Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Callie and Marie were waiting near the subway's exit. It was a calm afternoon with no breeze and absolutely nothing unique about the weather. However, the day was beautiful, and it was the perfect temperature to get outside and do stuff.

4 dragged her luggage off of the train. Three bags of stuff for a week, she might've gone a bit overboard.

When 4 stepped into the light, she was met with instant greetings by Callie and Marie, who exchanged hugs with the younger agent.

"Wow. Splatsville sure is cool," 4 exclaimed, glancing around the square. There was an abundance of inklings and octolings just enjoying the city life, and the buildings towered so much higher than Inkopolis could ever provide.

Even the Great Zapfish towered over the giant lobby. 4 was relieved that there wasn't going to be a need for another journey to retrieve it.

"Yea, there's so much to show you. Sucks that you're only here for a week—The splatfest is in, like, two," Marie commented as the three squids wandered towards the lower half of the square.

4 couldn't help but notice a red sewer drain, and Callie found it hilarious that she noticed it so quickly.

"There's some… old place down here," Callie stopped walking to elaborate, "But we turned it into a hangout place! The captain and other agent are there!"

4 had a small look of confusion on her face, to which Marie explained more. "Oh yea—gramps retired, so we promoted 3 to captain. And then got a new 3." She laughed, and 4 laughed along with her.

"I'm sure new 3 is gonna be glad to meet you," Callie smiled, and continued to walk forward.

"Huh. Well, I never actually met the new captain either." 4 realized that she hadn't blinked or breathed in the past minute, and finally gasped for air while closing her eyes for a second.

"Oh yea, she doesn't talk to anyone. Like, sometimes she talks, but you can't really tell if she's gonna be glad," Marie brought up an interesting point to which 4 answered. "I'm sure it's fine, everybody has days where they don't really want to talk!"

"No, Marie's right, she took a month before she even said a word to me." Glancing towards her cousin, Callie continued. "I guess she doesn't like people that much." Callie shrugged.

Nobody said much after that, and they all swam into the sewer.

Making it out on the other side, the other two agents happened to be sitting on patrol in the first site. The Captain waved subtlety while 3 ran up to greet the new agent.

3 was short-statured and energetic, with a braid lying in front of her right ear and a longer tentacle flowing down the other side. She had an off-white button up and a long skirt that went past her knees. She had a very gleeful expression, like she was always enthusiastic and optimistic.

"Oh my gosh, you're Agent 4? That's so cool, I've heard so much about you! I mean, not really, but your hair is cool. Oh my cod, I love your outfit! So vintage, it's like 500's Inkopolis. Where'd you get those shoes-"

All she did was ramble, which 4 gladly accepted, despite the fact that this kid was probably five years younger than her. She didn't completely mind it, but Marie eventually reminded the youngest squid that she needed to not be so overwhelming to people.

"Sorry—sorry, 2—"

"Don't worry about it," Marie responded. Callie ran up to the Captain to say hello, receiving another small wave in return. Callie would always greet everyone, all the time, but nobody minded it. She was just being kind.

"Hey, 4, you met Cap yet?" Callie yelled over to where the other agents were standing, and 4 walked over to where she was standing.

The Captain had long tentacles that were torn at the bottom, a maroon beanie, and a long t-shirt covered with a cloak. She had a very monotone expression, but in a way seemed welcoming despite her indifference.

Agent 4 held out her hand for a handshake to which Captain silently accepted. It was like she refused to look at 4, which was very confusing to 4, but she didn't care too much. She was too busy thinking about how pretty the person was who she had just shaken the hand of.

Like, conventionally attractive. She wasn't attracted to her in any sort of way-

4 was definitely blushing, and looked away from the Captain who wouldn't even have noticed anyway, considering she was looking at the ground.

"Nice to meet you," The younger agent stammered, before slowly backing up to give space to the Captain.

Which was definitely noticeable, when the Captain stared up at 4. All 4 could wonder was if she was actually zoning out or just looking at her shoes. New 3 liked her shoes, but she disregarded the possibility that Captain could even care less about them.

She decided to mentally call her "Cap" like the rest of the agents were doing. Nobody really knew her name, as she was told, just like how everyone else was referred to by number. Fair enough.

"Oh, I'm sorry," 4 apologized to the inkling staring at her, like she was about to be in trouble. Cap just ignored her and stared down again. At least this time, it probably wasn't anyone's shoes. She was just zoned out.

Her beanie cast a shadow over her face which made it difficult to determine her expression. Not that 4 was all too good with expressions anyway, but it was always good to be able to guess how somebody was feeling.

The other agents came over to where the two were standing, and 3 excitedly asked to take 4 on a tour of Alterna. Callie and Marie apparently had an event to go to, and left 4 with the quietest and loudest inklings she had ever met in her entire life.

There was a lot to see, but little discussion among the three, even from Agent 3, who seemed so desensitized from all the cool sights that it bored her. Instead, she resorted to complementing Agent 4 even more. Who knew that she was so interested in shoes?

All 4 could do was ask questions, but every single answer came from 3. Every once in a while, Cap would glance at the younger inkling to see her expressions, but mostly kept herself facing forward, as to avoid any unwanted conversation.

"So what's the story behind this place?" 4 inquired, while Agent 3 was showing her to the second site.

"Oh my gosh, you'll never believe it. This place… was made by humans!!" 3 managed to over excite both herself and Agent 4, while being met with a tired stare from the Captain.

Chapter Text

It didn't take too much longer for all three of them to get bored. There's only so much to talk about in such a small place.

Agent 4 checked her watch, noticing that it was already the evening. "It's getting kinda late guys…" she yawned, "can we go back to Splatsville?"

"Oh- uh- yea!" New Agent 3 said, catching the contagious yawn from 4. Even Cap almost yawned, before catching herself and glancing away.

"We can go home. You can kinda just, super jump out from here. Very efficient." It was obvious by her lack of enthusiasm that she was also tired, and ready to go home for the night.

4 was proud of how she was able to bond with 3, but not proud of her experiences with the Captain thus far. She seemed to want to ignore everyone, even though 3 said that Cap had talked with her before.

She wanted at least a word from this mysterious squid before she went home. Not that she was just curious how her voice sounded, though that was a smaller reason. Like she wanted the voice to be a dealbreaker from whether she was really attracted to her or not.

But she'd never admit it. If she wasn't even getting an answer now, how long would it take to convince the inkling that she wasn't a very difficult person to talk to?

— — —

"Y'know, Marie says she's just selectively mute. Whatever that means."

"Huh?"

3 had taken 4 back to her apartment to stay for the night, and they were hanging out in the guest room. They had conversations about Splatsville, the whole "world getting destroyed spiel," and now their peers.

"She doesn't admit it though. It's a strange theory, but it makes sense," 3 said. She was laying on the floor in one corner of the room, staring at the ceiling.

In the other corner, 4 was laying on a mattress. "I guess that makes sense. I've heard of that," 4 replied.

"You should've seen the way she was looking at you, though," 3 continued. "Like she was studying you."

The ceiling fan whirled loudly, making the silence between the two more painful than it should've been. Agent 4 was afraid to ask questions to her colleague, and was unsure if talking behind her captain's back was even a good idea.

"Is that good? …Or bad?"

"I think it's good. I think she thinks you're nice."

"Where'd you get that from?"

"My instincts. Trust me."

4 was just confused. She was tired and had a minor headache from this whole endeavor. "If someone liked me, they'd talk to me, right?"

Agent 3 was already starting to fall asleep in an uncomfortable position, but shook her head. "Give it a few more days." She stood up and exited the guest room, shutting the door behind her. The lights went out, and everything felt strange.

She hadn't really noticed the Captain looking at her, but she was trying to avoid eye contact at the same time. She didn't want her to think she was weird, or stalkerish, or obsessing over how pretty she was.

However, 4 would still glance at her just to admire her. Marie always said Cap had poor hygiene, but 4 wasn't so sure if that was true. Her tentacles were shiny and her face was unblemished. So what if her tentacles had a couple scars, or her face, or her arms, that was besides the point.

"What would she want to do with me, though?" Agent 4 mumbled to herself. Staring at the ceiling as the starlight shone on her through the window, she eventually shut her eyes and tried to sleep.

It was difficult to sleep, but mattresses weren't too comfortable to begin with. She thought of asking 3 if she could sleep on the couch instead, but just assumed that the answer would be "yes" due to the agent's caring attitude.

4 stood up slowly and crept outside of her room, to the family room with the sofa. She decided to grab a cup of water and scroll on her phone a little bit.

She saw her reflection on her phone. She wasn't sure how anyone could stand looking at her. Then again, she disregarded these thoughts according to her general rule—"Don't trust what you think about yourself past 9 p.m."

"She'd probably never like me," 4 whispered as she fell into the sofa. She was very tired and fell asleep promptly.

The thoughts would have to wait until morning.