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Gallica is on a very important mission today at the runner: annoy Will. A constant, tough mission that would never quite end. As she flies around the runner, saying hello to the fellow crewmates, she spots Will sitting in the break room and reading a book. Not unusual for him. But his mumbling under his breath as he does so… that was unusual.
“Whatcha reading?” Gallica flies in as Will mumbles ‘that wouldn’t work’ under his breath, catching him off guard. “You reading more of your favorite book?” She flies over to his shoulder and sits down, looking at the pages.
“Oh, uh… no, not quite.” Will puts down his book and looks at Gallica. “It’s this book I read about some romance ideas. ‘50 Romantic Things to Do with Your Partner.” Will shows her the cover, then sighs as he opens the book up again. “But the problem is I can’t do half of these things right now.”
“What do you mean you can’t do them?” Gallica asks, kicking her feet against Wills shoulder.
“Well… like here.” Will points to specific chapters in the book. “Take a weekend vacation, go on a road trip… we can’t just leave you guys behind, so that knocks out a lot of stuff. And some things I know neither of us will want to do. Like Hulkenberg can’t leave me notes with my luck because… well, you’ve seen her cooking. And the book talks about getting a couple massages, but I don’t want anyone to touch Hulkenberg except me.”
“Aw! It’s nice of you to be so defensive!” The fairy puts a hand to her face, thinking a bit. “Well, you’re right about not being able to go out alone… maybe you guys could go on a walk in the forest? And you can always give each other massages if you want…” She grins, her wings fluttering a bit at the suggestion. “I know you’d like that.” Will gives a little grin, but shakes his head.
“There’s not a good place to massage her. I can’t do it on the ship, because, well… there’s nowhere private. I really don’t want Neuras walking in on us.”
He shudders. “And the first has goborns and birds and stuff that could just turn the date into a combat encounter.” He throws the book on the bed, dejected.
“Well…” Gallica thinks for a moment more, then snaps her fingers. “I got it! Why don’t you take her on a boat date? That’s around town, right. And for the cute stuff… you can give her a pet name. That’s easy.”
“A boat date is so obvious! We were just in Port Brilehaven, why didn’t I think of that?” Will says, smacking his head with his hand. “That’s smart.” At the mention of pet names, however, he tilts his head. “Pet names? What’s that?”
“Will…” Gallica sighs and gives him a flick on the forehead. “Come on, you read how many books and you still don’t know what those are? It’s like… like calling someone named Lilly ‘Lil’. That stuff.”
“Oh, that’s what that’s called.” Will nods and gives her a poke on the head right back, with significantly less force so she doesn’t go flying. “That would be really cute… what would I call her? Don’t tell me, I have to figure that out myself.” He says, thumping his finger against the table as he thinks. “Hmm…”
“You sure? I know some good ones.” Gallica flies around Will as he thinks. “I could even give some she could call you! She could call you Willy!”
“She will not be calling me that.”
“You don’t know, it could be cute!” Gallica chuckles, dodging Will trying to poke her again. “Well, if you reeealy don’t want my help, I’ll leave you to your own devices. I gotta help Neuras with the runner, there’s some areas he can’t really reach down in the core. Have fun!” With that, she flies out of the room, leaving Will to wonder… What exactly would he call Hulkenberg?
“A boat ride tonight? That sounds amazing!” Hulkenberg exclaims as Will suggests his (...well, okay, Gallicas) idea. Hulkenberg stops doing her lunges and claps her hands together. “I need that after what has happened the last few days… Are we renting a boat or riding it with someone at the helm?”
“Well… I wanted to rent it.” Will didn’t want to admit it, but it still felt so strange for other people to enjoy him and Hulkenbergs time together, even if it was something as simple as driving a boat for them. He knew he’d have to get over that eventually… he did want to do stuff like have Hulkenberg rest on his lap. But until that happened… private stuff only. “I don’t really know how to pilot a boat, but it can’t be that hard right?”
“Ooo, that sounds great! We’re sailing in areas where the crystals under the water won’t capsize us, I’m assuming?”
“That’s what they said.” Will said, his voice just a bit shaky, remembering what the water almost did to Louis’ gauntlet runner. “But I watched everyone that sailed off come back, so I’m assuming it’s just a smaller section of the ocean.”
“Well that’s… reassuring. I suppose we can always use are archtypes to get us back to shore if anything goes too wrong. It cannot be worse than getting attacked by a human like last time.” She gives Will a smile and offers her hand to him. “Lead the way, Will.”
“Alright, Be… Hulkenberg.” Will tries to stutter a pet name, but something about just saying it and hoping it works just doesn’t feel right. Well, they will be on a boat… he can probably talk about it there. He is still going through a bunch of them, after all, and he wants to make sure that she likes it.
They both teleport back to Port Brilehaven, the city much quieter now that the race to the throne has moved on. Hand in hand, Will and Hulkenberg both walk up to the boat dock where a very old sailer sits, counting his money as he does so. As soon as he hears them, he looks up.
“Welcome. We’re already booked for the evening…” he states, pointing at a list on his stall. “But you’d like to make a-“
“We booked one. Under Will?” Will interrupts. The old sailer fixes his glasses and looks at him.
“That Will? I thought you sailed over to an island for the race.” He looks at him skeptically, but ultimately shrugs. “Everyone needs a day off, I suppose.” He hands them both oars. “Boat only lets you row around a small area, and it magically corrects itself if you go too far out. Means you’ve got a small area all to yourself for 2 hours.” Perfect. Will gives a smile and starts off to the little wooden boat. It’s nothing special, but it is perfect for some time alone. He helps Hulkenberg to sit down at the boat and sits in the middle. As he tries to grab both the oars, Hulkenberg shakes her head and sits next to him.
“It only makes sense for us to both row, yes? That way we’re both to blame if we go in the water.” She chuckles, firmly gripping the oar and putting it in the water. “Now, if you recall, the only other time I’ve been on a boat that wasn’t fighting a human, I was tied to it trying to not get sick. Solet’s take it slow, okay?”
Will nods, remembering her story after fighting the human on the seas. They very, very slowly take off, both learning how to row in sync. Eventually, however, they get into a good rhyme and start to really pick up speed. Eventually, they get far away enough that they can’t even see the town anymore. Just Will and Hulkenberg on the boat, with each other as company.
“We should stop here before we get pushed back.” Will remark after a while. Hulkenberg nods and puts the oar in the water with Will, putting the boat to a stop dead in the water and splashing them just a bit.
“Perfect. All we can see is the ocean, sky, and the floating water spheres.” Hulkenberg lays back on the boat, stretching herself out fully. “It is strange how nice it is out here, isn’t it? It’s easy to forget about everything that’s been happening.” She pulls Will down with her and gives him a kiss. “Maybe that’s just because of you.”
“You’re… a lot more aggressive than normal.” Will observes, but smiles and kisses her right back. “Not that I mind that.”
“Hmm?” Hulkenberg gives a grin. “Tis’ just a byproduct from sailing to those islands and having to deal with Louis’ men on the ship. And tracking through the forests.” She shutters. “Tis’ an unbearable experience. And getting captured too…”
“Well, we got out of it.” Will says, scotching closer to her on the boat. “Although I feel like Heismay could’ve just broken out of the ropes easily… maybe he was just tired.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps he just didn’t want to anger the locals anymore than we already did.” Hulkenberg wraps her arms around Will as she talks, cuddling him. “Either way, I hope to never get tied like that again. Well…” she gives Will a smirk. “Unless you feel daring when we’re alone…”
“You really are pent up.” Will laughs and returns her hug. “I’ll think about it. Let’s not go too far on the boat though.” Hulkenberg makes a fake pouting face at his maybe, but she ultimately nods and falls silent. The sounds of the waves lapping against the boat and the distant birds fill their ears as they drift along. After a while, Will works up his nerves to ask a question.
“Hey, Hulkenberg… do you know what pet names are?” Will asks, his voice so quiet that Hulkenberg almost doesn’t hear it.
“I… cannot say I have.” Hulkenberg looks over at him and tilts her head. “Are you saying we’re adopting a dog?”
“No. Maybe in the future, thought. It’s like a nickname for your lover. Like people that call their partner ‘honey’ or someone calling Lilly ‘Lil’. Like that.”
“Oooh, yes, I have heard of that. While I was still a knight, a man and his wife called each other ‘sweetie pie’ and ‘honey buns’.” Hulkenberg laughs, her ears twitching a bit as she reminisces. “At the time I did cringe at their antics, but now that you mention it… that would be cute. I suppose I’m making us become the annoying couple that I used to scoff at.”
“Well, it was my idea, so you can blame me.” Will sits himself up on the boat to make sure they aren’t drifting too far off. “I was thinking a bit, and I came up with two… it’s, uh…” his voice gets softer as he speaks. “Boo and Bergy.”
“Those are amazing!” Hulkenberg shouts, completely surprising Will. She sits up and meets his gaze, beaming at him. “Can you use Bergy? Nobody else will have that name, and I’ll know exactly who’s calling for me when I’m on the runner.”
“I’d love to, Hu- uh… Bergy.” Will blushes as he says the pet name, but Hulkenberg’s smile is more than enough to encourage him to keep saying it. Can we just… talk a bit? So I can get used to it?”
“Of course! I need to find one for you too… and I would rather not shout Willy through the ship.” She clicks her fingers against the side of the boat as she thinks. “Honey… no, that’s too basic…”
Their talk continues through their time on the boat, with anything that comes to mind being a topic. The race, their party members, the different cultures they’ve seen, and what they’re planning for in the future. Eventually, their time on the boat starts to run out. Will, noticing this, gestures to where the dock should be. “Should we start going back?”
“Yes… I suppose I can think of a pet name on the runner. No rush, after all. Let me just…” She goes to pick up her oar on the side of the boat, but accidentally sends it into the water. “Oh no…” She sighs as it slowly drifts off. She leans over to try to pick it up. But…
SPLASH!
“Hulkenberg!” Will quickly runs to the opposite side of the boat as Hulkenberg falls into the water. He picks her up by her shoulders and brings her back to the boat. He lays her down on the boat, her clothes now dripping wet, and gets the other oar with his own. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine.” Hulkenberg spits out some water and sits herself up. “Tis’ rather foolish of me to do, especially because you have the oar. Thank you, Will.”
“It’s no problem. Here…” Will takes off his jacket and puts it around Hulkenberg to try and get her warmer. He runs his hands through her hair, trying to smooth it out and put it back to its original form. As he does, he looks down at Hulkenberg. Her wet clothes look really tight now that they’re wet. Which would normally be really cute. But they are going back to the public eye…
“Bergy, could you…” he leans forward and zips his jacket clothes, hiding Hulkenberg’s clothes. “There. Could you keep it like that?”
“I can.” Hulkenberg looks down at the jacket with a confused glance. “Why?”
“Well… your clothes are really right when they’re wet. I don’t want anyone to see anything.” Hulkenberg looks down at her clothes for a second, then gives Will a little kiss on the forehead as she looks back up.
“I thought that I was the knight here.” She chuckles, grabbing onto his hand as she gets more settled into the boat. “But clearly you’re the one protecting me from everyone.” As soon as she finishes her sentence, she snaps her fingers. “My Knight.”
“What?”
“Your pet name. My Knight. It’s perfect, don’t you think? Personal, unique, and cute.” She counts the reasons on her fingers. “Do you have any objections?”
“No, that works really well!” Will says, giving Hulkenberg a peck on the cheek as he sets down her oar on the lap. “It was a lot better than any sort of ideas I had.”
“It’s settled then.” She picks up her oar, then returns his kiss. “Shall we get going then, my knight?”
“Let’s, Burgy.”