Sometimes Deb falls asleep at the helm, and it's up to Rolo as the muscles of the ship to carry him back to bed. Fortunately sometimes Deb isn't up for letting go of the blue squidonian, so Rolo's 'forced' to share his bed.
Just over a year ago I started drawing, purely so I could get to this point, and draw a squid and a hairdresser cuddling in bed.
To Catch a Squid (That's right I wrote fuckin Debrolo)
I haven't written anything in quite a while and I feel kind of rusty, so obviously the first thing I write is about a squid and a hairdresser...
Headcanons that Rolo's actually demisexual, and also less importantly Deb has literally had his hair every colour under the sun at some point.
Rolo stood still behind the door to the cockpit, he could hear a quiet clicking, his claws hitting together as his body shook. In an attempt to silence the sound he pressed them shut, holding them against his chest. He’d run headlong into danger on many occasions, he’d seen creatures that made him look normal, but never had he been as afraid as he was now.
Hitting the button to the cockpit the doors opened with a hiss and a metallic thunk. He walked forwards slowly; his eyes on the man in the pilot’s seat, looking over the display for a change, the squidonian had no idea how to use any of the technology that the pilot scanned over, a pensive look on his unshaven face.
Upon hearing the sound of the bridges door sliding open the pilot looked to his side, not moving his head; the mass of blue in his peripheral made it obvious who his visitor was. Rolo had learnt long ago to approach the blonde man on his left side if he wanted his presence to be known, his blind spot was pretty extensive.
Looking back at the console the pilot stroked his chin, the dark stubble that covered it giving away the fact that his platinum hair was far from natural. “What’s up Rambo?”
Rolo pressed his claws together, shuffling forward nervously. “I was wondering if you could help me out Debbie?”
Deborah chuckled to himself. Leaning back in his chair he adopted his usual position, placing his feet on the console, tipping his cap back so that he could clearly see the tall creature that stood beside him. With a wiggle of his eyebrow he asked, “You want me to relieve a bit of the tension. Give you a Deborah special?”
A purple blush rising on the cheeks of the squidonian he mumbled, “Yeah.”
Lifting up his eye patch Deborah looked over the creature before him as if removing his eye patch would give him better vision of the situation, in reality it only revealed the slight scarring and complete lack of any functioning eye.
“You know what I’m talking about, right? I know smurfs don’t do that kind of shit.”
“I’m not a smurf! And I- I know…”
“You know?! But you’re species, they don’t- they don’t reproduce like that.”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy it…” He muttered, afraid to look in the direction of his friend, a blush evident on his cheeks, even if it didn’t exactly resemble the blush of a human, the colour coming up in purple pigments, creating violet freckles on his cheeks. Deborah knew what it meant.
They’d been friends for almost twenty years, both of them raised for the most part on this ship, by the same man, but they weren’t brothers, not in the slightest. They’d grown as friends, the same way they considered the robot aboard the ship, but over time, Rolo had felt emotions blossoming, emotions that he knew from the few members of his species he’d encountered, he shouldn’t have been feeling.
He’d been taught them by the man beside him, as they sat in the bridge of the ship, starring out of the window at the thousands of star on the black canvas.
“You know that girl who served us at the bar was good looking.” Deborah mumbled.
“I don’t understand…”
“What do you mean you don’t understand?! Didn’t you see her?!”
“I did, but I don’t understand. What makes her more attractive than any other human?”
“You know- she was just… You know!” Deborah argued, but his argument fell flat. “You can’t tell me you’ve never found someone attractive, you know, some squidonian girl.”
“We don’t have girls, we’re agender and don’t form sexual attraction like humans.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just, surely there’s someone who you like the look of, who appeals to you in some way?”
“You appeal to me.”
Deborah’s cheeks turned crimson, almost the same colour as his long hair. “Really, I-erm, well…”
“Do I… Do I appeal to you?”
Silence fell over the pair, Deborah’s cheeks finding the ability to become far more scarlet. As the seconds drew out Rolo found himself hoping for the answer more and more, he felt the turning in his stomach as he realised that the answer to the question meant more to him than he could ever have anticipated.
“I mean if you were human, then yeah maybe, but we’re different species. It’s not the same.”
Looking down at his claws Rolo muttered, “Yeah.”
Brought up amongst humans he’d always been different, and usually it didn’t bother him too much, he tried to ignore it, or when possible, use it to his advantage. It was times like this when he realised his difference, when it became so glaringly obvious that he wasn’t the same, and no amount of trying could ever rid him of his alien features.
All of the few Squidonians he’d encountered had been the same, heartless mercenaries with no need for emotional attachment, but as his eyes flicked from his claws, sat in his muscular lap to the look on Deborah’s face, the confusion evident on his features as he looked over the blue creature before him, his heart plummeted.
From that day he’d told himself that he didn’t need the emotional bonds that Deborah spoke of often, crushes and love and all manner of meaningless emotions, but there he was, stood in the bridge, butterflies in his stomach as finally looked down at the blonde man who had managed to claim his affection for so many years.
Deborah looked up at him with that same confusion as he asked, “You’re joking, right? Simon dared you to do this?”
“No. You always offer ‘sexual healing’ and I-I wanted to know if you were being serious…”
When the shock of the moment finally subdued Deborah returned to his natural positon. “Is that even possible?”
“I believe so. If you don’t want to I completely understand.”
“Now I never said I didn’t want to… You seriously mean it though?”
“Yes. I just, I didn’t think you would want to.”
“You didn’t- what?! Who do you think I’m talking to when I say this shit?! Basil’s basically my fuckin’ Dad and Simon’s well, let’s not even fucking go there; Simon doesn’t work well for that kind of stuff. I was just casting out my rod and hoping one day you might take a bite.”
“It’s not as easy to catch a squid.” Rolo chuckled.
“Seriously though, you want to do this?” Deborah asked, the chuckles gone, his tone turned suddenly serious as he took one of Rolo’s claws in his hand.
“Yeah, but please, go gentle on me.”
“You’re a huge fuckin squid with massive claws, and you’re telling me to be gentle. How about we just go a little slow for now?”
