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“Now where is he?” May asked herself as she gazed around the crowded streets of Illyria. Normally, if she decided to visit the capitol of the three kingdoms, she would just be picking up some groceries, hanging out with her fellow Jellyfish Pirates, or looking for date spots to take Johnny to later, but today she had an important mission. Sol had contacted her the other day and told her to meet him around this spot. Well, it was more like he just randomly showed up on the deck of the Mayship; it was weird how often people just showed up there now that she thought about it.
May flipped through a magazine, bored out of her mind. They hadn’t had much to do lately. Johnny was off searching for either new marks to take down or new crewmates to recruit, leaving the crew to just fly around and see if they could find anything to occupy their time. Just as she was about to flip to another page, the intercom crackled to life, and April’s voice came over it.
“May, we’ve got an intruder on the deck." May looked up and sighed. Well, an intruder was better than nothing, she supposed. May stood up and stretched to loosen up her stiff muscles. She grabbed her hat off the hook and put it on before grabbing her trusty anchor with her other hand.
May smiled as she felt the fresh breeze on the deck hit her face. There was no time to waste taking in the breeze, though; she needed to find the intruder. She looked around the deck of the ship before she spotted their intruder, a tall, muscular man wearing red with his spiky brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. May grinned as she recognized him and began to hop over, leaving splashes of water in her wake.
When she finally made it over to a distance where she could hold an actual conversation with him, she hefted the heavy iron anchor she used as a weapon up to her shoulder.
“Sol! Have you finally come to collect on Johnny’s bounty? Well, if you want to take the love of my life in, you’ll have to get through me first,” May said as she bounced on her feet and prepared herself for a fight. She knew that Sol probably wasn’t here for that, but he usually at least played along and sparred with her, if only to keep them both in practice.
Sol turned around and gave her his signature exhausted-with-everything look. To her surprise, though, Sol didn’t make a move to get ready for battle and instead began to walk over to her with his hand in his pocket, keeping his signature weapon slung over his shoulder. When he got within a few feet of her, he gave her an annoyed look.
"Sorry, kid, I’m not here to play today. I’m calling in that favor you owe me from a couple years back,” Sol said with his usual bluntness.
May immediately knew what Sol was talking about. A couple of years ago, Sol had gotten involved in an incident wherein he saved the crew from a whole bunch of Johnny’s antics coming to a head all at the same time. Suffice it to say it involved twenty women Johnny had pissed off, a notoriously incompetent bounty hunter with a reputation for their insane schemes, and five hundred gallons of whipped cream.
May giggled a bit at the memory, hefted her anchor off her shoulder, and placed it on the deck of the ship with a loud clank.
“Sure! What do you need me to do? Help you track down a dangerous bounty? Save some kids from human traffickers? Beat up Ky?” Sol remained passive, but she counted it as a personal victory when he cracked a small smile at her suggestion of beating up Ky. Sol shook his head and held out a slip of…paper? Did anyone write on paper nowadays? She knew Sol was old, but…wait she was getting distracted. She took the slip of paper and read what Sol had written on it. It was an intersection of two streets in Illyria?
“Meet me here on Wednesday at eleven in the morning,” Sol said before he turned and began to walk off. May’s mind raced with the possibilities. She knew that Sol didn’t tend to explain much, but he would usually at least give her a hint if he was asking her to do something. Were they going to bust a secret underground drug ring? Was Sol trying to trick her into being captured by Ky or Leo? Did he just feel like hanging out…no she was just being ridiculous. Sol didn’t hang out with anyone except Jack-O’. After a few steps, Sol seemed to remember something and stopped.
“Oh, and dress like you’re going out on the town with friends; you won’t need your weapon,” he said before he began walking away again.
Well, now she had to find out what Sol’s favor was.
So here she was, waiting for Sol to show up. She looked at her phone and frowned as it read 11:05; he was late. Just as she was about to go looking for the wayward bounty hunter, she was startled as a voice came from behind her.
“There you are,” Sol said. May turned to find Sol standing just a few feet away from her. How did such a big, loud guy always manage to sneak up on her? After a moment, she realized that, despite the fact that Sol had told her to dress like she was going out on the town with her friends, he was wearing the same thing he usually did.
“Hey! Why did you tell me to dress like this if you were gonna wear the same thing you always do?” May asked indignantly. She didn’t think it was an unreasonable question; she hardly ever dressed up, so she had to get April to help her. She did think she looked pretty good, with her long, brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, one of April’s nice blouses that she had rolled up the sleeves on to show off her toned arms, and a pair of jeans that accentuated her figure nicely.
Sol grunted in what sounded like approval after he appraised her for a few moments. He then turned around and began to walk, which forced May to follow him.
“It’s because I’m not going to be around for this. What you’re doing is between you and your date.”
May’s mind crashed to a halt at Sol’s words. A d-date? Sol was setting her up on a date?!?!? With who? Was it Johnny? She hoped it was Johnny. Wait, since when did Sol give a crap about other people’s romantic lives?
“It’s not Johnny,” Sol said, seeming to know what May was thinking about. Wait, if it wasn’t Johnny, then who was it? Honestly, May had never even considered going out with anyone who wasn’t Johnny. She knew that it was probably inappropriate, and Johnny had always turned her down, and he had seemed more uncomfortable as time went on whenever she...May cut herself off with a shake of her head. No, she had to stay loyal to Johnny. Even if he never returned her feelings, she had to stay strong; that’s what it meant to be in love, after all! With that in mind, May overtook Sol and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.
“Seriously, Sol? You know I only have eyes for Johnny; why would you even waste your favor on setting me up on a date with someone I won’t even be interested in?” May said with a huff. Sol just stared at her as if she had told him something extremely stupid before he rolled his eyes and brushed past her.
“Because I owe her a favor, so I’m cashing in the one you owe me to get it out of the way. Besides, you like blondes, don’t you?” Sol said as he continued to walk. May was about to retort that she wasn’t even interested in girls, but she paused. She had always been so obsessed with Johnny that she had never even considered whether she liked women had she? May huffed in annoyance before she hurried to catch up with Sol, who had continued walking.
“Fine, but don’t blame me if this girl comes complaining to you when this date doesn’t work out,” May said. Sol merely grunted and kept walking.
After a few minutes of walking, Sol stopped and pointed at a cozy-looking café a couple of blocks down from them.
“That’s the place. She should already be there by now. Don’t leave her waiting too long,” Sol said before he began walking off in a different random direction. May groaned in annoyance as she watched the man walk away. She knew it was useless to try and admonish him for doing exactly what he was warning her against, so she just turned and looked at the profile of the café in the distance. Okay, so she would go meet this girl, apologize to her for Sol setting her up on a date with someone who wouldn’t be interested in her, and offer to hang out as friends, simple as can be.
Well, it should have been simple, so why the heck did she feel so nervous? May shook her head and brushed it off as simply being nervous about disappointing this girl, then began walking towards the café.
Wait, how the heck am I supposed to even know who this girl is? The only thing Sol told me about her was that she’s blonde. May thought. Why did Sol always have to be so vague about everything?
As May neared the café, she saw a few people standing out in front of the building. There was a person surrounded by a group of children who seemed to be entertaining them. When May got a bit closer, she could see that the person was blonde, and they were performing some yo-yo tricks for the group of fascinated kids. The person’s long, blonde hair combined with their yo-yo skills and feminine appearance indicated that it could only have been one person, and recognizing them caused May to break out into a big grin.
“Bridget!” May called out happily as she jogged over to her friend, whom she hadn’t seen in a couple of years.
Bridget, who had been in the middle of a trick, fumbled the yo-yo and chuckled sheepishly as the kids laughed at the mistake. When Bridget turned and flashed her a sunny grin, May felt a sudden warmth in her chest that she dismissed as happiness at seeing her friend after such a long time.
“May!” Bridget said happily and pulled May into a hug, which the jellyfish pirate reciprocated happily. When May pulled back, she took in Bridget’s appearance. The Brit had ditched the usual habit-like hoodie and hula-hoop-like giant manacle that the bounty hunter usually wore and was now wearing a blue sundress and some cute flats. Was it May, or did Bridget look even cuter than she remembered?
“It’s been so long! What brings you out here?” May asked. Even if the date turned out to be a dud, the fact that she got to meet Bridget again after so long guaranteed that this day would be a good one.
"Oh, I was just-”
“Kids, come on, it’s time to head home,” a woman said, cutting Bridget off. The kids groaned and complained, but a look from their mother made them acquiesce.
“Thanks for showing us the cool yo-yo tricks, Miss,” a young girl said with a giggle as she waved and walked away. The young boy, probably the girl’s brother, nodded with a grin.
“Yeah! You gotta show me how you did that tower thing next time, Miss Bridget,” he said, which caused Bridget to grin cheerily.
“Of course! It’s not as hard as it looks; I’m sure you can do it,” Bridget said happily.
The final child, an older girl, blushed as Bridget flashed her a smile as well.
“U-uh, y-you were really cool, Miss Bridget…I uh…” The girl seemed to have trouble getting her words out, but she was saved by her mother’s voice calling out to her again.
“Sarah, stop bothering those young women, and let’s get going,” the woman said. The young girl’s blush deepened, and she scurried off after her family, which caused Bridget to giggle at her nervousness.
May smiled. Bridget always was good with kids, so she wasn’t surprised to find Bridget entertaining a bunch of kids in front of a restaurant. Something was bothering her, though, so she spoke without thinking.
“I’m surprised you didn’t correct them,” May said, remembering all the other times Bridget had corrected people in the past when called a lady or girl. Bridget gave May a slightly confused look for a moment before the bounty hunter’s eyes widened in realization and a blush donned the Brit’s face.
“Oh, right! I can’t believe I forgot to tell you guys,” Bridget said, confusing the pirate. Bridget sighed and pulled in a deep breath as if preparing for something serious before continuing.
"Well, it’s been something that I’ve been aware of for a long time, but I was so invested in, ya know, proving myself as a 'man' that I kept resisting it, and after some advice from some new friends, I was able to finally admit it to myself,” Bridget said, looking nervous.
"To put a long story short, I realized that living as a man wasn’t right for me and that if I kept trying to force myself to be one, it would only make my future self miserable. So if someone calls me 'young lady' or 'miss' it’s fine, because I’m a girl,” she declared happily with a big smile and blush on her cheeks.
May blinked in shock at her friend’s revelation but smiled brightly at the other girl’s bold declaration after her brain caught up. She pulled the other young woman into another hug and laughed happily.
“I’m so happy for you, Brisket!” May said, which pulled a laugh from her friend. Really, while Bridget had always put up a good front of being happy, May had always felt that the other young woman had been sadder than she let on, particularly when she tried to assert her ‘manhood’.
“Oh yeah, you never got to tell me why you were out here performing tricks for those kids,” May said as she released Bridget from the hug. The blonde girl smiled bashfully and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Well, I was, uh…waiting for my date! A friend owed me a favor, so I asked him if he knew any girls who would be willing to try going out with me, and here I am! Oh, I hope she didn’t have to cancel or something,” Bridget said as a bit of worry crept into her voice and she started to look around for her would-be date.
While Bridget was busy trying to see if her mysterious date was coming, May was panicking internally.
Sol set me up on a blind date with Bridget!?!? Who the heck does he think he is? What if this ruins our friendship!?!?? the pirate thought in a panic. She shook her head in an attempt to calm herself and willed her racing heart to slow down.
Okay, calm down, May. Bridget knows you’re only interested in Johnny, so if you just explain that Sol roped you into this because of the favor you owe him, she’ll understand.
As May was steeling herself to explain everything to Bridget, her friend caught her looking at her and flashed her a closed-eye smile that was, perhaps, the most adorable smile that May had ever seen in her life. May felt her cheeks heat up and her chest tighten as her friend went back to looking for whoever she thought was going to be her date.
W-well, maybe I can see how the date goes, just to confirm my feelings for Johnny. May thought. She cleared her throat to get Bridget’s attention, which caused Bridget to look at her curiously(God, why was she so cute!?!?).
“U-uh, I’m pretty sure that I’m supposed to be your date, Bridge. The friend you asked the favor from was Sol, right?” May said sheepishly.
May watched as Bridget’s expression went from surprised to shocked to flustered before settling on apologetic.
“Gee, I'm sorry, May. I didn’t think Sol would get you to come on a date with me. Look, I know you’ve only got eyes for Johnny, so if you don’t want to do this date with me, I understand,” Bridget said. May almost took the other young woman up on that offer, but when she noticed the slight dejection in her voice, the pirate made her decision.
“A-actually, I thought we could give it a shot, maybe?” May said nervously.
Bridget’s surprise was written clearly on her face, not that May could blame her.
“A-are you sure? I mean, I don’t want you to force yourself to do this just because we’re friends. N-not that I wouldn’t love to go on a date with you; y-you’re really pretty, and cool, and funny and…well you’re just great!” Bridget rambled as her face became redder with each compliment she gave May.
At that point, May just couldn’t take it anymore. She stepped closer to Bridget and took the other girl’s hands in her own.
“You’re great too! You’re cute and cool, and you’ve got more heart than just about anyone I know. Seriously, I don’t know how you made it through everything you grew up with and still ended up being such an amazing person. Anyone would be lucky to date you,” May said seriously. May realized that she was holding the other girl’s hands and blushed, but didn’t let go. She breathed deeply and gathered up the courage to say what she was thinking.
“Bridget, will you go on a date with me?”
The way Bridget’s green eyes lit up and the broad smile that stretched across her face were just about the most beautiful things that May had ever seen.
April hummed in boredom as she flipped through the magazine May had left on the couch before she left on her mission with Sol. She didn’t know why Sol had required her sister to wear casual clothes, but she had enjoyed the opportunity to help her sister dress up in more than just an orange hoodie and shorts for once.
“I wonder how their mission is going,” April mused as she pushed her glasses back up her nose since they had slipped down a bit.
As if summoned by April’s comment, the door to the common room slammed open as the captain of the Mayship entered. April looked up at the young woman’s entrance in surprise but smiled when she saw that May seemed none the worse for wear after whatever Sol had asked her to help him with.
“Hey captain, how did it go?” April asked.
April was surprised when May didn’t answer back with her usual bubbly enthusiasm or a complaint about how hard Sol was to work with (that was a pretty common occurrence after she did something with him). Instead, May looked at her, and she had the most conflicted expression that April had ever seen her younger sister make. It was like she had learned something that was both the most wonderful and terrible thing at the same time.
“I think I might be gay,” May said before she walked to her quarters without another word and closed the door with a loud slam.
April sat up and looked at the closed door to her captain’s room with confusion.
“What the heck is she talking about?”
April flinched as a loud metal clanging sound came from May’s room, followed by shouting.
“Damn you, Sol Badguy! You’re lucky she’s the most perfect girl ever!” May shouted before her voice lowered to the point where April couldn’t hear her anymore.
Despite her sister’s strange behavior, April found herself smiling. She’d definitely have to tell Johnny about May’s new girlfriend.