Gallus sat down on one of the benches. Slowly, he knelt down to remove the armor pads off of his griffon claws. With a grunt, he pulled them forward in a quick snap of each of his four paws.
The other guards in the locker room were also stripping off their armor, the happy cacophony of the end of shirt.
“Ugh, what am I going to do?” he murmured as he pulled off his breastplate. He hadn’t even thought about a date yet.
His stomach rumbled, reminding him yet again about the upcoming dinner.
“What’s wrong, Gallus? Don’t you have a special lady waiting for you?” one of the pony guards teased, lifting their hoof against their mouth and snickered like he couldn’t see.
“Oh, I have a date!” he lied, struggling to get a firm grip on his helmet. He pulled, and pushed upwards. His head feathers were so sweaty, it was like the helmet had become a part of him. He kept tugging until finally, it popped off and rolled to the side.
Every single guard turned to laugh.
“What?” he asked, proceeding to stand up and go look into a mirror. He sighed, raking a claw over the top of his head. “Ugh, this is just what I needed!”
Gallus turned tail and headed to the locker room shower to get the sweat and grime off of him before the big guard mess hall dinner later on. At the very least, this was the one place he could think without interruptions or mockery.
He stepped into the shower, pulling a string that moved the curtains closed behind him. He reached for the soap and a scrub brush and began the long work on getting all the musk off of him.
“I have no idea what to do. Why did I wait so long?”
He remembered having a great time over Hearth’s Warming Eve with his friends, the friends he had made over the years. Tartarus, he’d even spared some time for his least favorite place of all, Griffonstone, but yet he hadn’t remembered this.
“I’m going to look like a total idiot if I don’t bring someone with me.” He groaned, hitting his talon against the back of the speckled shower wall. The water continued to pour down onto him. He had to think. Was there any creature he could ask at the last minute?
He finished cleaning up and got out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry his blue feathers off as quickly as he could manage without having to stop and fix each ruffled feather.
Gallus walked up to the mirror again, and this time, his deep blue hues saw a very handsome griffon that any creature would be honored to have a chance at.
Maybe I should ask the other guards for advice? No…they’re already laughing at me like I’m a total moron right about now…but who?
He walked out of the locker area from the guards to the main chamberhall of the Castle; he could see an empty throne off in the distance. He’d completely forgotten that every year, Twilight and Spike went to see their parents for Hearth’s Warming.
If there was a list for how many things he’d forgotten in the past few days, he’d have a list at least as tall as he was!
Silverstream came up from behind Gallus, tackling him from behind. Gallus groaned as he belly flopped right onto the floor.
“Ugh, a little warning would be nice.” He grunted, rubbing his shoulders as he gently pushed Silverstream off of him. He stood and dusted off his shoulder blades. “I did just get cleaned up after all. You should have seen me; I was a complete mess!”
Silverstream giggled.
“Oh, Gallus, I’m just excited to see you!” Silverstream proclaimed, wrapping both arms around him, and giving him a soft embrace.
“Silverstream, is there ever a time you aren’t excited to see any of us?” he asked, rolling his eyes.
She’s adorable, but she really needs to work on her timing. THE TIME!
“Hey, um…” Gallus mumbled, reaching a claw up behind the back of his head and scratching at his smooth head feathers. “What are you doing for Hearth’s Warming?”
“Anything and everything!” Silverstream replied, giggling and holding out a small wrapped present before shoving it right against Gallus’s chest floof.
“Silverstream,” Gallus muttered, “you do know you don’t have to get us all gifts every year, right?”
“Of course I know that!”
Gallus accepted the gift into his talons, and just stared at the fine wrapping job Silverstream had done. The box was beautifully ornate, a simple wrapping of green and red–a typical combo for Hearth’s warming–with a nice golden bow over the top.
“Silverstream…” He stumbled and stuttered over his words.
“Do you not like the box?” Silverstream pouted, putting her talons against her lips and hummed. “It’s what’s inside that’s the gift, not the box, you silly griff you!”
Gallus sighed. “Silverstream…” he said, puffing up his chest floof, standing tall and rigid– unmoving. “I don’t have a date for the guards dinner, and was wondering…”
“I’d love to go!” Silverstream said, wrapping both arms fully around Gallus and pulling him tightly against her body.
Gallus’s cheeks went as red as a fresh cherry plucked off the vines as he struggled to breathe against Silverstream’s chest floof and iron grip.
“Mmphm!”
Silverstream let go of him after a few minutes; he gasped for air and then proceeded to pull her in against him, leaning her top half down towards ground, his upper half against her form.
“This is the part where we kiss, right?” he teased her.
Silverstream’s cheeks turned pink. “Oh my, how scandalous!” she said, staring up at him, looking deep into his eyes.
Gazes locked, neither dared to breathe for a long moment. Gallus kept his ears perked for any sound of footsteps, or any audible laughing in the background. It was quiet as the two of them had the Chamberhall to themselves.
“You know, suddenly I’m more hungry for dessert than dinner,” Gallus teased her playfully, then lowering his face, which rubbed against her neck, and pretended to act like a real predator. The sharp notches of his beak grazed her fur.
Silverstream laughed and laughed in his arms, wriggling like a caterpillar climbing out of its cocoon to turn into a beautiful butterfly.
Gallus placed many soft and tender kisses up her neck until their beaks met. The two of them together, he wrapped his claw around hers and held her in that moment in time.
He leaned in beak to beak, and kissed her delicately. In response, Silverstream wrapped her other talon around his neck and pulled him in for a long, deep, loving kiss.
“Need air!” he gasped aloud, struggling to catch his breath.
“So, about that dinner? Do I have to wear anything special?” she asked him as she looked down to her pure pink fur. “Because I wasn’t prepared at all for being asked to a royal dinner with a really handsome guard!
Gallus shook his head. “I wasn’t prepared either,” he admitted to her.
“WHAT?” Silverstream gasped, taking a few steps backwards. “But you’re a guard! Aren’t you always supposed to plan for anything and everything?”
“Yeah, we are,” Gallus gruffed, looking at her. “It’s just I’ve been busy and sorta forgot about the dinner. I’d be lost without you by my side.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Silverstream jabbed him right in the side.
“Oww!”
“Yes, it’s a date. After the boring dinner is over, would you be up for some desert?” He winked at her.
“Oh? What kind?” Silverstream asked, bouncing up and down in place.
“Anything and everything.” He winked at her, licking his beak, and stroking his talons over hers.
Author's Note
Hey Athlon2736, if you are reading this right now, I hope you like your story. I just went with the first thing that came to mind, because breezie go brrrrrrrrr. I hope you like it, and let me know what else you'd like to see!
