn't even show up tonight."
"Well, we're glad you're here now!" Hiro grins. " Especially me…"
"Again, you can thank Steph for that, she's pretty much the reason why I even— alright, just—" She slips her hand into his, and when she feels him squeeze her hand in approval, she drags him to the couch next to the Squidmas tree. "I'll show you what I mean. We can laugh at my panic together."
And the entire time his beloved Veronika spoke to him and made any sort of intimate, physical contact, Hiro made a mental note to properly thank Kayos and Stephanie later.
…Speaking of which—
"Narwhal. Why would you do this to me."
The octoling sighed. "Steph. You were literally going to kill them."
"And your solution is to put the person who tried to kill me, right next to me, trapped with me for… who the hell knows how long," Kayos raises an eyebrow as they look down at the single shirt they and the inkling were confined to.
Narwhal simply stared down at them.
"...just be glad I didn't put you guys under the mistletoe"
" WHAT????????? " " NARWHAL I SWEAR TO C— "