Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was finally time for the Grandfest. After more than a month of preparation and anticipation, the Now or Never Seven was commuting to the Grandfest Venue. They were riding there via a tour bus with all their images on it. And the thing was, they were all sharing.

Callie was fine with this, of course. She loved her cousin, Marie, and appreciated the rest of the group as well!

And Shiver and Frye, two members of the idol group Deep Cut, Callie had a…special connection with them. Something… other than friendship.

It was a long drive on the tour bus to the Grandfest Venue, so Callie was taking all the time she could to relax. She was going to be performing with Marie for three days straight , switching to different stages before joining the rest of the idols at halftime.

So now she was lying on her bed in the tour bus, earbuds in her ears, listening to some of her favorite songs. Even though she was a famous pop star, Callie appreciated the music of lesser-known artists as well. She wondered if they knew that the famous Callie of the Squid Sisters listened to them, and how they would react if they did.

Callie had her eyes closed, and was about to drift off to sleep when she suddenly felt somebody tapping her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw Frye smiling above her.

“Callieeeee, this is so exciting!!” Frye squealed, bouncing on her feet a little bit.

“I know, right?” Callie said. “The Grand Festival, the Splatfest of all Splatfests, featuring us !!”

“Yeah!!!” Frye said, sitting next to Callie on the bed. They seemed to always be filled with restless energy. To be fair, Callie was sometimes like that as well. “Team Future’s gonna win!!”

“Are you sure about that?” Callie said, giving Frye a teasing smile.

“Well, obviously it’s the best team!!” Frye said. “You’ve always got to look forward to the future!!”

“The past is important too!” Callie said, feeling more energetic just being around Frye. And more argumentative about the Grandfest theme. “You’ve got to look to the past to make the right decisions!”

“But the past already happened ! That’s boring ! The future has infinite possibilities!”

“And none of them would be possible without the past!!”

Then the two of them heard footsteps, and Shiver appeared, wearing a smirk. “We’re debating our Splatfest teams, I see?”

“Yes we are, and they insist that the future is the most important,” Callie said, giving Frye a teasing nudge.

Frye just laughed and said, “But it’s true! You agree, right? We’re on the same team!”

“Callie,” Shiver said, in that smooth voice of theirs, like ocean waves. “It seems you don’t understand the correct choice.”

“Correct?! I’d say you two don’t understand!!” Callie shot back.

“I heard Frye’s arguments, and she seemed to be correct about why Team Future is the best.”

“Well, she isn’t!!”

“How about we settle this once and for all?”

“How?”

Shiver leaned in closer, a flirtatious smirk on their face. “How about we…kiss and make up?”

Callie giggled and blushed at her partner’s remark. “Alright, fine , Shiv.”

Without hesitation, Shiver leaned in for a kiss, and Callie closed the distance between them. Callie closed her eyes, savoring the feel of Shiver’s lips against hers.

“Hey!” Frye exclaimed, which caused both of them to look up. “Why y’all excluding me?”

Before anybody could answer, Frye pressed a kiss on Callie’s cheek, making the pink Inkling blush even more. Then Shiver sat on the other side of Callie and started covering her neck with kisses, as Frye pressed a kiss on Callie’s lips.

“Oh, I love you guys…” Callie muttered.

“But this still doesn’t mean I’ll give in to Team Future…”

“You bastard ,” Shiver said sarcastically.

“I think you’re the bastard~” This time Callie was the one to imitate the kiss she gave Shiver.

“No matter who wins, let’s be sure to have fun!” Frye exclaimed. “We’re gonna crush these performances!!”

“For eel!” Callie said, once she pulled away from Shiver. “Go Team Past!!”

“No, Team Future!” Frye said, and all three members of the polycule laughed. 

It seemed they would never agree on that, huh?

——

“Don’t worry, Callie, you’ll do great,” Marie reassured his cousin.

“But what if I mess up? I’ll be performing a lot, what if I lose focus?” Callie said, as Marie applied her makeup.

“The fans will love you either way,” Marie said. “You’re upbeat and cheerful, and a great singer and dancer.”

“If you say so…” Callie muttered, but the worries still pounded in her head. What if she forgot a lyric to her own song? What if she tripped and fell off the stage? What if the fans hated her performance?

“I see you still worrying. You’ll be fine .”

“Sorry, this is just the biggest performance of my life , it’s natural to worry!”

“We’ve performed at Splatfests before.”

“Not this big!!”

“Good point.” Marie said, dabbing the final touches of makeup on Callie’s face. They then handed Callie a mirror.

“Thanks Marie!!” Callie exclaimed, hugging her beloved cousin.

“No prob, Callie,” Marie said. She stood up, absently pulling at her skirt. Even though he had come out as transmasc a few months ago, he still enjoyed more feminine presentation, such as skirts.

“You ready?” Callie said, taking Marie’s hand. Indeed, they had arrived at the Grandfest Venue.

“Of course,” Marie said, and the two cousins walked out of the bus to meet the other idols.

When Callie stepped into the hot sun, she saw Off the Hook waving at her, as well as Deep Cut. She ran over to Deep Cut, giving all three of them hugs.

“Ay! (This is gonna be great!)” Big Man exclaimed.

“It sure is!!” Frye said. “Except this girl still won’t admit Team Future is the best!”

“Team Past is obviously better!” Callie said.

“Cmon, stop fighting, this is a festival,” Shiver said. They then planted a kiss on Callie’s cheek. “Good luck, babe.”

“Yeah, you’ll be great!” Frye said, giving Callie a kiss on the other cheek. Callie giggled and blushed.

“Ay! (Well, the performances are starting soon!)” Big Man said.

“Yeah, I should get back to Marie, see y’all at halftime!” Callie exclaimed.

And with that, Callie rushed back to Marie, and prepared to sing the first song of the Grandfest.

The Squid Sisters, an inspiration to all inkfish, guiding others in the past, present, and beyond to the future.

Chapter Text

Goggles jumped up and down, laughing and smiling, as he let the colorful paint, at the entrance of the Grand Festival, pour over him. Rider, also splattered with the paint, just watched him with a fond smile.

Soon enough, Goggles was done getting covered in paint, and he joined Rider. As Goggles wiped some paint off of the ring Rider had gotten for him, the two of them held hands as they walked into the venue. 

Immediately, they saw and heard Deep Cut performing nearby. Goggles pointed them out to Rider with excitement, and then pointed out about a million other things. Food stalls, merch stalls, lots of inkfish and jellyfish with shirts of the three teams.

Goggles and Rider themselves were wearing Team Present shirts. They had both decided on this about a month or so before the Grandfest.

Soon enough, the couple saw the rest of Team Blue, and Goggles excitedly ran over to them, tackling Bobble Hat in a hug. None of the team’s ink colors were blue at the moment, however. Goggles and Bobble were the bluish-purple Team Present, Specs the yellow-green of Future, and Headphones the pinkish-red of Past.

“Isn’t this so exciting?!” Bobble exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“Yeah, it is!!” Goggles exclaimed. “Everything is so cool! I especially love the pouring paint at the entrance, and—” Goggles and Bobble were now excitedly talking a mile a minute about everything at the Grandfest.

“Well, Rider,” Specs said, turning to Rider. “How are you feeling about this Splatfest?”

“Pretty good,” Rider said, smiling. “I was thinking about joining Team Future, but I wanted to play with Goggles for this very special fest, y’know?”

“I get that,” Specs said, tugging at his own Team Future shirt. Rider was about to say something, but Specs just smiled up at him. “Don’t feel sorry, I’ll find people to play with!”

At that moment, the S4 and Aviators walked over, Skull and Aviators holding hands like they often did. They were all covered in paint and wearing Splatfest tees as well: Army and Skull on Team Past, Aloha on Team Present, and Mask and Aviators on Team Future.

“Heyyyyy guys!!!” Aloha exclaimed, waving. Goggles’ eyes lit up as he ran over to more of his friends, giving Aloha a fist bump.

“Wow!! You’re on Team Present too?! This is gonna be great, we can play together!!” Goggles exclaimed.

“Yeah, I am!” Aloha said.

“Geez, you seem exciteeeeeed,” Mask said, brushing a tentacle out of her eyes. She had grown out her tentacles since coming out as transfem some months back, though she still wore them in a ponytail.

“And you’re not?! This is the best Splatfest ever!!”

“You haven’t even played any matchessssss.”

“Avi and I have,” Skull said. “Not together of course, since we’re on different teams.”

“We have run into each other a few times,” Aviators said. “It’s weird, being pitted against that wicked E-Liter.”

“Wow, you’re fast,” Aloha said. “The thing just started, like, fifteen minutes ago.”

“Aloha and I have been watching the performances,” Army said. “All the idols are amazing!!”

“Who’s your favorite, Arms~?” Aloha asked.

“...Squid Sisters.”

Aloha laughed. “So you finally made up your mind, huh~?”

“I mean, they are sponsoring Team Past.” Then Army spotted the silver, sparkly ring on Goggles’ finger. “Hey Goggles, nice ring! Where did you acquire it?”

Goggles smiled even wider, somehow, and then looked to Rider, who was also smiling. “Riri got it for me!!”

Then Army noticed a matching ring on Rider’s hand. “Wait—”

“We’re engaged,” Rider said, like it wasn’t such a big deal.

“What?!” Army exclaimed. “I mean…congratulations, of course, but why didn’t you tell us earlier?!”

“We haven’t seen you much these days, since I joined Team Blue in Splatsville,” Rider said.

“And it was too big of news not to tell you in person!!” Goggles added.

“Well, congratulations, you two!!” Aloha exclaimed. “When’s the wedding?”

“We still need to plan that,” Rider said. “But…maybe you could help out…”

Aloha’s eyes lit up at that opportunity. “YES!!” he exclaimed. Rider chuckled a bit in response to this.

Just then, Army turned to see three people staring and pointing at the gathering. An Inkling with the messy bob, headphones, and a Team Past tee, an Octoling with a Bream Brim cap and Team Future tee, and another Octoling with the wave hairstyle, headphones, and a Team Present tee.

Now, getting stared at in public was nothing new for Army. He was part of the famous S4, after all, and seeing them all together, as well as Team Blue, must have been quite the sight for the youngsters.

Still, it made Army uncomfortable. He lightly tapped Aloha, who was talking to Goggles and Rider about wedding arrangements, on the shoulder, to get his attention. Aloha saw the fans too, and he smiled and waved.

“Omg, omg, omg, he noticed us. We were noticed,” Army heard the Team Future Octoling say.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” the Inkling said.

“Are you kidding?!” the other Octoling said. “It’s Aloha of the S4 !!”

“Well, you should wave back,” the Inkling said.

The Team Future Octoling hesitated, then bashfully waved back at Aloha, a huge blush covering his face.

“Always fun to see the fans,” Aloha said, laughing a bit.

Just then, to distract Army and Aloha from fans, Gloves and Hachi showed up. Both of them were wearing Team Present tees.

“Gloves!! Hachi!!” Goggles ran over to Gloves and wrapped him in a hug, the latter rubbing his tentacles and giving him a small kiss on his head.

“Congrats on the engagement!” Hachi said to Goggles and Rider. “We are so very proud of you!”

“Yeahhh, the wedding’s gonna be great!” Gloves said.

“Perhaps it could be a double wedding with Gloves and I getting married too…” Hachi muttered.

“What was that, dear?” Gloves said.

“Never mind.” Hachi smiled and blushed.

“Okay, guys, do you wanna do some battles?” Goggles said.

“Heck yeah!” Gloves said. “All of us should be on a team together!!”

“We’ll crush Past and Future,” Rider said, grinning.

“Hey!” Specs exclaimed.

“Let’s go!!” Goggles said. “It’s gonna be fun!!”

And with that, Goggles, Rider, Gloves, and Hachi all left to do some Splatfest battles. That silly little polycule, with two members getting married soon.

—

“Oh my cod, Xavier, you’re such a simp for them,” Victoria said, as the trio walked away from the famous turf players they had encountered at Grandfest.

“Am not !” Xavier said. “They’re just…really strong…and really cool…”

“I know , right?!” Galax said. “Omg it was so cool seeing them there…”

Victoria sighed. “It’s a shame we all chose different teams…but I wanted to support the Squid Sisters…” She tugged at her Team Past shirt.

“It’ll still be fun!” Galax said. “Even if we’re not together!”

“Yeah—” Xavier’s sentence was cut short when he saw a couple people walking towards him.

Aloha and Mask of the S4.

“Alright, gang, play it c-cool—” Galax stammered, but they were clearly not playing it cool.

“Hey, green Octoling,” Aloha said, referring to Xavier. “You’re a fan of us S4, right?”

“Uh…uh huh,” Xavier said, utterly gawking at Aloha and Mask in front of him. Paying attention to him.

“Well, I can’t play with you since we’re on seperate teams, but Mask here said she wanted to play with you!” Aloha pushed Mask forward.

“Fiiiiine,” she drawled.

“Uh…buh…sure!!” Xavier said, struggling to even speak in front of his utter idols. His celebrity crushes, practically.

“Great! You two wanna get to the lobby? Aviators was gonna join you two as well!” Aloha said, as Galax and Victoria both stared at Xavier and Mask with wide eyes.

Xavier had just been chosen to play with an S4 member. At the Grand Festival.

Kind of a big deal.

Chapter Text

“There you are, Xavier!!” Galax exclaimed, running up to the green Octoling. The two of them were standing near the big stage with the lights, dozens of jellyfish cheering on Off the Hook as they performed.

“How did your matches with Mask and Aviators go?” Galax asked Xavier.

“They…they went well,” Xavier said, seeming a bit frazzled still. “The two of them were practically carrying the team, being S+ rankers, and yet they said I was pretty good??”

“That’s because you are good!!” Galax exclaimed. “You’ve got to stop underestimating yourself! You’re almost S rank, and you’re amazing with any kind of Splatling!!”

“Almost S rank…can hardly believe it…” Xavier muttered, blushing. “Anyway…have you seen Victoria?”

“Oh?” Galax said, looking around. “No, I haven’t seen her.”

Xavier sighed. “She probably abandoned us to be with her girlfriend. Y’know, since everything was healed between them.”

“Don’t be silly, she wouldn’t abandon us?” Galax said. “...Right??”

—

Meanwhile, Victoria was sitting on the scaffolding above Off the Hook’s stage. With her girlfriend, Jemmie.

The two of them were lovingly leaning against each other; Victoria gently stroking the fur on Jemmie’s tentacles, and the latter’s Salmonid tail wrapped around the two of them. They watched the idols perform, sitting in comfortable silence with each other.

As Pearl and Marina performed onstage, almost everybody knew that they loved each other romantically. The same kind of love Victoria and Jemmie had for each other, healed after a conflict regarding Grizzco.

Finally, Victoria said to Jemmie, “Y’know, halftime is coming up in just a few minutes.”

“Yeah…” Jemmie said, her voice soft. “It was so nice playing with you, Vic.”

“Awww, thanks,” Victoria said. “I agree it was a blast!”

“I hope our team wins,” Jemmie said, absently tugging at her Team Past shirt. She had originally wanted to choose Team Present, but chose Team Past to be with Victoria. This was their first Splatfest, and it was the biggest one in history.

“Me too,” Victoria said. “Do you think we did well?”

“We sure did,” Jemmie said. She looked up at Victoria with her shiny pink eyes. “Especially since you were on the team. You’re great in Turf War.”

“So are you, Jemmie!”

“You’re too kind…” Jemmie blushed as they stared into Victoria’s orange eyes.

“And you’re too sweet for me, dear~” Victoria flirted.

Jemmie blushed even more, but that didn’t stop them from flirting back to their girlfriend. “You’re strong on the Turf War stage, and when you hold me in your arms~”

“C’mon, Carbon Roller doesn’t even require much strength,” Victoria said. “...but thanks.”

Instead of flirting more, Jemmie simply leaned forward and gave Victoria a quick kiss on the cheek. Victoria blushed in surprise, but then without hesitation, gave Jemmie a kiss on the lips. 

This one lasted longer, and just as Victoria opened her mouth, letting Jemmie’s tongue slip inside—

Galax and Xavier climbed onto the scaffolding and found them.

The two girlfriends didn’t notice their friends at first, as they continued their kiss. After a few moments, Victoria pulled away and smiled at Jemmie. Then the Inkling turned and finally noticed Galax and Xavier watching her.

“HEY!!” she exclaimed, blushing even more. Galax began to laugh, and Xavier sighed and rolled his eyes, though he too was smiling teasingly. Jemmie, upon noticing them, didn’t say anything, just looking away with embarrassment at being caught kissing their girlfriend.

After a few moments of Victoria calling out her friends and getting teased in return, Jemmie looked towards the stage and saw the mist signifying Off the Hook’s performance was over.

That could only mean—

“I think halftime results are starting soon,” Jemmie said.

“Oh, really?” Victoria said. She got out her green squid phone, and Galax and Xavier sat next to her to watch the results, to go live soon—

And they were just in time. Mere seconds after Victoria opened the app, Deep Cut’s familiar intro came onto the screen. The three idols announced that it was indeed halftime, and then revealed the results of the Grandfest this far…

It was Team Past!!

“Yes!!” Victoria exclaimed, and Jemmie, a fellow Team Past member, gave her girlfriend a hug and a small kiss.

“Well, congrats, you two!” Xavier said. “Your team put up quite the fight!”

“Didn’t you get to play with an S4 member for Team Future?” Jemmie asked Xavier.

“He sure did!” Galax said. “Lucky…”

“Shall we get down from here?” Jemmie asked. “I’d like to see the halftime performance up close.”

“Oh yeah!!” Galax said. “I heard it’s gonna be awesome!!”

The four friends climbed down from the scaffolding, walking towards the stage. As they arrived, it was dark, but figures could faintly be seen onstage.

Seven figures. The Now or Never Seven.

Then, all of a sudden, all the lights came on. Galax squinted at first, surprised by the sudden change, but once their eyes adjusted, they widened in amazement at what they saw.

Here we stand in time

Endless past, present and future span.

Our wishes are the flame that lights up history.

The Now or Never Seven were in their silver Grandfest outfits, all with their unique headpieces. They were performing their new song specifically for the Grand Festival: Three Wishes.

And it was absolutely beautiful.

“OH MY COD!!” Galax exclaimed, jumping up and down and flapping their hands with excitement. “OH MY COD OH MY COD OH MY COD—”

The rest of Galax’s friends didn’t have such an extreme reaction, but it was clear they were just as amazed as they were. Xavier and Jemmie both gazed at the stage in dumbfounded awe, and Victoria smiled wide and began bouncing along with the music.

All four friends were enjoying the beautiful Grand Festival performance. They watched for what seemed like forever but still felt too short, the idols playing the song over and over.

Then Xavier turned to his friends and said: “Should we get back to battling now?”

“But this is so cool!!” Galax said, not taking their eyes off the stage. They felt like they could watch this forever.

“Yeah, but we should try and do some battles before Grandfest ends,” Victoria said with a smile. She turned to Jemmie. “I heard there’s a new Tricolor stage, how about we do that together?”

“Yeah!” Jemmie said.

Galax finally turned to their friends and nodded their head in agreement. “Y’know what, maybe we could do some battles…do you think Aloha and Army would let me play with them?”

“Maybe,” Xavier said, chuckling.

And with that, the four friends walked away from the stage to enjoy more Grand Festival battles.

For this festival was more than a Splatfest. It was a celebration of how far everyone had come, what they had today, and what the future would bring.

And they wanted to enjoy it as much as they could before it ended.