Chapter Text
In the Captain's sleeping quarters, a small window rested just above the waterline on a calm day. Luckily, when they first scoped out the ship after it had been completely built, Jay was the first to see their room. She claimed the cot right next to the window before Chip could.
It was a good idea at first: being able to see the sea and recount the tales woven into the stars as she drifted to sleep.
The side effect she sadly did not spot, however, was the sunlight.
So, yet again, like every other morning this summer, Jay woke up to a blinding light.
She groaned, throwing an arm over her head and stuffing her face into her pillow. The sun rose way too early. Wouldn’t fall come a little sooner? Not to mention, summer was way too fucking hot.
They needed to get a curtain on this window. A small one would be perfect. Even a washcloth would suffice.
She tried to turn herself away from the annoying beams of light, but a weight held her down.
She raised her head from her pillow and squinted her eyes. She was still staring directly into the sun. Ow. What prank did Chip and Ollie play on her this time? If it was anything other than Ollie sitting on her, she was way too tired for it. She needed at least two cups of coffee before she could deal with their shenanigans.
She twisted her head, trying to think of a retort besides a tired groan. She was met with the sight of a snoring, blue face.
Oh. Right.
Gill had fallen asleep in her bed. She had meant to rouse him last night, but he seemed comfortable and she was tired and, honestly, she just really wanted to cuddle with him. Now, his arm and legs were thrown over her and she was stuck in bed.
His mouth was hanging open, snoring quietly into her pillow. The sunlight reflected off his shiny, damp hair. His curls just seemed to glow. When Chip first pulled Gillion out of the ocean and onto the ship, she expected to be more bothered by his constant dampness. But after the weeks — and in a non-romantic lense, months — that she held him or braided his hair, it was hardly a bother. The smell of salt and crisp ocean wind was like home now.
She sighed, content and happy, and watched Gill's chest rise and fall. She could easily fall asleep again, just listening to him breathe. She was too tired to deal with her 'pirate duties,' as Chip called them, that morning.
Alas, time couldn’t just stop being Jay was smitten and she had gone through her days on much less sleep. The ship needed to get somewhere and she was pretty proud of the fact she was the Riptide Pirates’s navigator. At least when Chip complained about his chores, she could raise an eyebrow at him and say, "Really?"
Not to mention her arm was becoming numb. Gillion was a tank.
She groaned, straining her side and wrestling one of her arms free. She may be taller than Gillion but he was heavier than her. She rested her hand on his cheek, feeling the dew soak into her palm, and brushed away stray strands of hair that clung to his damp face.
“Hey, Gill,” She whispered, rousing him quietly. Her thumb brushed over the bump of his cheekbone.
He woke slowly. He unconsciously leaned into her palm and burrowed his face further into the pillow. Jay laughed, almost giggled, which she blamed on her tiredness. It was not at all related to her emotions. She gently raised him from the pillow, unfortunately bringing him into the light.
He mumbled, squinting his eyes and pursing his lips back and forth, “Mgh, Jay? Hi, Jay.”
She laughed and poked him in the cheek. “Hi, you.”
He was clearly disoriented by the change in scenery, squinting against the sun like it was his personal enemy. Almost like an angry cat that hadn't received treats in a while, although she knew if Gill heard her make that comparison, he'd be very offended. Her mission to sneak a cat onboard the ship and slowly integrate it into the crew was still a work in progress, to say the least. Gillion was the main opposition to that goal. Nonetheless, waking up in the sun after sleeping in water his entire life would be a stark change, no doubt.
She hummed absentmindedly, a simple buzz to fill the silence of a late morning, no tune in mind, as he gained awareness of his surroundings. His thick brows furrowed, glaring at the bed and sheets as if they'd personally wronged him. He looked funny with his hair a tangled mess behind him and pillow lines etched into his skin. She offhandedly wished for some way to capture the moment forever. Not only to laugh at with Gillion later but perhaps to admire the way the sun made his eyes shimmer like ocean waves in the afternoon heat.
Just perhaps, of course.
Gillion groaned, stretching out across true blankets with an echoing yawn, almost seal-like. Through lazy blinks and groans, he finally cleared enough haze from his mind to process the world around him.
“Why ‘m I in… your bed?” He questioned, donning a dark blue blush as he looked around.
“Eh, fell asleep. I was too tired to wake you up,” Jay shrugged as best as she could. Speaking of that, “Also, your arm is kinda squishing me over here, Gill.”
He blinked, then withdrew his limp arm. “Oh, sorry,”
“And your legs.”
He blinked again. “Right.”
His legs slowly withdrew as well and Jay was finally able to fully stretch out on her bed. Her joints popped and she groaned with her efforts. Her body still hadn’t gotten the memo it was time to get up yet, apparently. She leaned closer into Gill, halfheartedly attempting to recreate their cuddle from last night.
Jay hummed quietly and happily, brushing stray curls out of his face. His hair had grown long very quickly in their months together, but it was still just barely too short to stay tucked behind his fin ears reliably. It was the perfect length for many tiny braids, however.
Her fingers lingered on a small braid behind his ear, feeling the strands and winding sections. She had braided that piece last night, amid his snores and her restless hands. It wasn’t half-bad.
Her arm vibrated with pins and needles as she rubbed the hair in her fingers. Gill just blinked back at her, barely noticing her fingers scratching at his scalp. His eyes dropped, threatening to close and fade off into the land of sleep. She poked his cheek and he squinted back at her, displeased.
“Maybe you should go rest in your barrel for a few minutes.” She suggested. “Refresh and rehydrate and all that.”
Gill blinked again, then again, a little bit of awareness returning to him as his eyes flickered over her face.
He slowly nodded. “That’s a good idea.” His dead-eyed gaze turned to a tired smile as he looked over Jay with what seemed to be awe. “You always have good ideas.
He smiled, dropping his head into her resting arm. “You’re so smart.”
Jay huffed, pretending her face didn’t heat up at his compliments. A small smile still graced her lips. Whatever. She wouldn’t let him get out of this with compliments.
“Okay, okay, whatever you say.” She teased. “Now, come on, up!”
Slowly — or, with much struggle, — she pulled Gillion up and out of bed. She sent him off to rest in his barrel. As she watched him stumble to the back of their quarters, nearly tripping over Chip’s thrown pillows and blankets, she hoped there wouldn’t be any turbulence soon. One bump in the waves and Gill would be on the ground in an instant.
She mentally chuckled at the imagery: Gillion spread across the deck, face down, arms and legs splayed out like a starfish.
She climbed the stairs out of the captain’s quarters and beelined it straight for the kitchen. She needed coffee.
Thankfully, Drey and Gryffon were the only ones occupying the kitchen, still munching on the remnants of breakfast. Neither of the pair was chatty, not like Chip and Ollie were, thank the stars. Jay was at least able to get one cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal in her system before Chip came barreling into the room.
He threw the hatch from above the deck open, practically jumping down the stairs with the number of steps he was skipping. Ollie followed right on his heel. The twinkle in his eyes and the grin on his face almost made Jay smile. However, that look of excitement and energy accompanied by Chip’s presence meant she was in for a taxing morning. Maybe she should make sure her coffee wasn't laced with seawater.
“Hi, Miss Jay!” Ollie chirped, jumping at her side and hugging her tight.
Jay did smile at that and set down her second cup of coffee on the table. She looped an arm around him and gave him a small squeeze back.
“Hey, kid. Have you been plotting with Chip all morning?”
He pulled away immediately, a red blush crossing his face as he looked anywhere but Jay’s face.
“Uhhh, nope!” He squeaked.
Jay snorted. "Yeah, alright then." She then turned her head to aim a deadpanned look at Chip. "I'll make sure to watch where I'm stepping today."
Suddenly, Ollie seemed very interested in the various drinks Earl had mixed up the day before. After he 'snuck' a quick glance at Chip — who at least tried to subtly shush him and shoo him away — he raced off the sort through the juices and smoothies with a speed Jay had only seen when he was dashing away from a prank crime scene.
Jay rolled her eyes and sipped on her coffee. Drey just chuckled, eyeing both her and Chip with a look she couldn’t quite decipher. Perhaps knowing? Gryffon watched them with a look of disdain.
“So, Jay,” Chip dragged out his words and leaned over the table, wiggling his eyebrows with a stupid, annoying smirk on his face. Jay scowled at him, trying to be vaguely threatening against whatever bullshit he was about to pull. “Were you and Gill comfy last night?”
Ah.
While Jay had technically noticed that Chip woke up before the two of them, — his cot was empty, except for the littering of clothes and blankets — she hadn't processed that it meant he’d seen them cuddling. Her face burned red as she ducked her head down, staring into her coffee. In her peripheral vision, she noticed Gryffon swiftly leave the room. Ollie giggled from the counter.
“Shut your mouth, Chip.” She muttered into her cup. She took a sip to attempt to cover her blush.
Chip opened his mouth to retort back, probably some stupid quip that’d make her groan, but Ollie piped up.
“Jay likes Gillion! Jay likes Gillion!” Ollie shouted in a sing-song rhythm. He was perched on the counter in front of jars of juice, kicking his legs up and down.
Chip cackled and had to lean against the table for support. Good to know he enjoyed her misery, although that was already a given, she supposed.
Ollie's chanting devolved into giggles, but then—
"Jay and Gillion sitting in a tree," Chip began, "K-I-S-S—"
Jay groaned and let her face fall onto the table. Ollie and Chip continued the song above her head, probably grinning at each other like madmen and wiggling their eyebrows like idiots. Drey just laughed and slammed a fist on the table. Rude. Also, embarrassing. Who wanted their uncle to hear about how head-over-heels they were for a guy?
Someone kept poking at her head — probably Chip — and she swatted their hands away to no avail.
“Leave me alone,” She moaned in despair.
Chip kept poking her and she could just hear the annoying grin on his face. His voice was the same it always was when he teased her: high-pitched and giggly. “Nope! You’re so crushing on him!”
She huffed. “Whatever,”
“You should tell him!” Ollie happily suggested.
Now, look.
Jay had meant to tell Chip, Drey, and Ollie about her and Gill’s… relationship. She didn’t know how to describe them. That was the biggest part of the issue — she barely even knew how to describe the two of them. They both had romantic feelings for each other and they both wanted to stay together for as long as their stressful, chaotic lives would allow them to. Besides that, she was left clueless.
She didn’t think the uncertainty meant anything bad, but still, she worried. What if she dived in too far, too fast? What if she was more serious about them than Gillion was? What if they’d had some miscommunication and there was some difference in their love and Jay perceived this all wrong?
She hadn’t said anything to the crew yet because really she didn’t know what to say.
So instead of saying anything of importance in response, she just shrugged, still hiding her head in her arms.
Chip sighed dramatically. “You’re so boring, Jay.”
His voice got quieter and she could hear him pacing around the room. "Everything is so boring right now! We need some action, some drama! And you know how we can do that?"
"How?" Ollie chimed in, ever the wingman.
A clap bounced off the walls. "A romance! A confession! A love story!"
Ollie cheered and Drey laughed again.
Jay just rolled her eyes. At this point, she was curious how long it’d take Chip to figure out she’d already confessed weeks ago.
Not much had changed between her and Gill since that night under the moon. They held hands a lot, but they had held hands before anyway. They both seemed to have a difficult time being upfront about their emotions, but the stress had slightly eased up with the knowledge of their commitment.
However, just weeks earlier, Jay wouldn’t have woken up to Gill in her bed, soundly sleeping without a care in the world. So at last a couple of things changed.
She wasn't surprised Chip wasn’t suspicious of that fact since the three of them were pretty physically affectionate without any romance. They’d all fallen asleep on the deck in a tangle of limbs and snores multiple times. Gryffon always lugged them all the bed. Sometimes he'd leave them to deal with the sores and cramps just to prove a point.
She was so caught up in her thoughts — stuck staring at her cup of coffee with furrowed brows — she didn’t notice much around her.
She certainly didn't notice when a soaking wet Gillion stumbled into the kitchen, dripping salt water head to toe.
Chip said something Jay couldn’t fully catch, but she did hear, "— soaking the entire floor!"
When Jay looked up to ask him to repeat it, with a large amount of confusion, might she add, he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking above her, a jokingly upset scowl tugging on his face. Ollie waved from the counter enthusiastically.
Before Jay could look behind her, cold, wet arms draped across her shoulders, resting their weight on her with gentleness. Wet hair fell onto her curls and she felt the weight of his head on hers. She recognized it was Gillion in an instant — not just because of his blue skin. It was the feeling of his curls falling on the side of her face. The way his arms just enveloped her with love and steady pressure. How even if he was shorter than her, he enveloped her like a blanket. Jay would best describe him as short and stout.
For a moment, everything faded away into a small buzz. It was all just a hum in the back of her mind. It was distant, far-off, and Jay just felt Gill’s lazy smile in her hair. The world existed, sure, but there was Gillion.
“Morning, Gill,” She breathed. She wrapped a hand around his arm, squeezing softly just to let him know she was there. She couldn’t quite see his face, but she still looked upwards, trying to get a glance.
Gill peppered a kiss into her hair, short and sweet. Then another, and another, again and again. Jay smiled harder. She could feel the heat and strain in her cheeks from the fluttering feeling in her chest. She didn't know how to define it but it made her feel weightless. Like a feather in the wind.
“Jay,” Gill whined, sleepiness dragging his words down. “Jay, Jay, I love you.”
For a moment, the ocean around them seemed to stop. The tides stilled, the clouds held their breath, and even the sun inched back to allow them this moment. Her heart fluttered, did a loop-de-loop, nearly burst, and soared. The wind picked her up and pinned her away in a flurry of excitement. It was simple and small and beautiful, and Gill was barely aware of his surroundings, but it felt larger than anything she’d ever seen before. Her face was hot and her cheeks hurt but she couldn’t stop smiling.
When was the last time her heart fluttered? When was the last time she was picked up and spun away in her joy? When was the last time love felt so concrete?
“I love you, too,” She breathed, voice cracky from being so out of breath. “Can I kiss you?"
Gill murmured something she couldn’t hear, something muffled by her curls, but she knew it was full of adoration she couldn't understand. Soon enough, he raised his head off of hers. Gill's smile appeared at her side, lazy and content. Jay giggled at his expression and took his chin in her hand. There was something so beautiful in him that made him flourish in her eyes.
When she kissed him — just a small peck on the lips, short and sweet — he tasted like salt and a foggy morning and dew. She leaned her forehead onto his and breathed it in. He was grinning like an idiot, but she probably looked the same. She was content.
“Ooooooo!” A high-pitched squeal cut her out of her love-struck trance and the only thing left was burning embarrassment.
She might as well start digging her own grave.
Chip stared at the two of them, mouth agape, as if he just watched Jay and Gill turn into dragons. Ollie was clapping and cheering from the counter, nearly falling onto the floor with how hard he was bouncing and squealing
Drey had that same knowing smile from earlier, but Jay couldn’t even begin to process what that meant before Chip interrupted her.
Ollie jumped off of the counter, raced towards her and Gill, and threw his arms around the two of them. Wrapping his tiny arms around the two of them was certainly a feat, but he somehow managed. Gill stared wide-eyed at Ollie, bewildered, as if he’d just noticed his presence, and wrapped an arm around his back.
“Dude!” Chip exclaimed, waving his hands around like a wild man. “You— you guys are— when the fuck did— no, no, no, wait, wait, back the fuck up!”
Was time travel possible yet, she thought as she sunk into herself, because she really hoped someone figured it out already. She'd like to remove the past two minutes from all of history.
Jay's cheeks burned hot and red and Gill just detachedly blinked, entirely separated from the situation. How lucky.
“I was, uh, meaning to tell you.” She muttered as she slid further into the chair. Maybe she could just turn invisible and avoid this entire situation. Forever. She'd never return.
Ollie bounced on the balls of his feet, which jostled her in her seat. “This is so cool! You guys are so cool, holy shit!”
“Language!” Both she and Chip chirped from instinct.
Ollie blushed and backed away from the hug, keeping his hands behind his back. He at least looked a touch bashful.
It faded in an instant, however.
“Sorry,” He murmured, then, that unfiltered excitement returned to his eyes. He was practically vibrating in his skin. “I’m so sending a letter about this to King Leon.”
Jay groaned and let her head fall onto the table again. This was misery. This was awful.
Ollie ran out of the room at the speed of light, yelling to Gryffon for paper and a pen. Jay's ears burned hot red. Of all the people she expected to hear about her and Gillion, it certainly wasn't Ollie's penpal: a literal king.
“Bye, Ollie!” Gill managed to warble out. He waved his goodbyes as the kid clamored up the stairs.
Despite herself, Jay chuckled. Gillion still had zero clue what was going on. Frankly, it was ridiculous and Jay would go as far as to say just a tad bit endearing. Gillion's chest pressed into her back and she sighed in some relief. His weight was comforting and grounding.
“No, no, no, hold on there!” Chip quickly yelped. When Jay looked up with a pointed glare aimed at her friend, Chip was pointing at her accusatorily. “How— when did all this happen? And why the hell wasn’t I in the loop?”
He faked a pout and with his wide eyes, sad demeanor, and trembling lip, he looked about as pathetic as possible. “I thought we were buddies.”
Jay was willing to share when they finally got over themselves and confessed, but bringing up how it started with her breaking down in front of Gillion after leaving the BLOCK would certainly bring down the mood.
So instead, she shrugged. “I, uh, confessed a few weeks ago. I really was going to tell you.”
Chip stared them down, squinting between the two of them. Jay raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Gillion hummed into her curls.
A sudden cough from the corner made them all turn to find Drey staring back at them, not a tad embarrassed.
At their silent stares — and Jay's judgemental furrowed brows — he shrugged his shoulders up high, which Jay perceived as an alternative for raising his hands in the air.
"What?" He defended. "You three are being too damn awkward."
He rose from his chair, making to head up onto the deck, and on his way, Drey leaned down and bumped his shoulder into Jay's.
"Good for you, niece," He grinned cheekily.
He also managed to expertly dodge the stray butter knife Jay chucked at him on his way up and out.
With Drey's absence, the silence didn't last long. Chip was sporting a cheek-wide grin now, clearly encouraged by Drey's teasing of Jay, and he laughed. He waltzed across the room and patted both Gill and Jay on the back. His arms were slung around them in a makeshift, awkward hug. Jay struggled against it while Gill just moved along wherever Chip tugged him.
“Aw, man, I’m so happy for you two, too.”
Jay groaned because she was not dealing with any more of this today. “Nope, nope, I’m not doing this.”
She shoved Chip off her and gently pushed Gill up, which he easily accepted, unlike Chip. She stood quickly, leaving her empty cup of coffee on the table, and made way for the stairs. Gill stayed where he was placed, watching her leave and her fiery hair trail behind her, and Chip slung an arm over his shoulder, leaning on him.
“Come back, Jay!” Chip hollered, one hand to his mouth. “I wanna hear all about you two!”
He chuckled to himself. "Oh, oh, man. Ollie was right about you two K-I-S-S-I—"
She flipped him off behind her back right before she climbed out of view. When she finally pulled herself onto the top deck, she slammed the hatch shut.
As she stood there alone in the crisp morning wind, trying to calm the blush stuck on her cheeks, she could hear Gillion below deck. In the same lazy tone he’d had stuck in his throat all morning, he said quite loudly, “She’s really pretty, Chip.”
Chip's giggles echoed from below, as well. Jay blushed again and tried to tell herself the beating of her heart was from climbing the stairs. And her blush was from the wind hitting her face. And her fluttering stomach was from the two cups of coffee. But just when she was sure no one, absolutely no one, was in sight, she let a flustered smile grace her lips.
Whatever. She was allowed to be smitten with her boyfriend. Whatever.