Work Text:
It was a very big ship. There was a lot of spaces to hide. It would be perfect for a nice game of hide and seek, or a nightmare to have a job at. Or perhaps the perfect area to stalk someone.
Captain Walrus was happy with it. As he sat at the control center, he watched his passengers do whatever they were doing. Crows in the casino, Conductor neglecting his grandchildren, DJ Grooves not neglecting his grandchildren, and the morally dubious child swimming in the pool.
"Men," he said through his gravely voice. "I don't think much is going to happen today."
"Well, can we have lunch?" asked one of his small white crewmen.
"Eh, sure."
The two seals who were at the control module were dismissed, and off they went.
'I guess I could take a nap,' Captain thought to himself. 'No, I won't let the ship crash again. I won't let that happen.'
He worked tirelessly, which was ironic because he was always tired. The faint warmth of his cigarette helped to keep him awake, but it was far from enough, as his eye bags were the first thing a lot of people noticed about him.
"Well, hello there."
Captain turned behind him to find a tall bipedal cat, with a scar along her left eye.
"What are you doing here?" asked Captain. "This is a restricted area."
"Nonsense," said Empress, continuing to ignore him. "I just need to find... my child. Yes, my child."
Captain was very concerned. "Uh, if you have a photo or something, I can try to look for them myself-"
"Oh, nonsense. I must simply look for her myself."
Captain figured there was no shaking her.
"Alright, have a ball."
And Empress, in a surprising feat of strength, shoved Captain to the side, his swivel chair sharply squeaking as he slowly came to a stop a few feet to the right.
But how strong Empress was didn't deter Captain from keeping an eye on her. She could be up to no good, after all.
"Hey!" went a voice from behind the two.
The two animal adults turned to find Bow Kid. She looked a little annoyed at Empress.
"Why hello there," said Captain.
"You know her?" Empress asked.
"Yeah, she and her friend helped passengers get off this ship when it sunk."
"Well, this would be my child. Well, not technically, she just... works for me."
"I can imagine that." It'd be unwise to metaphorically put anything past Bow Kid or her closest friend.
Empress walked over to Bow Kid, bent down and clasped her hand open and closed. Annoyed, Bow Kid dropped a few pons into her hand. Satisfied, Empress walked out. But Bow Kid stayed, and walked over to Captain, as he rolled back to where he originally was.
"Checking in on me, huh?" Captain asked. "I've got my meds, don't worry."
Bow Kid looked a like bashful.
"What is it?"
Bow Kid pulled out her sticker book, rifled through them all and reluctantly pulled out one with Hat Kid. Captain was a little confused.
Bow then proceeded to cup her hands in the form of binoculars.
"Oh, where's Hat Kid?" he asked. He was much more willing to tell Bow Kid where anyone was than some furry stranger. "She's swimming."
Bow wordlessly dashed away.
'What on Earth is she up to?' Captain asked himself. He flicked to the security cams, and got to the pool. He needed something to keep himself awake, after all.
He saw Bow finally reach the top and sit in a pool chair. She wasn't in any sort of swimsuit like her friend, maybe she just liked to know where she was.
...
At the pool, Mafia Boss was on a table, watching the two children. "What are little girls up to?" he asked.
"Bow's crushing on Hat Kid."
Mafia Boss turned in disbelief at Snatcher. He was so tall, it was a wonder he had managed to sneak up on him.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"She's been following her all day."
"Well, little girls already pretty close. They live together."
"And I live with them too. It's borderline stalking, what she's doing."
The jar looked a little unbelieving.
"I've seen what Bow draws. They're little pictures of the two of them holding hands surrounded in hearts."
"Why would that suggest little girl crushing on little girl? They are little girls."
"Because when they sleep together," Snatcher explained, "And Bow thinks I'm not watching, she'll turn around and spoon with Hat Kid. When they wake up she swears she did it in her sleep. Hat Kid never seems to mind, though."
Mafia Boss narrowed his eyes. "You know too much about little girls."
"Wanna bet?"
Mafia Boss kept his eyes narrow. "She has no feelings for her."
"Strange hill to die on. Why can't you just deny you're wrong?"
"Same to you!"
"Alright, I'll livestream their interactions, and everyone will get to watch!"
"You're on!"
Hat Kid, who was still swimming and too far away to hear them, was very concerned at the two adults arguing like children. While Bow Kid, who was barely close enough to hear them, looked on in abject horror.
...
"Is this thing on?"
Snatcher was talking to the device he held in his hand, a cellphone with a pair of earphones he was wearing. He was livestreaming what was going on in the spaceship to everyone.
"We can see, darling!" said DJ Grooves.
"No way you're right. Mafia always right!" said Mafia Boss.
"We'll see," said Empress. "Now keep quiet, or the two will get suspicious."
Snatcher was perched in his usual spot, overlooking Hat Kid taking a nap and Bow Kid swimming in the pillows. He looked like he was just listening to some music.
"Move the camera!" Conductor complained. "I can't see anything!"
"I'll look off if I did that," said Snatcher quietly. "Wait, something's happening."
Snatcher took great care to slowly angle the phone to Bow Kid, who was now diving deep into the pillow pile. She was under there for a long while, but came up after around a minute, blushing, and ran out of the room.
"What was she doing down there?" Captain asked.
"Probably writing," said Snatcher. "They have diaries down there."
"Well, let's rifle through them," said Empress.
"Seems like a breach of privacy, right Snatcher?" Conductor asked. "Snatcher?"
But Snatcher already took the plunge into the pillow pile, revealing the little room. There was a table with a couple diaries on them, one for Hat Kid and one for Bow Kid. Snatcher opened the latter.
The most recent page read 'Dear diary, I'm not crushing on Hat Kid. I'm not, I swear. I'm not I'm not I'm not. I promise. I just have a light fever, I swear.'
"Sounds like something a kid with a crush would write," said Snatcher, quickly jumping out of the compartment and returning to his fire hazard of a perch.
As he spied, Hat Kid woke up, noticed that Bow Kid was gone and got out of bed to follow her. The ship's doors slid open to let her into the main room, Snatcher following.
Now Bow Kid was gaming, and Hat Kid moved in to play alongside her. Bow Kid was about to scoot to the side, but Hat Kid opted to instead sit in her lap.
"My goodness! She has no idea, does she?" DJ Grooves asked.
Bow Kid profusely blushed, as Snatcher curled up in the corner and looked at his cellphone. It still looked like he was only listening to music.
The two of them played for around a half hour, Bow Kid obviously terrible as of now. Likely distracted with her crush sitting in her lap.
"They're just... so adorable..." Mafia Boss said uncharacteristically.
"Bleh, this bores me," said Empress.
"Well, guess you were right," said Captain.
A door opened in the distance, and a hardy female voice called "Dinnertime!"
"Finally, I'm starving," said Snatcher. Hat Kid and Bow Kid wordlessly got up to go to the kitchen.
The four were at the dinner table, before a meal of pork chops, split pea soup and corn. "You don't mind if I listen to music while I eat, do you, Cat?" Snatcher asked.
"No, not really," said Cooking Cat. "I just need to talk to the kiddos for a while."
"Alright." Plating himself some food, Snatcher sat casually as possible. But everyone else could still hear the conversation between the three.
"Now, Bow Kid, I've noticed some... behaviour. I don't know how to describe it."
Bow Kid looked up from her food. The great taste had distracted her from her feelings for Hat Kid, and her blush had cooled down.
"You're getting awfully close to Hat Kid. Is there anything you really want to tell her? We're really close, we can tell each other whatever we need to."
Bow Kid's blush returned. Her mouth contorted into an open frown, before leaning forward-left and covering her face.
"C'mon, say what you need to."
Bow Kid shook her head side to side.
"It's happening!" said DJ Grooves.
"You're way too excited for this, DJ," said Captain.
Hat Kid, worried over her friend, got out of her seat, walked around Snatcher, and got closer to Bow Kid. She tried to move the hands from her face, to no avail.
"C'mon, Bow, open up a little," Snatcher said.
Bow separated two of her fingers to make a crack to look through. She glanced to Cat, then Snatcher, and back to Hat Kid.
And in one swoop, she took her hands from her face, gave Hat Kid and peck on her cheek and hid back behind her hands. Hat Kid was understandably stunned, Cat was shocked, and Snatcher was still casual as he could be.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Hat Kid seemed to make up her mind, gently took the hands down from Bow's face, and gave her a smooch on her forehead.
"She said yes!" rejoiced Mafia Boss.
Bow Kid's face began to brighten, shifting slowly from horrified, to stunned, to happy, and soon gave Hat Kid a big hug.
"Well," said Cooking Cat, slowly recollecting herself. "I guess it worked out in the end."
...
It was the next day on the SS Literally Can't Sink, and Hat Kid and Bow Kid were splashing in the pool together. The both of them were grinning ear to ear. Captain looked to his side, and saw Conductor, DJ Grooves and Cooking Cat all taking a break with him.
"Why aren't ya steering the ship?" Cooking Cat asked.
"Crew convinced me to take a break."
Captain looked at the two birds, and Conductor was angrily passing some pons to DJ.
"You placed a bet on those two?!" Captain said.
"It was the only way to make it interesting for me," said Conductor.
"Ugh..."
Captain looked in the pool, and saw Hat Kid giving Bow Kid a kiss on her cheek.
"Aw..."