It was the night before Flash’s big date and he was staying at the Sparkle household once more. As Flash was a well put together and mature stallion, he was calmly reviewing his plans for his date the next day in a productive and meaningful way.
Or at least that was how Flash saw it. From Shining’s perspective, Flash was in full panic mode and was doing laps around the first floor of the Sparkle household. His mane was splitting hairs and his eyes were pinpricks, as he described in very specific detail about how he was a failure and his date was going to sink faster than a stone in water.
Shining was seated at the dining room table with his mother, Twilight Velvet. He was reading up on very important Power Pony business in the latest issue of the long running series, and was failing at trying to tune Flash’s ramblings out.
Velvet for her part was calmly sipping at her lavender tea and using her considerable reserves of willpower to not laugh hysterically at Flash’s panicked antics.
On Flash’s umpteenth lap and monologue about how his date would be ruined by a falling meteor from the made up planet of Nark, Shining slammed his hooves on the table and stood up out of his chair.
“Flash, STOP.” Shining said in his ‘I am being very serious voice’.
Seeing as how Flash rarely listened to Shining even when he wasn’t panicking, Flash simply continued doing laps while going on a tangent about how his wings looked like a small foals and how they weren’t pretty enough for a stallion of such refined tastes as Cocoa.
Shining growled and readied to resort to physical force, but was stopped with a gentle touch on the shoulder by Velvet.
“Shining, I know you think you know what to do, but this requires a mother’s touch,” Velvet said warmly.
Shining reluctantly nodded and sat back down.
Velvet smiled and calmly stood up. She moved into Flash’s predicted path and, as he reared around the corner, punched him in the jaw with a right hook from her hind leg.
As Flash fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, Shining stood up and shouted in alarm, “Mom!”
Ignoring Shining, as she is also opt to do, Velvet looked down at Flash and offered a helping hoof, “Are you done now, sweetie?”
Flash blinked from his position on the floor. His jaw ached from the impact, but was otherwise fine. He took Velvet’s offered hoof and used it to help himself up. After the initial wave of dizziness, still the funnest state in Flash’s opinion, he turned to Velvet.
“You have an excellent right hook, ma’am.” Flash said genuinely impressed.
“Oh thanks, sweetie,” Velvet waved a hoof good naturedly, “Now, why are you so worried about your date, Flash? I thought everything was going fine?”
“Mom, he’s literally been-”
Velvet brought up a hoof, “Honey, I didn’t ask you,” Shining closed his mouth, “Thank you. Now, Flash.”
Flash fidgeted uncomfortably. “Well, I don’t think we’re well suited for each other.”
“And why do you think that?” Velvet asked concerned.
“Well,” Flash bit his lip nervously and then finally blurted out, “He’s so perfect! He owns a business and he has his shit together. I’m just a dorky, weirdo pegasus that can’t keep anything straight and next to him I just feel like I don’t measure up. At all. I mean,” Flash threw his hoofs up in exasperation, “Have you looked at him? He’s so perfect and awesome and great and has the best set of flanks I’ve ever seen and I look like a complete idiot next to that.”
Flash’s ears drooped and he whimpered.
Velvet smiled gently, “Now, Flash. I’m sure that’s not true. If he didn’t think you ‘measured up’, why would he go on a date with you in the first place?”
“...Pity?” Flash tentatively said.
“Flash,” Velvet narrowed her eyes, “He’s not dating you out of pity. Cocoa really doesn’t sound like somepony who would do that, if only because it would be far too much effort on his part.”
Flash made small circles in the floor with an idle hoof, “I guess so.”
“And really,” Velvet smirked, “Just from my perspective you are hot, strapping, young pegasus in the guard. If I wasn’t married, I’d tap that.”
“MOM!” Shining shouted, blushing furiously in tandem with Flash who, despite it coming from Shining’s mother of all ponies, was quite flattered.
“SHINING! SHINING!” Velvet shouted back, irritated, “Ugh, you and Nighty both. Don’t you see how annoying that is?”
Velvet turned back to Flash, “Now, sweetie. Stop worrying about something so silly as not being on Cocoa’s level. If he didn’t like you as you were, he wouldn’t go with you.”
Flash lifted his head a bit, “But he’s just so fancy.”
Velvet, upon seeing that Flash was not going to be so easily convinced, groaned, “Okay, fine. You know what? This is clearly a mistake you are going to have to make for yourself.”
Before Flash could interrupt, Velvet put a hoof to his lips, “Look. Do you want to learn how to be ‘fancy’?”
Flash shook his head rapidly in affirmative, while Shining groaned and Velvet sighed.
“Okay then. Let’s practice tonight, so you’ll be ready for tomorrow. I’ll handle getting you reservations for everything you’ll need. I’m sure I can pull a few strings. For now, we’ll start with something easy. Do you have something nice to wear?”
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Velvet had not realized how much effort teaching Flash basic manners would take. Flash showed an outstanding ineptitude for learning social graces. If he was part of the nobility, he would have caused enough ‘faux pas’ to collapse the entire institution and possibly cause a new record for ‘most fainting in the nobility’.
Actually, on second thought, Velvet felt it was a shame he wasn’t. She would have paid good bits to witness such an event.
After taking the entire night, and threatening Shining on multiple occasions that if he didn’t stop teasing Flash, Velvet would make him attend the next seven nobility dinners on behalf of the Sparkle household by himself, she deemed Flash semi-competent.
It would have to do.
Flash was once again standing outside of the Chocolate Print. It was a place he now frequently found himself at and a spot he was really starting to like. Flash was wearing the jacket Cocoa had bought him from the Night Market.
He wanted to wear his hoodie, but Velvet had taken one look at it and involuntarily screamed.
It had taken a large amount of effort to stop her from setting it on fire and then to stop her coerced son Shining Armor from assisting. Though, Flash wasn’t sure how much of it was ‘coerced’, as Shining had been smiling rather evilly while helping.
The end result was that Flash still had a slightly singed hoodie and looked nice for his date.
Cocoa stepped out of the store wearing a crisp, mauve jacket with a bright yellow bow tie. He looked stunning, and Flash fought the urge to let his tongue loll out of his mouth.
As Cocoa saw Flash waiting for him, Cocoa smiled brightly and trotted over, “Good evening, Flash. Glad to see you wearing the jacket I bought you.”
“Y-yeah, definitely,” Flash said nervously, “You ready to go?”
“Of course. I’ve been looking forward to this all week. Where are we heading?” Cocoa smirked, “Another mysterious destination?”
“Y-yep, not telling,” Flash grinned far too widely to be comfortable.
Cocoa just smirked and gestured with a tilt of his head to lead on.
Stiffly, in a pose that would have made the guard proud, Flash began trotting in the direction of the culture district with Cocoa following closely behind.
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Cocoa looked confused. He looked in several different directions, then back to the tall and imposing structure before him.
He turned to Flash, “The Canterlot Theater?”
“Yep!” Flash said excitedly.
Cocoa continued to stare at Flash, “I was unaware you even liked theater.”
“Pfft,” Flash waved a hoof, “Of course I do!”
Cocoa looked at Flash disbelievingly, “Which play did you get tickets for?”
“Uh,” Flash checked the tickets tucked in his front jacket pocket, “Hamlet.”
Cocoa blinked, “Hamlet?”
“Yep,” Flash said with certainty.
“The play that’s spoken in Old Equestrian, and is about political turmoil among crazed ponies where everypony dies at the end? That Hamlet?”
“...maybe?” Flash said with significantly less certainty.
Cocoa narrowed his eyes and tried to discern Flash’s true intentions. The joke was on Cocoa though, because Flash didn’t even know what his true intentions were.
“Alright then,” Cocoa finally said skeptically.
“Great! Let’s head in,” Flash said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.
Flash bounced on through the doors with a confused Cocoa following behind.
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Flash came to an important realization that night. He hated theater. The snacks were stupidly overpriced and tasteless. Old Equestrian was the worst language that Flash has ever heard, and he was not surprised in the slightest that nopony spoke it anymore. The seats were way too small and claustrophobic to the point that his wings were stuck next to his sides uncomfortably through the whole show with no way to stretch them out.
And, to make everything just that much more excruciatingly painful, the play was 4 hours long.
4. Bucking. HOURS.
Flash’s right eye had a noticeable twitch and his mane was dishevelled from the sheer need to escape. All he wanted to do was take off flying and hide in a bunch of clouds until he stopped wanting to burn the Canterlot Theater down.
He didn’t, though, as he liked Cocoa more than he hated theater.
And the building was made of stone, so it wasn't very flammable. It would have taken too much effort to burn down.
Cocoa looked bored, “Well, I suppose it was fun seeing Hamlet for the fourth time-”
Oh bucking dammit.
“-but I do so hope you have something more exciting planned?”
“Yep, dinner!”
Cocoa brightened up, “Oh and what fine establishment shall we be dining at?”
“The Ivy Yard.”
Cocoa frowned and just looked at Flash. Flash was starting to really hate that look.
“Why?”
“Why what?” Flash asked confused.
“You know what the Ivy Yard is, correct?” Cocoa said with a small amount irritation in his voice.
“Uh, yes,” Flash said hesitantly then with conviction, “I mean yes! I mostly certainly do. It’s a restaurant. A fancy restaurant.”
”And you still want to go there?”
“Yep.”
Cocoa angrily huffed “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.”
As Cocoa stomped in the direction of the restaurant, Flash smiled.
Flash thought the date was going great, even as he felt his eye twitch once more.
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It was at this point that Flash had his second important realization of the evening. Fancy restaurants suck.
The restaurant was, by far, the most extravagant place Flash had ever been outside of the palace. It was decorated with exotic and strange plants, an indoor fountain for no discernable reason then for what Flash presumed was after dinner bathing, and chandeliers that looked like they cost more than the entirety of Flash’s lifetime paycheck in the guard.
The server had taken one look at Flash as they trotted up to the stand, snorted, and directed them to a secluded, plant covered corner of the restaurant where none of the other patrons could see them. The table was ornately carved and covered with a floral patterned tablecloth and a number of utensils, half of which Flash had never seen before and could not begin to fathom their purpose.
In the opposite corner of the restaurant was a live band playing all the classics. ‘Classics’ meaning all of the songs Flash didn’t listen to because they distinctly lacked any guitar. And tambourines. Tambourines made all music better. Actually tambourines made everything better.
Flash could really use a tambourine at that moment.
The menu that had been placed in front of Flash. It had ten items on it, no descriptions or prices, and was in whatever language required a Ca Check on the e’s.
Cocoa, who looked like he was ready to keel over in boredom, ordered a menu item in perfectly fluent Ca Check language.
Flash picked an item at random, butchered the pronunciation, and tried to ignore the look from their waiter that very clearly stated what he thought of Flash being there.
The pair then waited in absolute silence. Cocoa stewing in no small amount of agitation, and Flash freezing in place and being incapable of forming words because he was so out of his depths.
He was beginning to think that maybe he had not thought this one through well enough.
Thankfully, the waiter soon returned with their meals. This thanks was very quickly revoked as Flash saw what exactly he had been served.
Salad was too big a word for whatever they gave Cocoa. It was the size of a single acorn with one piece of shaved carrot on the top. Even from several different angles, Flash wasn’t sure how it was a meal. Perspective clearly wasn't the issue.
Flash’s meal was… disconcerting. It was a salad of a surprisingly large portion, but was filled with black things. When he poked the stuff, it jiggled. Flash was concerned they were going to eat his face.
Not if he ate them first.
“Uh, so this looks,” Flash searched for a word, “scrumptious.”
Cocoa, who still looked irritated, quirked an eyebrow, “You sound so convinced.”
“That’s because I most definitely am.”
Cocoa idly pushed his leaf around the plate. Flash refused to recognize that amount of food as a meal. He did this, of course, without losing eye contact with his food because he wouldn’t let the face eaters win.
He liked his face.
“Right,” Cocoa deadpanned, “You know. I was expecting something more… you, for this evening.”
“Uh, what do you mean? This is me.” Flash nervously grinned.
Cocoa glanced at him, and shook his head, sighing, “You say that, but this seems rather forced. It's not really something I would have expected from you.”
“Nope,” Flash said sweating, “This is definitely what I like doing. I definitely like…” he gestured around the restaurant with a hoof, “this.”
Cocoa fiddled with the food on his plate then sighed dejectedly. He got up out of his seat and threw a small sum of bits on the table.
“Hey, wait,” Flash said panickedly, “What are you doing?”
Cocoa frowned, “As much as I would love to continue this…date,” Cocoa said with such utter disdain that made Flash think he maybe didn’t consider this one, “I have other matters to attend to tonight.”
“B-but we only just started!” Flash tried to recover, as more panic started to set in.
“I’m aware,” Cocoa said disappointedly, “And what I mean to say is that I don't really see a point in continuing.”
Cocoa sighed and gave Flash a sad smile, “Have a good rest of your evening, Flash.”
Cocoa trotted off, not looking back.
Flash slumped in his seat. He bucked up. He had thought he was doing great when all along he had been failing miserably.
He felt a few tears start to well up and he sniffled. He had found somepony he cared about and that cared about him for being him and he had messed up his one chance.
The worst part, was he didn’t even know how he’d screwed up.
Flash reflected back on his disaster of a date. He had done everything he thought Cocoa liked. Going to the theater and to a fancy restaurant. This was stuff Flash was sure Cocoa enjoyed.
But, did he really?
As Flash thought about it, Cocoa hadn’t really seemed to be enjoying himself this evening. Most of the time he seemed bored. Definitely not like when they went to the Night Market and the outdoor music festival. Those events had been spontaneous and surprising.
Rather like Flash really.
Flash recalled something that Velvet had said last night, If he didn’t like you as you were, he wouldn’t go with you.
Cocoa had agreed to date him because Flash was spontaneous and impulsive and, for Cocoa, interesting.
Fancy Flash was stiff, nervous and boring.
Oh buck, of course he wasn’t enjoying himself.
Flash groaned and leaned back in his seat. Why couldn't he learn these things when he was told instead of after he screws everything up?
As he looked up, he noticed that the ceiling was actually a glass dome and through it, saw the full moon beginning to rise.
Flash jolted out of his seat. He remembered a place. A beautiful place. Somewhere amazing and surprising and maybe enough to get Cocoa to want to give him another chance.
Flash shook himself and shed the last of his self pity. There was no time for that useless self pitying sad Flash. It was time for fun and spontaneous Action Flash.
And Action Flash was going to get out there and Find His Stallion!
“Your bill, sir.”
Flash jumped as the waiter appeared next to him. Right, the bill.
He grabbed the receipt and choked as he stared at the rather substantial number of bits at the bottom.
Thank Celestia that Cocoa paid for his share of the meal.
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After having paid the bill and vowing never to eat at that restaurant ever again, Flash burst through the doors of the building and took flight.
He scanned among the streets and soon found Cocoa below.
He had surprisingly not gone far.
Flash landed nearby and raced over. As he rounded in front of Cocoa, he felt a pang of guilt. Cocoa looked miserable and Flash realized that he was the source of it.
Well, that was fine because Flash was going to fix it.
“Hey, Cocoa,” Flash started nervously, “Um, how are you?”
The only hint that Cocoa had even acknowledged him, was a more pronounced frown.
Not a good start.
“Look, Cocoa, I’m sorry,” Flash hanged his head in remorse.
At Cocoa not responding, Flash figured he probably needed to explain, “Look I know tonight wasn’t really me. I was boring and that’s not like how I usually am,” Flash felt his ears droop, “I didn’t really mean to though. I just really liked you and I wanted to impress you by showing how I liked all the things you did. I guess I just felt like maybe I didn’t wasn’t,” Flash gulped, “Worth it.”
Finally, Cocoa looked up. Flash was hopeful until he saw Cocoa’s expression.
He was pissed.
“Worth it?” Cocoa snarled, “WORTH IT?!”
Flash leaned back from the sheer ferocity of Cocoa’s words, “Um, yes?”
Cocoa growled. He grabbed his head in frustration, and then followed that up by strangling the air with his bare hooves. Flash was quite glad he wasn’t being strangled like the air in that moment.
Cocoa took a deep calming breath, “Flash, if I wanted to date somepony who did everything I liked and would go where I wanted to, I would have dated one of the many floozies who walked through the doors of my store just to ogle at me.”
“...but I am one of those Floozies.” Flash said meekly.
“Yes, but you were one of the better ones.”
“Oh,” Flash frowned at the use of the word ‘were', “Guess I bucked that up too.”
Cocoa sighed, “Flash, just…I really don’t want to deal with this anymore. You clearly came here for something more than apologizing to me. What is it?”
Flash flinched at Cocoa’s cold tone, but pressed on, “Well, I was hoping I could fix our date, and maybe start over?”
Cocoa glared, “Really? And what exactly gives me any guarantee that this would be any different from earlier?”
“Well, first of all because I found out I really hate theater and fancy restaurants. They are all terrible places.”
That brought out a bale of helpless laughter from Cocoa, which was enough to spur Flash on.
“And because I won’t do what I think you want to do, I’ll do what I know you want to do.”
Cocoa was silent as he considered Flash’s words, “And what exactly is that?”
Flash smirked, “It’s a surprise.”
Cocoa snorted, “I really can’t resist a good surprise. Alright, I will give you one more chance,” as Flash did a victory hoof pump, Cocoa added, “But this is your last chance. You have officially reached the end of the leash as it were.”
Flash nodded. He didn’t even care. He had a chance and that was enough.
“Well,” Cocoa waved a hoof, “Lead on ya floozie.”
Flash grinned and trotted off with Cocoa by his side.
This time, he would do things right.
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Flash had ended up taking Cocoa to an overhanging bluff on the edge of Canterlot. They were sitting on a bench that had been set up with a perfect view of a gaping black hole in the Canterhorn mountain.
Cocoa had been skeptical, but Flash had assured him that something amazing would happen.
Both were enjoying ice cream cones from a night vendor Flash had spotted on the way. Flash had insisted that they stop there as he needed actual food and something that wouldn’t eat his face. Hopefully.
It was silent in their corner of the city. Nopony else was around and only the dim lights of the street lights nearby and stars above illuminated their spot. The full moon, marred only by the constant that was the Mare in the Moon, was high above them, making its way through the sky.
Cocoa took a large bite of his chocolate mint ice cream and finished it off, “As much as the ice cream is delicious, that isn’t really enough to redeem you for tonight. I also don't see how this is the ‘best spot in Canterlot’.”
Flash chuckled, “No, it's the best spot in Canterlot during a full moon.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A lot actually.”
“Your not going to tell me anything are you?”
In response, Flash grinned and took his last bite of mango ice cream. Unfortunately, part of it had gotten on his snout and Flash was feebly trying to lick it off with his tongue while Cocoa giggled at his struggles.
“Need some help?” Cocoa said grinning.
“Nah, I got this. No ice cream can get the best of Flash Sentry.”
Flash finally managed to reach the ice cream, but it fell off his snout and landed on the ground with a soft splat.
Cocoa howled with laughter as Flash whimpered dejectedly at his lost morsel.
“That was the saddest thing that’s happened all night,” Flash said morosely.
“THAT’s the saddest thing?” Cocoa smirked, bemused.
“Hey, I’ll have you know that there is nothing sadder than dropped ice cream,” Flash looked to the sky and noticed the moon reaching its pinnacle height, “Oh, oh, yes! Almost time. So, make sure you’re watching the deep cavernous hole of darkness. You do not want to miss this.”
Cocoa rolled his eyes and looked toward the gaping hole.
It was a few minutes more until the moonlight finally shone from above and reached the crevice.
Slowly, but with increasing force, a myriad of bright, glittering colours burst forth from the dark hole. Like a wave, it washed over the mountain side and created a spectacular display of lights. A moment more and a harmonic note sprang forth. It was followed by many more as it created a naturally occurring symphony of sound that played in tandem with the lights.
It was, to put it far too simply, stunning.
“...How?” Cocoa said awestruck.
“There are crystal caverns inside of the Canterhorn,” Flash whispered so as not to ruin the moment, “when the moon is full and it reaches its height, the light reflects off the crystals making this effect.”
Both stallions fell into silence. He didn’t know when it happened, but Flash found himself leaning into Cocoa, and Cocoa into him. Flash took a deep breath and enjoyed the moment for what it was.
Inevitably, the lights and sounds faded away as the moon continued its course, but long past that, Flash and Cocoa stayed together.
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Flash wasn’t sure how he’d managed it, but he was sitting at Cocoa’s dining room table sipping hot chocolate.
Cocoa’s house was situated in a wealthy district only a few blocks away from the Sparkle household. It was a three story building built in a timeless style of ornate floral patterns.
The rooms inside were decorated with aged and elegant pieces of furniture and every wall and shelf was decorated with various items and images, but done so in a way that didn’t feel like clutter.
Cocoa was seated across from him with his own cup of cocoa; a fact that Flash found amusing.
Both hadn’t said anything, but Flash felt that they didn’t need to. He could feel that things were different, but he did wish that one of them would voice it. It was a little nerve wracking not knowing quite where they stood with each other.
Cocoa took a sip from his cup, “It’s getting late,” Flash noticed the time on a nearby hanging clock and realized that it was long past what would be considered a proper time of the night, “Do you need help getting home?”
Flash was a little disappointed that Cocoa’s first words were about how he could leave, “Oh, right. Home. No, I should be fine. I’m sure Night Light is probably still awake.”
Cocoa frowned, “Night Light?”
“Shining’s dad.”
“You live with Shining?”
“No, Shining’s parents,” Flash corrected, “They let me stay there since I don’t have my own place.”
Cocoa looked at Flash with surprise and a touch of concern, “Why ever not?”
“Well the barracks are always open to us, but no one ever stays on base over the weekends and I don’t really like staying somewhere with nopony in it,” Flash shrugged, “And there’s no way I could afford a place in Canterlot by myself. Not unless I want to live in the poorer districts and that’s not really a good idea.”
Cocoa frowned in thought, “Do you not have family living nearby?”
“Well, there’s...”
And Flash stopped. Not because he couldn’t answer, but because he didn’t want to.
He cared about Cocoa, dare he say possibly even loved, but he wasn’t ready to see him with the look. Pity, judgement, anger, he wasn’t in the mood for it. Not from anypony.
Definitely not from Cocoa.
Only Shining knew, and he only knew out of necessity because Shining needed to trust him and Flash needed to trust Shining. They were best friends, and Shining more than proved it over and over. When he had told Shining, there were no looks or empty words just a quiet acceptance and a quick hug.
He even went with Flash’s ridiculous scheme that involved him dressing himself up in lipstick and a cocktail dress for parent’s day.
“...No one,” Flash finally said, “No one I would care to think about, at least.”
And Cocoa looked at Flash. It wasn’t a look of observation. It was a look that spoke volumes about what wanted to ask. A hundred questions that Flash couldn’t answer. Wouldn’t answer.
Not now at least.
After a time, Cocoa finally settled on one.
“Do you want to stay here? With me?”
Flash blinked, “Here? As in with you? In this house?”
Cocoa just looked at Flash with the question still echoed on his face.
Flash hesitated. Did he really want to move to this step? Wasn't that a little too fast? He’d already flubbed a date and only just barely managed to make a recovery. Did he really want to stress his relationship with Cocoa this much early on? Tartarus, they hadn’t even said they were Colt Friends yet and he was being offered to move in with him.
He thought hard about what he wanted and found the answer came fairly easily.
“Yes. That would be great.”
Cocoa grinned and stood up. “Good, then that’s settled,” Cocoa let out a large yawn, “Now if you don't mind I would like to get some sleep.”
“Cool, so where do I sleep?”
Cocoa just looked at Flash as if he had missed the most obvious thing, “With me of course. I thought that would have been obvious.”
Flash’s fur went bright red. He was not prepared for this.
“Y-y-y-y-your bed? W-w-with you?” Flash squeaked.
Cocoa snorted, “Yes. I believe that is what I explicitly just said.”
“O-oh, um, okay then.”
“Well, come on then,” Cocoa smirked, and at least to Flash, seemed to be enjoying his suffering, “I’ll show you to the bedroom.”
Flash squeaked in response. Still a brilliant shade of red and stiff as a board, Flash got out of his seat and followed Cocoa up two flights of stairs.
On the way up, Flash took notice of the photographs and paintings that lined the wall. One noteworthy picture was of a younger Cocoa standing with Steel Bastion and a mint green pegasus.
Flash was curious, but he didn’t want to pry. At least, not while he was trying to keep his… everything under control and trying to not think about sleeping next to Cocoa, because buck, he was going to be sleeping in the same bed as Cocoa.
Cocoa’s room, surprisingly, was very simple compared to the rest of the house. There was one large bed and a closet filled with clothing. Flash thought it could do with some more polka dots though. A pony could never have enough polka dots.
With no preamble, or even a simple good night, Cocoa yawned, took off his clothes and climbed into bed.
In less than a moment, Cocoa was laying on his side and soft snoring could be heard from Flash’s position at the bedroom door.
That bucker had went to sleep without him.
Flash was now stuck with a the very awkward choice of where the buck did he sleep? They were clearly dating now; Cocoa hadn’t said anything, but Flash was going to take the whole sleeping in the same bed as a pretty obvious indicator.
This didn't really make the decision any easier since what exactly was okay? Could he just sleep anywhere? Was he supposed to take only one side and stay on just that side? Was cuddling possible? Could that be possible? Flash really wanted that to be possible. Oh sweet Celestia, could they do the most sacred of couple activities and spoon each other in their sleep?
This was way too much of a complicated and nuanced situation for Flash to figure out in the wee hours of the morning, and probably not something he could have figured out even with Cocoa’s help at a more appropriate hour.
So, Flash did what he did best.
He said ‘buck it’, stripped and went for glory.
In record time, Flash had shucked off his jacket and wedged himself in between Cocoa’s hooves for optimal cuddling. If Cocoa had a problem with it, he could move Flash himself.
Cocoa, subconsciously or not, drew Flash in closer until Flash found his muzzle directly in Cocoa’s fur and his head wedged just underneath. Flash, as the gentle pony he pretended to be, wrapped his hooves and wings around Cocoa's barrel and desperately tried to drift off to sleep instead of thinking about his colt friend’s other bits.
This caused Flash to stop.
He had a Colt Friend.
Flash found himself dwelling on the words. He twisted it around in his head and decided that it was possibly the best term ever conceived. Even better than the word euphoric.
He took a deep breath and got a whiff of Cocoa’s fur. The scent was faint. Barely noticeable. He wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for him being muzzle deep in Cocoa’s fur, but he smelled like chocolate. Of course Cocoa smelled like chocolate.
Flash didn’t really care though, because it was warm and comfortable. It was everything he wanted, no needed, and he had never felt happier than in that moment.
Finally, with the scent enveloping him and the calming sound of Cocoa's beating heart, Flash drifted off to sleep.