//------------------------------// // Good Night // Story: Dare To Date // by Scyphi //------------------------------// It was as they started to arrive back at the school though, dimly lit now given the late hour but still no less impressive, that the solution suddenly struck her. And it was, ironically, the quite obvious and rather cliché option…but for once, cliché worked for her. She was in the middle of hurriedly working out how she wanted to set it up when Gallus actually did it for her without knowing, bringing to a stop at the school’s front doors. “Welp, here we are,” he remarked as he turned to look at her. “School again, school again, jiggity-jig or whatever.” Smolder chuckled and turned to face him, lit in the yellow glow of the school’s lights. “For real, though, Gallus,” she stated, “I’ve had a great time. I’m…really glad we got to do this. It’s been real fun…even if it hasn’t all gone as planned.” Gallus beamed at that but he also humbly nudged Smolder. “Well…I can’t take all the credit. You helped make that happen too, so…back ‘atcha, because I also had a good time. And hopefully we can do it all again real soon.” “Looking forward to it,” Smolder said before taking him by the shoulders. “But until then…there’s something I said I wanted to show you.” And without further delay, she kissed him on the beak. As kisses go, it wasn’t anything too elaborate, but as expected, that was mostly because Gallus’s beak wasn’t really built for a proper kiss, at least as she knew them. Smolder couldn’t even really get her tongue involved—his beak proved to be too impenetrable and Gallus, surprised as he was, didn’t really attempt to do anything to kiss back. Nevertheless, Smolder still gave it all she could, pressing her lips as hard as she could to where Gallus’s own lips would be, if he had them. And it must have been effective enough, because when she finally broke away, she saw Gallus’s ears had turned red again and his eyes grown wide. “Wow,” he murmured, stunned. “That was a kiss?” Smolder ducked her head a little sheepishly, but nodded with a grin, pleased by his reaction. “Basically.” “Whoa,” Gallus breathed. He took a moment to contemplate it for a moment longer, running his tongue along the edge of his beak. He then met Smolder’s gaze again and now he took her by the shoulders. “Guess I should return the favor, then.” He then proceeded to take his beak and nuzzle it along Smolder’s snout, alternating from side to side. He did so very gently, caressingly, in a clear show of affection so much so that, as alien as the loving motions seemed to be to her, there was still no doubt in her mind that this was the griffon version of kissing. She found herself relishing it and her heart beating faster than it had been when she kissed him. Finally, though, he pulled away leaving her feeling a bit stunned herself. “Wow,” she remarked. She then nudged him on the chest. “Okay, I gotta admit…you made nuzzling seem awesome just then.” Gallus beamed again at that, making Smolder giggle at the sight before pulling him in for one more hug which the griffon happily returned. Then as they broke apart again, Gallus pulled open the door to the school and held it open for her. “Well, on that note,” he remarked as she stepped inside and he moved to follow her, “I think that’s as good a place as any to end this on.” “Agreed,” Smolder said, who stretched, putting her claws on the small of her back and popping it, the heat of their shows of affection having suddenly drained the energy right out of her. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’m ready for bed now.” “Are you actually going to stay in your bed this time?” Gallus asked teasingly as they walked towards their dorms, “or am I going to wake up in the morning to find you’ve snuck into it again in the middle of the night?” “No promises,” Smolder replied back in the same tone and stuck her tongue out at him. “But I think, after everything we’ve done tonight, that won’t be a problem this time.” “You sure?” Gallus asked. “We could always just preemptively stick you in my bed now and be done with it.” Smolder shot him an amused but knowing look. “And here you spent all of this past week trying to get me to stop doing that.” Gallus rubbed the back of his head as they arrived at their dorm hallway. “Well, what can I say?” he finally offered with a sheepish shrug. “For someone who never seemed too big on snuggling before…you’re pretty nice to snuggle with.” Smolder snickered. “That’s sweet,” she said genuinely before turning sly. “Buuuut we better not do that. After that affectionate stuff we just did? Yeah, with the way I’m feeling right now, I’m not sure I can guarantee it stays to just snuggling, if you catch my drift.” She then waggled her eyebrows at him. It actually took Gallus a second to catch on, but when he did, his face flushed bright red again. “Uh, yeah, maybe not a good idea tonight then,” he admitted with a nervous chuckle as they stopped outside his dorm. “After all we did agree to hold off on…that…for now.” He jerked his head towards the door. “Besides, Sandbar’s probably in there. I…wouldn’t really want the audience for that anyway.” “Me neither,” Smolder agreed with an amused snort. “And don’t worry, feather butt, I won’t make you do anything like that until we both decide we’re ready. I think I owe you that much.” She leaned closer and poked a claw into his chest though. “But in the meantime, let’s do another one of these dates again real soon.” She rolled her eyes. “I know I spent most of it all worried about people seeing us and all that junk, but in the end? I had so much fun that I don’t think I care about that anymore.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks again for helping me through that, by the way.” “You’re more than welcome,” Gallus replied back sincerely, ruffling a paw through her purple crest. “I’m just glad I could help.” “Oh, you did, Gallus, you did,” Smolder assured, giving him a wink before turning and heading off for her own dorm. “Clearly, I made the right choice with you after all.” She stopped at her own door further up the hall before turning back and giving him a final wave for the evening. “Good night, feather butt!” “Good night, scale butt!” Gallus called back with his own wave. He watched her slip into her dorm and closed her door behind her before victoriously pumping his fist to himself, ecstatic that the date had gone as well as it had. When he entered his own dorm though, he was surprised to see Sandbar was still up, sitting at his desk and reading a comic book. “Hey, you’re back!” he said when the griffon entered, dropping his pannier bags in the corner. “How did it go?” “Good!” Gallus said as he back kicked the door closed again. Feeling light on his feet, he all but skipped his way over to his bunk bed. “Really, really, good, in fact! We’ve already agreed to go on another date!” “Well, congrats to the both of you!” Sandbar said, giving the griffon a pleased grin. “Glad to hear it’s working out.” Gallus plopped himself down on his mattress with a pleased sigh. “I’m sure you want to hear all about it now that I’m back though,” he remarked, shooting the pony a knowing look. But Sandbar shook his head. “Only if you want to,” he said. He rolled his eyes to himself then added, “But I’m sure Silverstream’s probably swamping poor Smolder with a hundred and one questions about it right now as we speak.” Gallus let out a snorting laugh. “Yeah, probably,” he agreed. He shrugged, though. “I think Smolder won’t mind so much, though. A lot happened that could use some sorting through, really.” Sandbar raised an eyebrow at that. “Okay, I’ll bite,” he admitted before glancing back at his comic book. “What do you mean by that?” “Well…most of it’s just the sort of affectionate stuff you’d expect on date. Heck, Smolder even kissed me good night, so…” “Wait, she did?” Sandbar interrupted, head jerking up. “Yeah,” Gallus said glancing his way then frowning. “Why, something wrong with that?” “Oh, no, no!” Sandbar quickly assured. “Like I said, I’m happy for you both! I’m just…” he bit his lip and refocused his attention again on his comic book, “…surprised? Yeah, surprised.” “Okay…” Gallus said slowly, confused, but decided to shrug it off, leaning back in his bed. He was only like that for a second though before a shrill, excited, shriek from several doors up from their dorm echoed through the walls and he bolted upright again. “The heck was that?” “Nothing,” Sandbar quickly assured, having shoved his snout even closer into his comic book until his whole head was almost hidden from view. “Just…remind me to give Sil five bits in the morning.”