A/N:Well, my sappy Sapphy ass is having a blast with this series. Unfortunately by now I've all but given up on meeting the deadlines for each day... It kinda sucks, but tbh I don't care about that as much as I care about fleshing out the scenes between these two gay disasters. At this point as long as I get them finished, I'll have gotten what I wanted out of this challenge.

08:12
Fiona: o/

09:56
Fiona: hey

11:31
Fiona: :|

11:32
Fiona: wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup :D

13:03
Fiona: omg you're actually sleeping in this late aren't you kdfjkskdja

May let out a yawn and flicked through the messages she'd missed on her scroll. It wasn't until she was scrolling through Fiona's attempts to message her that she noticed the time.

'Damn...' Had she really slept in that long?

One day off from classes and already she was slipping back into her old habits. She turned on her side and croaked out a sigh.

'Ughhhhh, I sound gross...' She grimaced internally, quickly regretting using her voice this soon after waking up.

Her hand fell onto her pillow and soon fond memories of the previous night's cuddling and affectionate kissing came flooding back to her. Her bed still had the scent of Joanna's shampoo about it and as soon as she detected it, a homesick feeling of longing overcame her.

It wouldn't last too long, though. They'd agreed to see each other again tonight. For now though, she had some assignments to finish.

Oh- and some messages to reply to. She flipped her scroll back open and pulled up her friend's icon.

13:46
May: Oof.

13:46
Fiona: hahahaa

13:47
Fiona: morning sleeping beauty :P

13:48
May: Sorry... Couldn't get to sleep last night

She chuckled shyly to herself about the details she was glossing over.

13:49
Fiona: ohno! you okay?

13:52
May: Yup! I'll be fine, no need to worry.

As she was reassuring Fiona of her existence in the material world, May had been throwing on her pyjamas and going about her morning routine. When she was brushing her teeth, she felt a buzz in her pocket and checked her messages again.

14:09
Fiona: robyn and i are gonna hang out later, wanna come too?

Her answer would be short enough; she could reply now with her free thumb. She typed out a quick sorry and explained that she'd be busy tonight before finishing up and wiping her mouth.

A second later her eyes went wide and she whipped her scroll back open to re-examine her response.

Sorry, can't - I have plans tonight.

Crap... Should she really have worded it like that?

She knew they'd ask Jo too. She knew Jo would have to decline as well. And she knew that they knew that she was... not exactly the social butterfly of Atlas.

So whom exactly were they to assume her plans were with?

... Who else but Joanna.

She sighed and lightly hit her forehead against the bathroom door. They hadn't even had the chance to have a proper conversation about their relationship, let alone discuss whether, or when, they would fill in Robyn and Fiona.

After a suspiciously long pause, Fiona's reply came through. A simple "ahh i gotchu, no worries~"

... Was May overthinking things, or was that suspiciously cheeky?

She rolled her forehead against the metal frame, shaking her head before finally lifting off of it. There really was no knowing just what was going on in Fiona's head sometimes. Best not to think about it to much.

Though, something inside of her welled with pride at that thought she had had just minutes ago.

Their relationship.

She had a... relationship with Jo now. Whether or not she could call her her 'girlfriend' yet was still something she was unsure of; was it too soon for that? Did they have to agree on it together? Or was it already obviously meant to be implied by this point? She didn't know. She'd never had a girlfriend before. She'd never been a girlfriend before.

... Was she now?

She hummed pensively for a moment while a daring urge took root in her. She soon decided to indulge herself briefly and try it on for size: 'Sorry, can't - I have plans tonight... with my girlfriend, Joanna!'

Her chest practically exploded at the thought of saying it, even if only to herself for the time being.

She let out a pleased sigh and collapsed her side against the door frame, no longer able to contain the giddy idiot grin breaking out across her face.

She was May Marigold, girlfriend of Joanna Greenleaf, probably. And that was enough for her at the moment.

The knocking on the door pulled her off of her bed faster than she could ever muster on her own. She pounced over towards the door, taking a quick pause at the strategically-placed wall mirror to check her hair, then slid the door open as fast as it would go.

Joanna greeted her with a warm grin, her eyes already practically beaming with their own luster. There was a bag dangling from her arm, but May didn't look to see what might be inside it. Her eyes had other plans.

For a moment they just stared at each other and it felt like gravity no longer held them. May slowly began to drag her heels forward to close the distance.

Neither of them bothered to stifle their excitement. The wing she slept in was empty. There was no need for secrecy; no one was around to see them.

No one was around to see May grab onto the front logo of Joanna's academy shirt and pull her into a hungry kiss, just as no one was nearby to hear their feet stumble when Joanna followed and pressed May against the wall of her dorm room. The bag Joanna brought was gently dropped at their feet while they wrapped their arms around one another.

Once they eventually settled in and sat on the cot, May's curiosity piqued and she glanced over to Joanna's bag. Before she could make out any contents, it's owner's voice commanded her attention.

"Did you eat yet tonight?"

"Huh...?"

It was barely past 17:00, far too early to have already had dinner. Did Joanna normally eat her last meal of the day that early in the evening?

"I was thinking..." Joanna started as she reached over to the bag she brought and set it between them. "I'd like... to cook for you." She looked May in the eyes for a moment before looking back down with an embarrassed grin. "... If that's okay."

May's eyebrows raised in surprise, her mouth agape. She was speechless for a moment. Not only was Joanna offering her food, but seeing her of all people volunteer so sheepishly was nothing short of heart-warming. May had never felt so flattered in her life.

"I-..." Feeling suddenly so overwhelmed, her hands lifted up to cover her mouth. She didn't know what to say first. Thank you; Yes; Holy crap; You're amazing; Please; I'd love that... Her heart was pounding. She wanted to say every one of those at once and more.

Joanna, thank the gods, seemed to get the gist of it all the same. A chuckle at May's response soon settled into a confident grin that did wonders to alleviate her embarrassment over her loss for words.

"It probably won't be anything like you're used to," she warned - as if May would care - "but I'd still say I'm a damn good cook."

Sure enough, Joanna was a damn good cook.

May was amazed at how such vibrant flavor could have come from such simple ingredients as rice and vegetables. She suspected that some of the exotic spices she'd noticed when she peered over from time to time had packed some exotic savory kick, but as Joanna explained, "the trick is in how you make the fond."

May simply smiled and nodded, as if that hadn't gone completely over her head. May had never learned to cook for herself - or learned any form of self-reliance, really - from her upbringing as a Marigold.

Joanna, on the other hand, had lived with far less and learned from her family at a young age to make it work, as she explained.

"I just sort of... learned how to get the most out of whatever we had in the pantry." She shrugged as she absently poked at the last of her food. "It was a lot of trial and error."

"... Mostly error." she smiled, earning a chuckle from May.

Joanna's eyes trailed off to the side as a vacant stare held her expression for a moment. May frowned as she watched, sure that something was off. She wanted to ask what, but also didn't want to pressure her. It just hurt a little bit to see her this way, as she considered that perhaps that was a look of boredom.

Mercifully, Joanna spoke up once more. "My whole family cooks, really." Her eyes darted around between various spots around the table. May started to feel a vibration coursing across the table, which she soon deduced was coming from Joanna's leg bouncing underneath. "It's sort of... our thing?"

It now looked like the beginning of a smile was emerging from the corners of her mouth. Thank the gods.

"We would always come together into the kitchen an prep meals for the week, make sure we had enough of everything, that nothing went to waste..." May smiled warmly has she listened to Joanna, just happy to be getting to know more about her.

"So when I started cooking by myself, it felt weird..." she began. She glanced up to May's eyes for a moment, quick to reassure. "I don't mean that it felt lonely or anything like that, it's just... Cooking alone was sort of... something different, to my family."

"Different?" May whispered and cocked her head.

"It was something that my mom would do... just for herself and my dad on special occasions like anniversaries or birthdays. Her brother did the same for his wife since they started dating, and when my brother had his first girlfriend, he'd do it for her too..."

May's mouth started to open by itself. She started to feel the cold prickling sensation of needles on the tips of her fingers as the puzzle started to come together in her mind.

"That's why..." Joanna continued, meeting her eyes again. "I wanted to cook for you, May."

May's eyes widened and as soon as she'd heard the words ring out, her lungs felt painfully empty. She sucked in some air and felt the torsion in her chest start to slowly dissipate into an overwhelming excitement.

"I don't really know what you're comfortable with right now... As far as labels go, I mean..."

Labels.

She hung on Joanna's every word as she went on.

"But I was thinking... I'd really like to call you my girlfriend. Like... officially."

May took a moment as she processed what had just happened before she gave Joanna her response. Wordlessly, she stood up, picked up her chair and set it down next to Joanna, on the opposite side of her room's small fold-out table. She let the weight and the warmth of her body give the answer her words would certainly fail to.

She sighed happily as she leaned into her side, nestling her head into the crook of Joanna's neck. She slowly took hold of her hand and shivered as she felt the pressure of Jo's arm settling on her waist.

May almost couldn't believe it. She smiled as she slowly let herself become accustomed to the label she now had.

She was May Marigold, girlfriend of Joanna Greenleaf, officially. And this was their first date.