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For swashbuckling, thieving pirates, Bek's peers were surprisingly eager to please.
She'd seen how Scott and Sausage acted around each other. She'd seen… well, the Kestrels in general, really. She'd seen the ways various people had flirted with the bounty hunter they'd just discovered down in the sewer system, only to be rejected instantly. Honestly, it was a little funny, watching them all run around after each other.
It's not like Bek would ever do that. She didn't care for all of this romance stuff, and that made her a far better pirate because she didn’t make a fool of herself over nothing like the others seemed to. She didn’t have to go out of her way to impress people or seek them out when she was lonely.
Except for — well, it was complicated.
See, Bek knew she didn't do the whole romance thing. She had known since she was a teenager and it hadn’t changed since. But recently she'd been spending more and more time with El — a pirate from a different faction, who she wasn’t meant to talk to in any way that wasn’t unfriendly — and she’d found herself missing the other when she wasn’t around.
Which was meant to be a romance thing, right? The others spoke about it like that, and certainly that was how it worked for the people around her when she was growing up. But she didn’t do that type of thing, so where did that place her?
She was having her little conundrum down by the docks, sitting near the quest board and hearing the ocean crash against the rocks below. It was a rather peaceful location for such a bothersome mental conflict.
El had asked her to meet her here for an evening quest, and without even thinking about it Bek had agreed. She’d even come early, which was why she was sitting here and swinging her legs as twin anxiety and excitement unfurled within her stomach.
This was exactly the sort of emotional cocktail that was bothering her.
This behaviour was supposed to be reserved for forbidden lovers sneaking off into the night together, not for friends who happened to be in different factions. And El hadn’t called it a date or anything, or indicated that they might be anything other than friends, so clearly those bounds were set — yet Bek still didn’t think that was what she wanted either.
Before she could quite come to any sort of conclusion, she heard a shout from the ocean and looked up to see bright pink sails, a pirate with a paper hat waving from the approaching ship.
“Ahoy!” shouted El. “Ready for adventure?”
Well, yes, she was, but she also felt a bit sick from all the circles her mind had been making.
“Of course!” she called back instead.
She jumped down to the lower docks to meet with El closer to the water, and steadied her as she stepped off the ship and onto the rough pier. El shot her a grateful smile, before straightening out her hat and clearing her throat.
“So,” she said, “I did see there’s a bounty out for the ghost of a long-dead pirate king, and it looks like the sort of quest that’ll take more than just one of us. I was thinking…” She trailed off and glanced at Bek.
“You were thinking we should kick some royal dead ass?” Bek performed a little kick in the air to demonstrate.
El laughed. “I’d say that’s pretty much the plan. I know you’re not a Heron so I shouldn’t really be asking you, but —”
“But I’m just too cool. I get it, I get it,” Bek said faux-solemnly.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“I would.”
El shook her head, but there was a fond grin on her face all the same. “Alright, alright. Let’s go, we have a ghost to catch.”
There was room enough on El’s boat for the both of them now — she’d upgraded it, it seemed — so Bek hopped into the passenger seat and let El do the steering. It was definitely easier than having to coordinate in their separate boats.
The spray of water hit her face as they left the docks and entered the faster currents of the ocean. Bek crossed her arms over the front of the ship and peered out like a figurehead, squinting against the sun and sea to see where they were headed. Behind her, El chattered away, speaking to either herself or Bek or the little rats that always scurried around her ship. Bek tuned it out in favour of sinking into the moment.
This was exactly the sort of thing she meant. She’d be hanging out with El and suddenly be thinking about how it felt lovely and cosy and like a home to her, and wasn’t that completely ridiculous? She even sounded like her now!
She wasn’t complaining, to be clear. She was just… confused.
They arrived at the island after only a little bit of getting lost, and Bek helped drop the anchor as El checked her map to see where the ghost had last been sighted.
“You ready for this one?” El asked. She tucked the map away and came over to stand with Bek as she fiddled with tying the rope up. “He’s meant to be especially floaty, apparently.”
“Of course I’m ready. I’ve got a good sword and, worst comes to worst, I have these babies.” She held up her fists, brass knuckles glinting on the back of her fingerless gloves.
“Great,” said El, pulling her gun from its holster and checking the ammunition. “Follow me.”
They ventured into the forest, Bek trailing a little after as El navigated the trees towards wherever this ghost was. Finally, they arrived at the edge of a clearing, and El put a finger to her lips and then pointed at it, indicating that this was the spot.
“We just need to wait now,” she whispered.
“I can do that,” Bek replied with a nod. “I’m very good at waiting.”
El gave her a doubtful look.
“What? I am!”
Doubt aside, they did wait there, the day slowly crawling by as they muttered back and forth about the latest happenings on the Faction Isles and various other quests they’d been up to.
Despite doing her very best to not spill any secrets about her faction, Bek found herself gossiping about them anyway. At least she wasn’t alone, though; El had also joined in, complaining about some of the idiosyncrasies of her own factionmates. They laughed a little about Cleo’s attempts to brew rum and Tubbo’s constant misadventures in getting lost, and Bek felt herself growing more comfortable even ducked awkwardly within the bushes.
After a good few hours, they wound down into silence and El’s eyes began to flutter shut. Bek watched her yawn and lean against her shoulder, soft and warm and somehow trusting, and suddenly the wondering couldn’t wait any longer.
“El,” she whispered. “I have a question for you.”
After a second, El blinked up at her sleepily. “Hm?”
“First of all, I don’t like you,” she started, not really thinking about the wording all too much.
“Oh gee, thanks.”
“No! Like, I don’t like like you. Like, romantically, or whatever.”
The more serious turn in the tone of conversation seemed to wake El up a bit. She sat up so she wasn’t leaning on Bek so much, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
“That’s fine,” she eventually answered. “I suppose I feel the same way. Why do you, uh, bring that up?”
“Well,” said Bek. How to put this? “Well. Well, you see.”
“Well, I see?”
“It’s… complicated. I enjoy spending time with you, y’know?” The words began to rush a little as she averted her gaze, not wanting to see El’s reaction. “We’re friends, but I’d also like to spend time with you but like — all the time. And whenever I do spend time with you it feels super great and perfectly natural and — is that even allowed? To want to like — spend time with you especially , like dating, but also absolutely not dating?”
El seemed to give it some thought. From the corner of her eye, Bek could see her scrunching her face a little and processing the words. The more anxious seconds that passed, the less sure Bek was that she’d said anything more meaningful than a bunch of random thoughts chained together into the pretence of a question.
Finally, El cleared her throat.
“I think it should be,” she said decisively. “Like — we’re pirates, right? Why do we have to stick to the rules on what we’re allowed to feel when we don’t even follow the law?”
It seemed like a fair enough reasoning to Bek. “I guess. Yeah! That makes it a lot easier.”
“Plus,” El continued, “whatever you do, even if it isn’t allowed, it's not like anyone can stop you. You'll just beat them up.”
She grinned. “I will do that, that's true.”
Right then, there was a shuffle from nearby, and the two went on high alert as the sound of a gruff muttering sounded from within the clearing. Together, they peeked out of the bushes and saw a ghost pacing back and forth midair, an embroidered hat upon his crown and a sword strapped to his side.
Well, here was their bounty.
“Ready?” Bek whispered, and El nodded. “Alright! Let's do this.”
Jumping from the bushes, her sword swinging like a pendulum of doom, Bek led the charge against the ghost pirate king, roaring as she sliced down towards his hat.
*
Once the fight was over, the pair picked up the remains and began to head back to the boat, ready to claim their reward. The sky was growing quickly dark above them, and the boat’s dim lights shone stronger against it as they approached.
Bek yawned as she hopped onto the boat, and lay back to watch the stars instead of returning to her seat at the front of the ship.
“Are you just sleeping while I get us back on my own?” El said, pretending to sound offended.
“Yep! I’ve done enough thinking for today, I’m tired.”
“Great. Have a nice rest.”
Bek laughed at the dry tone, but didn't move from her position staring up at the stars.
The odd little feelings still lingered at the back of her mind, but the further out they went onto the ocean, the less she found herself worrying. In a world full of ghosts with swords and gentle waves that rocked their boats and constellations that spanned the sky in a jumble of stars, it didn't feel important to follow all these fickle rules.
She’d ask El later, about what they were and what she wanted to do. It could be their own thing, and that seemed exciting in a way that was growing familiar. But that would be later — for now, there was no need to rush.
Yawning again as the ship moved quietly through the waters, Bek began to fall asleep, someone important beside her and the anxious ball she’d been carrying in her chest finally starting to unwind.