tear in my heart

six|| sometimes you gotta bleed to know that you're alive and have a soul.

"as long as he's happy, right?"

that's the sentence that's been popping up in both rider's and headphones' lives lately. the yellow green team has to remind him that everyday, and he reminds himself of that too. specs constantly reminds headphones that goggles is happy with prince. she hates to admit, but he does seem happier than normal (and normal happy is VERY happy).

headphones and rider have been conversing often now because of that. they never really go out to see each other because rider never leaves his house, let alone his room, anymore but headphones does call him twice a week to let him know that goggles is doing okay. rider often makes threats while they're talking. threats like, "if goggles comes home crying one day, you let me know and i'll kick that yellow bitch boy's ass" and "i'm gonna kill him if he hurts goggles even once". headphones always reassures him that prince would never do that.

rider found himself feeling angrier and sadder as the weeks gone by. the yellow green team started training without him and even started doing turf wars without him. they've just been using gloves as a substitute, which rider didn't like the sound of due to the fact that he wasn't too fond of the green inkling. he was also very demanding lately, he kept ordering his teammates to get him food or get him something to drink or just sit next to him so he can get his snot and tears on their shirt. they began to grow tired of it.

"okay, that's enough. this has gone on for too long," stealth said, ripping the blanket off of rider. he winced. "give me my blanket back." stealth grabbed rider and helped him up. "no can do, buddy. we won't tolerate this behavior anymore. start being more productive. get that moron off your mind," stealth said. rider shook his head. "no. i don't want to."

"woah! how the hell do you still have abs? you've been eating junk shit for the past three weeks!" stealth noted, only now realizing rider was shirtless. "that," rider pointed lazily to his punching bag in the corner. "and why is prince's face taped on to your punching bag?" stealth asked. "isn't it obvious, stealth? i got too attached to him. now it's too late for me. it's just too late. now i won't be able to get over him. i'll never be able to get over that idiot," he said, choking on a sob.

"no, no, no," stealth shook his head. "i'm tired of the self pity bullshit," he said, throwing a shirt at rider's face. "self pity?" stealth nodded. "yeah, you're practically drowning in it. y'know, ever since i met you, i noticed you have pride that you always planned on keeping. and now that you're practically obsessed with goggles, your pride shattered. so why not gather your pride up again, rider? i think you've sulked enough about this."

"i just want goggles," rider nodded in agreement to his statement, "maybe that'll give me motivation." stealth shook his head. "no. motivate yourself, dammit." rider sniffled. "let me sleep."
"how's sleeping gonna help your problems?" stealth asked. "i-i don't know. maybe i can just die in my sleep. that's not a bad plan." stealth groaned. "okay, that's it. we're all going to the blue team's place. right now."

rider's eyes widened and he got up quickly, stumbling a bit. "no. no, we aren't doing that," he said, wincing because of the pain in his head. "yes. yes, we are doing that," stealth said. "if you aren't ready in the next ten minutes, i'm taking you there just like that. i don't care if i have to get blazer, bamboo and i to get your ass there." rider groaned. "this is full of bullshit!" he yelled like a little kid, grabbing a change of clothes and going into the bathroom (he made sure he slammed the door real loud for everyone to hear).

"blazer, bamboo. get ready, we're going on a little road trip," stealth said. the two nodded and went into their shared room. "his pride really slipped, huh? i didn't think he would ever show anyone this side of him," blazer said as she grabbed her usual outfit. "yeah, poor thing."

rider dragged himself out of his room. his eyes were super puffy from crying. "wow, rider. you look like shit," bamboo hat said as she fixed her hat. he frowned. "shut up," he said, splashing water on his face from the kitchen sink. "just so you know, i ain't talking at all." blazer snickered. "unless we embarrass you. you'll definitely lose your pride," she said. "i already lost it."

🦑💙🦑💚

woomy!

"i'll get it!" bobble called out with a smile. she opened the door, revealing the yellow green team. "oh hey guys!" she greeted sweetly. specs checked to see who it was. "sorry about the mess, we weren't really expecting visitors today," specs said somewhat grumpily. he had just woken up from a nap. "who is it?" headphones said. "o-oh."

she suddenly ran to goggles' room. "come on in," specs said, leading them to the living room. "sorry we didn't tell you we were coming beforehand. none of us has anyone's numbers except for mr. angst over here and he didn't really want to come today," bamboo hat explained. "it's fine, i understand."

"want some snacks?" bobble offered happily. "sure, why not?" rider sat on the couch, refusing to listen to what anyone was saying. "uh, hey guys!" goggles said awkwardly as he entered the room. rider stared at him with a lonesome expression but the bluenette guiltily refused to look at him.

"what brings you all here?" headphones asked. "just wanted to hang out," stealth said while eating the chips bobble gave him. rider sadly chewed on a chip. headphones walked into her room but left the door open. while the yellow green team and the blue team were conversing, she motioned rider into her room. he gave her a confused look but stood up and went to her room while everyone was still distracted.

"i'm sorry, rider," she said as soon as he walked in. "tch. don't think any of this was my idea, headphones. i told them i won't be talking to anyone but really, you're the only person i want to be talking to about this," he said, sitting on her bed. "as much as i want to sabotage their relationship so you can be with him, prince is a really sweet guy and he doesn't deserve that. i'm not gonna tell you that stupid crap everyone tells a broken hearted person. 'if you love him, let him go.' but, that's bullshit. if you love him, you should be able to show it. you have the right to," headphones said, sitting next to the yellow green tentacled boy. "thanks for the pep talk, but how's that gonna help at all," rider said with a sigh.

"goggles, can i talk to you for a moment?" bamboo hat asked. "alone," she added. "uh, yeah sure," he said, leading her to his room. stealth and blazer glanced at each other. "okay, we need help. rider has been staying in his room for the past month. he never comes out of his room unless he has to use the bathroom. he tells us to bring him food, mostly ice cream. it's super concerning. all he does is cry and sleep," blazer explained.

"and how do you propose we help with that?" specs asked. before blazer could say she didn't know, stealth perked up. "i have an idea. rider used to go to that little park near inkblot. and when the sun sets and everyone leaves, he takes a dip in the lake," he explained. "that's dangerous!" specs said with shock. "he stays in the shallow end."

"what does that have to do with anything?" stealth smiled. "glad you asked. we can set them up. and because goggles knows not to go flirting when he's dating someone and rider knows not to go flirting with another man's man, they can just hang and talk things out," he said. "just to give it more spice. rider'll be taking a dip," he smirked, "that means he'll be shirtless." bobble giggled. "i'm in!" specs rolled his eyes but nodded. "i'm in. i'll let headphones know."

almost on cue, rider, headphones, goggles, and bamboo hat entered the living room. "well, sorry for stopping by, hope we didn't mess with anyone's plans. let's get going, shall we?"