Calm Before the Inkstorm
Pre-war yan! Octavio x reader x platonic pre-war yan! Craig
Chapter 2: bright afternoons
Tw: toxic relationship, controlling behaviors, general yandere tendencies, slight abuse warning, abuse of power, no beta we die like men.
I do not condone the actions in this fic, if you are in a toxic relationship please seek out help.
Certain parts are heavily inspired by Dissonant melodies by DriftingNova
Y/N = Your name
T/C = Tentacle color
E/C = Eye color
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The next day rolled around, Craig and Octavio once again speaking, this time looking over some sheet music Craig had provided.
“What kind of slimy hipster writes sheet music with 10 notes in an octave?!” Octavio exclaimed in confusion as he read the sheet music.
“Well I’m self-taught, and ten was a number that made sense to me. What do you use?”, Craig responded to which Octavio yelled, “Eight! That’s why it’s called an OCTave”
Y/N chuckled at the duo from where they were watching and working.
“Man who knew being in a real band would be so difficult…”, Craig sighed as he fell back with his arms behind his head.
“Real band? Psh.” Octavio brushed off as he continued reading the papers, “this is the first time we’ve met up to practice. We’ve never even played in front of an audience.”
Shooting up waving his hands up and down Craig exclaims, “AN AUDIENCE! THAT'S WHAT WE NEED. The neighboring village is hosting a festival tomorrow night! We should go perform ~A fresh festival of song and spectacle~” when he finishes Octavio looks up at Craig confused while Y/N smiles and chuckles at Craig’s excitement.
“I think that would be a splendid idea don’t you Tavi?” Y/N says over their shoulder to the duo, “a festival sounds like fun!”
“As appealing an idea it is, there’s no way I’d be allowed to jam with commoners like that”, Octavio states returning to the sheets of paper he was holding.
Craig, confused and disappointed, asks, “Why not?”
“Well I mean, im… I’m the future octarian king. I have to watch my image.” Octavio states plainly as he looks at Craig.
“Wait…” Craig processing the information soon exclaims, “YOU'RE ROYALTY?!”
Y/N bursts out laughing hysterically at Craig’s denseness as Octavio shouts back “Of course I am! I told you I was a PRINCE!”
“WHA- I thought that was just a STAGE NAME!” Craig cries out in shock.
“YOU'RE SITTING IN PALACE!!” Octavio shouts back the argument, making Y/N’s laughter worse as they set down their gardening tools to kneel down and catch their breath.
Octavio taking notice sighs saying, “Great we broke Y/N”
Craig holds his face looking at the ground talking to himself, “w-wow… Real royalty.”
Pinching his nose Octavio grumbles, “I had to lie and tell the guards you wet the son of some inkling governor to let you in. No way I can just walk out.”
Snapping out of his stupor Craig looks to Octavio and suggests, “Well, what if you snuck out?I mean no offense but I snuck IN twice!” He points at the wall continuing, “you could put on a disguise and jump the fence ~with all the flash and flair of a rebel prince~”
“Huh, a ‘rebel prince’” thinking it over, Octavio grins and states, “You know what cap’n, I like your style! Tomorrow night I’m goin off the grid!”
Time flew as the days passed, the next evening closing in as Y/N sat in Octavio’s room, the prince making final adjustments to his disguise. “Well don’t you look dashing in that.” Y/N teased causing a deep maroon blush to cross Octavio’s face as he tries to hide it with a smirk and responding, “you’re so lucky I need to be ready for when Craig arrives because otherwise I’d get you back for that little comment my dear.”
“Speaking of being ready, I should return to my room to change into my own street clothes so I can come see the two of yo-“, Y/N began.
Interrupting them Octavio says “I don’t know Y/N I worry you’d get lost in the crowd or hurt if you go, folks are unpredictable, maybe hang back and wait for me to return?”
“Tavi, that's not fair, I want to see the two of you perform… I can handle myself fine and I won’t stray far from the stage”, Y/N argued back.
Octavio halted his preparations to approach Y/N kneeling down to where they were seated. “Y/N you know I love you and I just want what’s best for you, and what’s best is for you to stay here where it’s safe. Maybe next time you can come with us but if we get caught you could get in serious trouble with the council.”
His tone was firm, as if to try to leave no room for arguments, leaning in he gave Y/N a kiss before standing up again and grabbing his instrument. “I’ll be back soon, keep the bed warm yea?” He smirks saying that last part before dipping out into the darkened garden to sneak out.
“‘Keep the bed warm yea?’” Y/N says in a mocking tone before scoffing, “As if, I’m going and he can’t stop me! I’m a grown inkling and I can handle myself just fine!” And with that statement they stand up and march off to their quarters to change out of their work clothes and into something more comfortable. Biding the guards at the entrance goodnight as they leave.
“Let’s see, money; check, pocket watch; check, bag; checkeroo. Looks like I’m good to go. Music festival here I come! Sorry tavi but I’m not missing out on a night of fun!” At this Y/N happily jogs down to the nearby village lit up with colorful lanterns and abuzz with excitement and life. The sound of children laughing and cephalopods from all over laughing and singing filling Y/N with a sense of peace and joy. The air carried the savory scent of crabby cakes and the sweetness of sugary desserts. Vendors lined the pathway displaying a variety of goods and games.
“Hmmm I know Mia was disappointed she couldn’t make it to the festival since she was on rotation tonight so maybe I should get her something to make her feel better. She’s got a sweet tooth so maybe I can get her some dango and candies.” Y/N thought as they browsed the stalls. Finding one filled with various desserts all nicely packaged they found what they were looking for, paying the vendor and carefully placing the packaged sweets in their bag with a smile.
As Y/N approaches the center of town they hear the stage announcement for Octavio and Craig’s group Out of the Blue, picking up their pace they find a spot in the crowd to watch the performance excited for their friend and lover. Soon the duo stepped out and prepared to start, only for it to come out quite disjointed causing the inkling to cringe a bit in response to the sound. The two quietly argue on the stage before starting again, still a bit out of time but significantly better than before. As the two wrapped up, Y/N noticed Octavio’s gaze landing on them and could feel his anger at the fact they didn’t stay put like he’d told them to.
“Looks like I’m getting scolded when we get back…”, Y/N thought as they began to realize the flaw in their plans. “Oh well, at least it was fun while it lasted”
As Y/N turned to walk off and continue perusing the area they were soon stopped when a rather miffed Octavio called out to them, “Oh no you don’t, Y/N get your ass over here right now!”
Y/N weighing their choices carefully speeds off not wanting to be scolded in the middle of a crowd, Octavio chasing after them leaving a very confused and concerned Craig to wait for the results when the upset prince told him to wait there.
“Y/N get back here right now!”, Octavio yelled after them, garnering a few folks' attention.
“Nope, not till you’ve cooled off!”, Y/N responded weaving between people, ducking into a less crowded street to try and move a bit easier, only to quickly be snatched up by the angry prince who had caught up with the lack of cephalopods in the area. “You were saying?”, He states holding Y/N up off the ground.
“Oh come on you can’t honestly think i’d miss out on a festival did you? You know how much I love them!”, Y/N pleads their case in hopes of getting octavio to let go of the situation and just return to the festival and have fun. Octavio, leaning in closely pinning Y/N to a nearby wall out of sight, responds, “If you think I’m going to let you off easy when you deliberately disobeyed me both as your partner and prince you are sorely mistaken. But that will have to wait till we’ve gotten back to the palace. Here is hardly the place for you to receive your… punishment.”
At this he pulls away releasing Y/N from the wall but holding onto their hand tightly so they don’t slip away, leading them back to the festival where Craig is waiting with participation ribbons, Octavio grumbling at not even getting a proper placement in the competition.
Craig sensing the tension asks, “hey is everything alright? Y'all kinda just ran off suddenly and it seems like something happened…”
“Everything is fine, just a typical lovers spat.”, Octavio snaps before taking a breath, “let’s just get going, the festival is almost over so we might as well leave now.” This suggestion prompting a look of annoyance from Y/N who had wished to spend more time at the festival.
“Oh well, ok then, how about we go hang out at the treehouse for a bit before y’all get cooped up in the palace again.” Craig suggests
“I-“, Octavio begins before Y/N cuts him off saying, “That sounds nice! Don’t you agree tav? I know once we get back we’d just be heading to bed so why not stay up a little longer?”
Octavio looks at Y/N shocked only to grumble out an agreement.
“Great! Just follow me! It’s not much but it’s home away from home.”, Craig begins to ramble as they walk, Octavio slowing down to whisper in Y/N’s ear, “don’t think I’ll forget about your punishment for disobeying me. You’re just delaying the inevitable.” This statement making Y/N sweatdrop knowing that they’re going to have a hard time walking the coming morning once they’ve returned to the palace.
