Falling for Secrets | Goggles x Rider | Splatoon Manga Ship Story

Ch.15 Getting Up

„Why am I so comfortable with him?", he [Goggles] thought as he closed his eyes and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

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Goggles woke up in a cold sweat. Another nightmare. He clenched his left hand and felt someone else's shirt. Rider. The blue inkling found himself in the same position he fell asleep in. His shoulder hurt like heck, he usually moved a lot in his sleep. Goggles smiled to himself nevertheless, listening to the taller boy's even breaths while snuggling into his side all the more. This was oddly calming to him.

He now thought about yesterday and couldn't decide whether it was horrible or amazing. He let his feelings take over and bruised himself again, almost immediately after finally managing to let the old ones heal... Goggles was ashamed and terrified of what lines he would cross next. How far will I go?

But on the other side... Rider was here with him now, laying next to him in bed the second night in a row because he couldn't hold his tears back at Aloha's party. So was it a good thing in after all? Goggles clearly enjoyed Rider's company, he couldn't deny that anymore, as much as he tried. Should he simply let people know of his feelings?

„No", the blue boy thought, „They don't need more things to worry about." He felt helpless despite knowing Rider would probably be there for him. But he didn't want to be more of a burden to others than he already thought he was. Goggles opened his eyes to the dark room. Barely any light was able to be seen through the closed blinds but he instinctively knew it was past 10 in the morning at least.

He sighed softly. The blue boy didn't want to get up, he wanted to cherish this moment a little more. But almost immediately after, he felt Rider move around a bit and then sit upright. He seemed to be looking around the darkness. Did I wake him?

Goggles didn't know if he should do the same or just lay still...He couldn't really get up without basically sitting on Riders leg, which was still in between both his own. The shorter inkling tensed up without noticing thinking about how awkward this was going to be.

„Goggles?", Rider yawned and streched.

„Yeah?", Goggles whispered.

„Did I wake you up?"

„Nah", he responded.

„Alright", the lime boy answered and paused for a bit. „Cod, what time is it?" Goggles just stayed silent. He didn't know for sure. A moment passed when Rider asked:

„You wanna get up?"

„Sure", he said almost cheerfully. But Goggles was lying. He would've loved to stay here. Rider rolled up the blinds of the window above the bed and looked down at him. The shorter boy wanted to sit up too and forgot his right leg was being held down by Rider's left one and was abruptly stopped. You idiot!

„Ah..! Sorry", the taller inkling said and the two managed to shuffle around until they were both freed from the mess they were in.

„This is so awkward...", Goggles thought and felt himself blush while he got up from his bed and checked his phone. He felt a slight panic overcome him as he read through the many messages he got from his teammates worrying about his whereabouts. But after taking a look at the team's groupchat and seing that Bobble Hat had taken care of that already, he calmed a bit, despite wondering how she knew he was home in the first place. The blue inkling continued to look through the chat and frowned after realizing that they had agreed to meet later today without asking for Goggles input.

Maybe they had assumed he would agree anyways? „They don't even care to let me have a say in this", he thought and already dreaded their hang out. Rider must've noticed his gloomy aura because he stood up too and tried to distract him from whatever was causing this.

„Let's go eat?", he asked.

„I'm not hungry", Goggles lied again, knowing he didn't eat dinner or breakfast the day before and that it can't possibly be healthy.

„Tss... then let's just do something?", Rider said and looked around the room. He stopped at the wall in the back next to a closet, which was covered in photos of Goggles and his friends. There where none with Rider though. He looked a bit disappointed, clearly trying to hide it, and the blue boy felt somewhat guilty. But he just simply didn't have any photos with him and the lime inkling.

„We need to make a selfie sometime!", Goggles exclaimed happily and smiled, it was almost genuine. Rider smiled back faintly and nodded.

The boys then decided to go outside and get some fresh air. They took their time wandering to the Inkopolis Square with Goggles secretly hoping they wouldn't see any familiar faces. He wasn't as tired as usually, but definitely not in the mood to forcefully smile brightly and be the happy-go-lucky Goggles people expected him to be. For some reason, Rider made him feel like he didn't have to be that in his company, so the shorter inkling made less effort trying to look overly happy. It was a nice change.

They arrived close go midday and sat down at Crusty Sean's tables, ready to order.

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I'm so sorry for the wait, again! You could say I had some kind of writer's block, but I did already know where I want this story to go, I sometimes find it difficult to get to certain scenes seamlessly. D:  h e l p
01.07.2020
950 words