#zukemay

"Remember Zuke! It's in two weeks!" 

"Yeah, Friday, right?"

Mayday nodded with a big smile on her face as Zuke checked the calendar, specifically the day Mayday circled in red and drew a smiley on. It didn't say anything other than "6pm".

"Sooo are you gonna tell me what we're doing that day, or…?" 

Mayday pressed her index finger on his lips, subsequently shushing him. 

She shook her head, still smiling.

"Nope! It's a surprise!"

...

Zuke had no idea what to expect. Anytime Mayday had a "surprise", she meant it. They've been together for years and somehow she still found new ways to catch him off guard. In a good way, usually. It was one of the things he loved about her, honestly.

He liked to think he was a patient man, but this "surprise" did have him a bit on edge. Not because he was afraid for himself, or because he didn't trust May, it was just… he wasn't sure.

May had been acting weird lately. It was almost like she was worried about this thing she planned more than he was. She was determined not to let him know anything. 

Zuke lost track of how many times he walked in while she was on the phone with someone, only for her to abruptly end the call as soon as she noticed him. Or for her to hide something from his line of sight just before he could make out what it was.

She was away from home more often than not, coming home late at night, leaving early in the morning.

Yes, morning. Mayday. Waking up and leaving the house at 5am. Willingly.

Zuke didn't even know that was possible. Before this, she always woke up at, like, 11am. Mayday wasn't a morning person. 

Until now, apparently.

It was starting to freak him out a bit. 

It was worrying to see her so.. Stressed. 

To see her stressing herself out, and absolutely forbidding Zuke to help out. Even a little bit.

Once again, he was home alone. Well, maybe not entirely alone, Ellie was there, after all. But he was still worried.

The alligator was laying her head on his lap, the both of them on the couch. 

He scratched Ellie's scaly head, earning a purring-like sound from the happy reptile. 

"May's been out a lot lately, huh? Wonder what she's doing."

He spoke to the alligator, which only huffed in reply, clearly not caring about anything that wasn't related to being petted at the moment. 

He was pulled from his thoughts as he heard the familiar sound of Mayday's phone ringing and buzzing.

What the-? She… left it here? She must have forgotten it.

He gently pushed Ellie away, the alligator made her displeasure known with various loud huffs.

"Yeah yeah, I know Ellie, but I gotta get up. Sorry girl." He murmured sweetly. Ellie already lost interest and retreated to her room in the sewer.

 Zuke stood up and stretched, multiple joints popping from not having moved in a while.

He followed the sound of Mayday's ringtone to the kitchen, finding it resting on the counter. She probably forgot it when she ran out in a hurry that morning.

He thought about just letting it ring, as it probably wasn't his business, until he saw who was calling.

The contact read "DK West".

He couldn't help but tense up at that.

West? 

West?? 

Why was his brother calling Mayday of all people?? 

Sure, he and his bro were on better terms now, and Mayday got along a little bit with him, but as far as he was aware, the two rarely talked. Especially when he wasn't there.

The phone stopped ringing, timed out at the lack of response. 

Ok. Sure. West calling May was a bit weird, but it was probably nothing too important.

Zuke shrugged.

Just as he turned away to walk back to the couch, the phone rang again.

Once again, it was West.

Okay. Now he had to know what was going on. 

Zuke picked up May's phone, tapping the green icon to answer and holding it to his ear.

"Iah! Missy! Where you been? Why you no answer my texts, eh? You still want the-" 

"West?" Zuke interjected a little too quickly. 

There was a gasp on the other side.

"Z-Zukey! Brotha! What eh.. Why do you have little Missy's phone?" West sounded nervous, clearly caught off guard by Zuke answering the phone.

"She left it here at home. Why?" Did West know where May was running off to?

"O-Oh! Don't worry about that! It's nothing. Later Zukey!" 

"Wait, West-!"

*click*

"Aaaannd, he hung up. Great."

Zuke was a little tempted to check May's texts to see what West was referring to, but decided that would be too much of a breach of privacy. Not to mention, she recently changed her phone's password lock, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't.

He sighed.

Guess he just had to wait until May came home.

…

Zuke stirred awake from his nap as a familiar scraping noise reached his ears. He sat up on the couch, realizing he dozed off while watching TV. He could hear the manhole cover above him being opened and closed, and he heard someone coming down the ladder.

Looking behind him, sure enough, it was May. He glanced at the clock, 9:00 p.m. at least she was home earlier this time.

"Hey May."

She jolted when she heard her partner's voice call her name, but quickly recovered.

He couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart seeing her be startled by him. 

"Hey there Zuke! Just a sec!"

She bolted past him, closing the door to their shared bedroom behind her. Zuke tapped his foot patiently.

A few minutes later, she emerged, dressed in comfy clothes.

She plopped down on the couch next to Zuke. A tired huff escaping her lips.

Seeing her up close, Zuke's chest tightened at her condition.

Bags under her eyes, red face, like she'd been running outside all day. Her hair was barely held up in its usual braids and ponytails, the majority of her golden locks sticking out every which way.

Zuke gently put a hand on her shoulder, she gazed at him with tired, half-lidded eyes.

"May… please. I know you're putting your all into… whatever. But try to slow down a bit, okay? You're running yourself ragged."

He pleaded gently, wrapping his arms around her.

She yawned.

"M'fine Zuke.. 'S all done.." She mumbled into his neck. "Mmm… sleepy.." She murmured almost inaudibly as she started drifting off. 

Zuke let her stay there. He gathered her in his arms, and laid back with her on the couch. She snuggled into him, laying her head on his chest. It didn't take long for her to start snoring. 

He rubbed her back. He had so many questions, but.. He'd wait for her. She clearly needed this.

…

As the days went by, May seemed… anxious, to say the least. But she still wouldn't tell Zuke anything.

Just two more days.

…

The days came and went. The day Mayday had planned was here.

To start, she dressed up a bit more than usual. Not super fancy, but still a little more formal than her usual style.

Zuke couldn't lie, she looked lovely.

She wore a red dress that reached just above her knees, a black leather jacket, and sneakers. Because she'd "rather die than wear heels". As she's said in the past.

He also noted that she had her guitar at the ready. The one Tatiana gave her. He brought his drumsticks just in case.

Seeing May dressed up made Zuke feel the need to do so as well. It was hard to decide what to wear since he still didn't know where they were going, but he tried anyway.

He settled on wearing a button up shirt, a black jacket, and wore his nicer pair of black pants and shoes. 

May led him to the Ellicopter pad. They both got in the vehicle, and May cheerily yelled out to Ellie. 

"Okay girl! You know where to go!"

The blades of the copter whirred to life, and they lifted off the ground, flying over the beautiful neon lights of Vinyl City.

Zuke watched the ground below. Still wondering where they were going.

They flew a bit outside of town, and he noticed that they were approaching the beach. The evening Sky lit up in Hues of pink and orange and dark blue. The scene before them became more clear as they got closer.

It looked like a venue of sorts. 

Soon they landed a bit away from the scene, but it didn't take long to walk towards it. Stepping onto the beach, he could finally get a good look at everything.

To put it simply, he was in awe.

Tables set up with decorated candles, string lights hanging along the palm trees, a show stage with spotlights was set up, ready to use. There were little food carts and grills off to the side, emitting quite frankly delicious Aromas.

Strewn about the scene where statuettes that he usually recognized were made by Eve. Many of them had a sort of ocean and heart theme. 

There were quite a few people here as well. But he realized that the majority of them were people he and May knew.

Yinu and her mother were on the stage, piano at the ready. Eve was seated by Tatiana at a table, she appeared to be sketching something or other while they talked. Sayu's team were chatting by the food carts.

And, to his surprise, even West was there.

Speaking of, his brother quickly noticed them, and yelled out to gain the attention of everyone at the gathering. 

He bounded up to the two of them, while the others seemed to scatter to do various tasks.

"Ewah! Zuke! Missy!" He slung an arm around each of them. "Glad to finally have you two here! So, Zuke, what do you think?"

Zuke paused, still amazed at the sight before him.

"This is… amazing." He breathed.

West beamed.

"Well you have the little missy here to thank for it. Was her idea, after all."

He let go of the two, allowing them to focus on one another.

"May.. Is this what you were working on?" She smiled and nodded.

"I had help, but yeah!"

Her orange skin seemed to glow under the string lights and her pink eyes beamed at him, elated.

"There's more, but first, let's grab some grub!" She cheered, grasping his wrist and pulling him towards the various foods available. After they both got a plate of food, they sat across from each other at a table to eat.

"Mayday, this is… thank you so much, but what's the occasion? You went all out on this."

She averted her gaze, red dusting her cheeks. "I'll explain later. Promise." 

Zuke nodded.

They spent some time eating, but it didn't take long for Yinu to start playing songs on her piano. Music elevating the mood even more, May stood and walked around the table, until she was within arms reach of Zuke.

She extended a hand to him.

"At the risk of sounding super cheesy, wanna dance with me?"

Zuke couldn't help but laugh a bit, but he took her hand nonetheless.

"Sure, if you promise not to throw me into a table again." 

May responded by swiftly elbowing him in the side and pouting as she responded with "Hey! That only happened once!" Which only made him chuckle at her antics.

He put one hand on her shoulder, and held the other. May used her free hand to hold his waist. 

He followed her lead as they stepped in various directions, she spun him every now and then.

He looked around and saw a few others dancing too. Nadia was doing one of her graceful interpretative dances to the piano tunes. West appeared to be trying to join her, and failing, much to Zuke's amusement. (Yeah, they were on good terms, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't laugh at West embarrassing himself. Besides, West should know that flirting with Nadia wasn't going to work.) 

He snorted when Nadia elegantly spun and kicked West resulting in him falling on his ass. 

May raised a brow at him, "What are you laughing at?" She quizzed. 

Zuke leaned in to whisper into her ear, "Turn around." He chuckled. 

May, curious, guided their dance until they swapped places. Now able to see what Zuke had been. 

She snickered when she saw DK West attempting to imitate Eve's movements, her ears perked up when Zuke whispered again. "Wait for it.." He murmured.

She kept her eyes on DK and Eve, after noticing Eve getting progressively more annoyed at DK's antics.

Eve glared intently at DK as he continued to (poorly) copy her.

Then suddenly, she swept his leg and he fell with a loud -THUMP- and she sauntered off. 

May howled in laughter. She buried her face into Zuke's chest to muffle the sound of her laughing and occasionally snorting. He could feel the vibrations of her laughter reverberate through his chest. Like her joy was being poured into him.

Eventually she freed herself from Zuke's torso. 

They put their foreheads together, smiling softly as their eyes met. Their dance slowed as the rhythm of Yinu's song slowed.

Now that they were moving at a more leisurely pace, Zuke focused on Mayday.

Her eyes were closed, temporarily concealing her pink flower-like pupils. The string lights above and around them gently bathed her in a warm glow. 

Then she opened her eyes, her beautiful, warm eyes, and smiled. 

1010 was right, her smile truly was radiant, and could leave almost anyone stifled. 

"I can't believe we're actually doing this." May laughed.

Zuke, too, started chuckling. "I know. Never thought you'd be the type to take me slow dancing."

Mayday spun him, then they returned to their previous dance. "Yeah, well, it's a special occasion." She playfully shrugged.

Zuke raised a brow at this, a smile plastered on his face. "Still building up the suspense, huh?" 

Suddenly, she yanked him at an angle, and before he knew it, she dipped him. 

Her face so close to his, her arm keeping him from falling, hell, the smirk and the mischievous look in her eyes, all made Zuke flush. His face a deep shade of blue as he looked up at her wide-eyed.

"You bet!" She winked.

...

They danced for a little bit longer, but eventually had to stop as Zuke's legs started acting up. Sharp stabbing pains shot through his leg muscles. Damn legs always failed him at the worst times.

Before his legs could give out entirely, May helped him sit at a table and made sure he was ok. When he reassured her that he was fine, and had his medication at hand, she smiled and stood tall.

She turned to face the stage, made eye contact with Yinu and her mother, and nodded.

Was that a signal?

"Stay here, okay? I'll be back." She instructed, distracting Zuke from thinking about it further.

She smiled at him, but her smile had… changed. Zuke wasn't sure, but she suddenly seemed kinda… nervous?  

Once again, a distraction appeared to prevent him thinking about it.

He felt the weight of the table bench shift slightly, he turned to see a familiar pink and white face.

"Hey Nadia." 

"Hello Zuke."

Though she wasn't smiling, he could tell she was glad to see him. He was glad to see her too.

She eyed him. Her green perceptive eyes scanned him top to bottom. 

"Are your legs pestering you again?"

He sighed and nodded in defeat. 

"Yeah, it sucks. I was actually enjoying dancing too."

She hummed.

"Do you need anything?"

"Would you grab some water for me?" She nodded and retrieved a glass of icy water.

He took his pills and washed them down with the cold drink. Good thing he didn't leave them at home.

"Thanks Nadia." He smiled gently. She only nodded.

A pause hung over them briefly. 

"I noticed your sculptures, they're nicely done. I haven't seen you do anything nautical themed in a while."

"Yes.. The pedest- er, Mayday, requested them. She did.. attempt to help make a few with me, however… that proved to be.. Not very helpful." Nadia's face twisted into a frown.

Zuke chuckled. He could imagine May probably breaking some sculptures while trying to help. She tended to be a magnet for chaos, if not the cause of it.

"It was… kind of her to try, at least." Nadia hesitantly added. Clearly she still had trouble getting along with Mayday, but she was making the effort.

Zuke chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like May. Speaking of.." He glanced around. Still no sign of her.

"Do you know what's going on with her? It's not like I don't appreciate all of this or anything, but she's been acting… off. Jumpy. It's like she's nervous, or something."

"She's fine." Nadia almost snapped, her response so quick and certain Zuke was stunned into silence.

Nadia sighed, and put a hand on Zuke's shoulder. "She is fine, I assure you. Just… try to enjoy yourself. It's what she wanted for you. Don't let all of this," she vaguely gestured at the environment around them, "go to waste."

Zuke sighed, "Yeah, you're right. I just worry about her."

"Of course," Nadia reaffirmed. 

Before they could change the subject, the stage's speakers rang with Mayday's voice.

"Hey everyone! It's time!" She exclaimed.

As if it was practiced, the other guests took their seats at a table of their choice, and Nadia moved to sit with Tatiana.

Which left Zuke alone at his table.

Looking back towards the stage, Mayday adjusted the microphone stand, as Yinu prepared her piano behind May.

She scanned the area, and her eyes locked on Zuke. Her face lit up, and she pointed at him.

"Zuke! This is for you!" She proclaimed.

His eyes widened, and a blue blush tinged his green cheeks.

May looked back at Yinu, the girls nodded to each other, and their song began.

Rock and classical mix in an elegant energy as May's guitar strums along with Yinu's piano. A combo Zuke never expected from his partner, moved him so quickly, yet so gently.

The music swayed him into a trance, all else faded, it was just him, the music, and May..

Flourishes of warm orange, gold and pink.

The beat swelled up and dropped down, he closed his eyes, taking in the high energy harmony. A mix of familiar and new.

Mayday's radiant energy and warmth, but also her softness. 

It soared above all else, carrying him with it. The guitar got louder and louder. He could feel the song was going to end soon, doing one last swing up. Louder.

He creases his brow, it sounded closer. He opened his eyes to see May playing Kul Fyra's guitar right in front of him. 

The music elegantly dropped and faded out. Quiet pulled over. 

May smiled at Zuke as he gazed at her in awe. Her smile was gentle, loving.

"Zuke.." She slung the guitar by its strap to rest it on her back. She stood directly in front of him, leaning forward slightly.

She gently took his hands in hers. Her flower-like eyes locked with his ruby ones. Her warmth seeped into Zuke's skin. "You have been… the best partner I could ever ask for. You're calm and cool, but also passionate and smart. You stood by my side, even when no one else did, you forgave me when I didn't forgive myself.."

He felt her squeeze his hands, his eyes still wide. Her voice wavered.

"You never made fun of me when I did something strange or silly. You understand my love of rock better than anyone. I learn so much when I'm with you.. I.." She took a breath, "I love you so much, Zuke.."

"I love waking up with you, I love playing music with you, I love doing shows and hearing you drum away.. I want to do this with you for the rest of my life. My life is just… better when you're in it."

She took a deep, shaky breath. Her hands pulled away from his. He almost reached for her with his eyes welling up, but he stopped himself. Barely.

"Zuke.."

She reached into her jacket pocket, and slowly got down on one knee.

Zuke's breath caught hard in his throat, and he held a closed fist to his mouth. His vision blurred a little.

Mayday pulled out a small box, holding it delicately in her hands, and looked back up at Zuke, her own eyes welling up.

She opened the box, revealing a ring. A clean silver band with an emerald centered on top, and two smaller rubies on each side of the emerald. 

"Zuke.. Will you marry me? Be my bandmate for life?"

Zuke's eyes flooded with tears, he was unable to hold them back. Overrun by sheer joy, he nodded. 

"Yes!"

Mayday beamed. "Y-you will!?"

Zuke lunged forward, practically tackling her to the ground in a hug.

"Yes! I'd love to!" 

Mayday and Zuke wrapped their arms around each other, and their lips met, both shedding tears.