FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 12

They awoke at nine to discover that they were the only ones still left inside the trailer. The others had already awoken, probably seen them cuddled up together on one of the long couches, and decided to leave them to it.
Gladiolus awoke first, though there wasn't much of a gap between them, and also discovered that a faint smell of bacon was wafting in through the slightly-open trailer door, so they'd started breakfast too. There was definitely bacon involved, somehow.
He stroked at Helena's shoulder, and her hand rose up to take hold of his as an answer, along with a contented sound.
Her head then lifted up shortly after. "Morning." She said with a slightly-sleepy look as well as a smile. "That time already?"
   "Morning. And yep, 'fraid so." He smiled back. "I'd love to stay here but they might come after us soon."
   "I'd really love to stay here." She whispered as her head dropped back down to kiss his chest.
He grinned. "Oh yeah?" She appeared to be...quite frisky?
  "Mm-hmm." She smiled as she carried on.
He rather liked the idea of that. He wanted to. But... "I doubt they'd leave us alone for that long. Hold that thought for later, though. Should find some time somewhere...specially as we all still need to grab that shower."
Her head came back up. "That sounds interesting."
   "Thought you'd like that."
   "Yeah." She still had a little bit of a pout, though.
He tapped it with his finger. "Put that away, there'll be time. You'll see. And then, we can do somethin' about..." He stopped talking as she caught the tip of his finger between her teeth on one of the taps, and his mind froze. God, this woman...
He quickly took the finger away and kissed her.
It turned fairly passionate within seconds, then happily carried on for about a minute or so until...
   "So!" Prompto poked his head round the trailer door, a huge grin on his face. "I've been voted to check in and see if you two lovebirds were plannin' on gettin' up today."
   "I'm up." Gladiolus said as they stopped kissing.
   "I...I'll believe ya, don't need to see that." He grinned. "There's bacon sandwiches with your names on- if you're not out here real soon, I'm gonna eat them myself."
   "You fuckin' won't. We're comin', okay?"
   "...don't need to see that, either." Prompto then quickly took his head away to avoid getting yelled at, and Helena and Gladiolus looked at each other for a second, then started laughing.
   "See what I mean?" Gladiolus said with a grin.
   "Sure do. Guess I'd better get up before I get too tempted." She leant up on her side and moved her hair, then crawled her way along to the bottom of the couch. Was a very nice view.
Gladiolus sighed, then smiled and also decided to get up.

   "So what's next?" Noctis asked as they all took a mug of coffee a few minutes later.
   "Chocobos." Prompto said.
   "Oh yeah...yeah, we did say we'd do that."
   "Gonna ride 'em round a bit?" Helena said around her last mouthful of sandwich.
   "That's right. And you said you'd join us."
She smiled. "I'm...yeah, I've not done it before."
Prompto grinned. "It's real easy, trust me on this. We'll soon get you up and racin'."
   "Racing? I don't think so." She laughed nervously.
   "Don't worry, you won't do the one with the hoops."
   "I'll see how I feel once I've actually learnt to ride."
   "You seem a little nervous." Noctis commented.
She paused. "...I can't talk to them."
   "You don't have to."
   "You mean you don't. I'm always a little jumpy around creatures that can't understand me...or don't want to."
Ignis smiled. "I suppose you feel a little out of your depth, as you've always been able to talk to creatures."
She nodded gratefully. "That's it, yeah."
   "Honestly, you'll be fine." Prompto nodded. "You'll wonder why you ever flapped at it. At least you like them."
Gladiolus looked at him. "Don't tell me you're still steamin' at Shiva not liking Chocobos. Tell me you're not."
   "...maybe I am. A little bit." He saw Gladiolus' exasperated look and tried to explain. "I just can't get my head round it, ya know? What's not to like? It's not as if one kicked her on the ass."
   "You might have to let that one go. At least we like them. That's all that really matters, right?"
He smiled. "Yeah, guess so. Just cos' she doesn't know what fun is. Screw her, right? We'll have plenty ourselves."
   "That's the way." Helena nodded. "I suppose you'd better show me how to ride one then...unless I can take a raincheck?"
   "Hell no. You're gettin' on one, missy."