Infectious Love

Chapter 7: A Day Off

Rays of sunlight shone through the open blinds into 8's room. He groaned and opened his eyes, wisps of the nightmare still lingered in his head which made it hard to fall back asleep. He looked over at his alarm clock.

10:24 a.m.

Getting out of bed, 8 rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he dug through his dresser and retrieved some clothes. He turned to leave, but he remembered the toothpick. Looking back to the bed, he sighed in relief, seeing the toothpick was still lying on the pillow. Grabbing a towel, 8 went into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Turning on the shower, 8 carefully unwrapped the bandages around his left arm. A look of disgust covered his face, now having a clear look at the jagged gash. Biting his lip, 8 carefully examined it for any signs of infection, but couldn't find any as far as he knew.

Getting in the shower 8 let out a quiet grunt as the stinging water hit his wound, but gritted his teeth and cleaned himself. Getting out and toweling himself dry, 8 changed and walked back into the bedroom while wrapping his arm with clean bandages. While making a mental note to grab some more bandages later.

Grabbing his phone, he checked to see if he had any new messages.

New 3: Me and 4 gonna meet up at Crusty's around 12 for lunch, want to come?

8 couldn't help but feel a small ping of jealousy at the possibility of 3 being alone with 4. As far as he knew 4 didn't have any feelings for 3, 4 was one of his best friends he didn't seem like the person who would try to steal his friend's crush.

"4 wouldn't do that..." 8 muttered, texting 3 back

"Are you sure about that?" a weak raspy growl whispered on his right.

8 whipped around only to face the dresser and an empty hallway. Getting out of his fighting stance, 8 picked up his phone while looking around his room for any signs of an intruder. The only few places you could hide were under the bed and the closet, except the closet was to his left.

"Stupid nightmare..." he grumbled, hitting send

8: Sure, I'll meet you there

Walking into Inkopolis Square, 8 immediately spotted 3 sitting at a table playing on her phone. She looked up and waved at him.

"Hey 8-are you okay?" she asked, her smile disappearing.

She turned her camera to selfie mode and held it up to 8. He had light dark circles under his eyes and looked a bit out of it.

"I'm fine," gently pushing the phone down with his hand "I had trouble sleeping is all, just couldn't get settled."

8 gave 3 a small reassuring smile as he sat down with her. They started talking about the latest map rotations, some of the newest gear that was coming out, and the patrol schedule. The square was starting to become more lively with inklings and octlings walking about enjoying the warm sunny weather.

"Hey, guys!"

8 and 3 looked up to see 4 walking over to them holding hands with a black tentacled and paled-skinned octling.

"Guys, this is Darcey, my girlfriend," 4 sheepishly blushed, making Darcey giggle "I've wanted to introduce you guys sooner, but... well you know."

8 and 3 immediately knew what he meant, for over 100 years Octos and Inklings had been enemies. After 4's battle against DJ Octavio, the Octlings were freed from the mind control shades and many had left to move to Inkopolis to start new lives. Unfortunately, there was still bad ink, 8 had also dealt with all the stares, whispers, and inklings that tried to cause trouble when he started living in Inkopolis.