By Grace

by TheAmazingMe

Chapter 10: Grace is Enough Part 2

As the game got underway, it soon became clear just who really were the most competitive of the two couples. Life and Div had talked a good game, but Grace and Juri unexpectedly ended up making the riskier plays. Grace became a total dive master, saving a number of shots from hitting the sand or going out of bounds. Juri somehow found himself in the right place nearly every time.

"Oh, and it's Juri with another astounding save!" Div said, chortling as the ball landed just beyond Life's reach. "Tell you what, we'll give you guys the serve this time. Maybe you can get some points now."

Life grabbed the ball in his magic and floated it over to Grace. "Well, the score is evened up nicely. The back and forth action has been non-stop but this is the final point. Whichever team makes it wins the game. And it's up to Grace to grace us with an amazing serve!" Life replied, using his best commentator voice.

Grace took the ball in hoof. Inhaling deeply, he opened his eyes and stared down the earth ponies on the other team. He served the ball up and towards the back corner of the opposing field. Div was on it quickly, knocking it just over the net. Life had him scouted and popped the ball up for Grace to spike over. Juri was just in the right place again, he deflected the shot and knocked it just back over too far for either Life or Grace to reach.

Caught up in victory, Div hugged Juri tightly. For his part, Juri stiffened up like a board. Sensing his overreach, Div quickly released the other earth pony and made his way around the net to gloat to Life. Grace walked calmly around the net and set his hoof on Juri's shoulder, who tensed but then relaxed.

"Well, you guys are certainly impressive!" Div admitted, finally.

"Yeah, definitely. I hope you don't think us rude, but we've got a lunch reservation up on the boardwalk. Hope to see you around; you guys are great!" Life said as he turned tail and grabbed the beach ball in his green aura. Div waved and followed Life up the beach.

"I'm sorry, was that too much?" Grace asked, worried for his coltfriend.

Juri closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It was just a little over-stimulating. I need to breathe and slow down. Maybe I could dip a hoof in the water. The waves would help with the breathing exercises."

They stood on the shoreline, the water just lapping over their hooves.

"You, uh. You are taking your medication, right?" Grace asked, suddenly struck by the realization he hadn't actually seen Juri take care of himself.

"I'm handling it, Grace. I don't want to have another episode. And I won't with you around." Juri said, smiling wider than Grace had seen him do so far. Opening his eyes, Juri pranced around to face Grace, his back to the sea and his hooves in deeper water. "So, are we going to have fun on this vacation or what?"

Without waiting for an answer, Juri kicked up a spray of water that caught Grace full on the face. Spluttering, Grace shook his head and then locked eyes with Juri. "Oh, it's going to be like that, eh?" Grace asked, challengingly.

Turning away, Juri feigned a retreat for a second before bucking a wave over Grace's head. "Catch me if you can!"

The two played and roughhorsed around in the surf until they started to tire. Returning to their towels to sprawl out, Grace turned to Juri just to watch the other stallion. After a moment, Juri's red face reddened more. "You're staring at me."

Grace shrugged before answering. "That I am."

Juri lifted a hoof and lightly poked Grace's snout. "Any particular reason why?"

Scooting closer, Grace kissed Juri's nose. "Can't I just look at the most attractive stallion to ever teach Criminology?"

With a smirk, Juri leaned in closer to Grace. Their lips nearly touched before Juri's head turned and he reached past his partner to pull the picnic lunch they'd brought along with their towels and umbrellas. "Let's see what you made. This attractive stallion is getting hungry."

"I'd pout at you leading me on just to get at my food, but I'm hungry too," Grace admitted, shaking his head as Juri opened the picnic basket.

Juri's head popped over the top of the basket lid to look at Grace. "Did you make these sandwiches with real home-made bread?"

"What did you think I was doing this morning?" Grace asked.

"Uh, making breakfast," Juri answered.

"Grilled cheese sandwiches don't take quite as long as all that. I did a lot of the prep work at home, but I brought along some dough for a few dishes." Igniting his horn, Grace brought out the sandwiches and the various fixings that went along with making the perfect sandwich. "How would you like yours?"

"I can do that myself, thank you," Juri insisted. Grace acquiesced, setting it all out between them.

As they settled into making their own sandwiches, Grace piped up. "So there's grilled pineapple, but if you want to be adventurous, I managed to ask Blue Hope what his favorite type of fish was. And after a bit of a run-around with a griffon chef, I got a recipe that went with it."

"Fish?" Juri scrunched his nose up at the thought. "I don't think so, but feel free to try it and tell me what it's like."

Nodding, Grace set to putting his sandwich together. Juri quickly took a few bites of his in case he lost his appetite watching somepony eat fish. Most varieties were just dumb animals, but stories of talking fish kept most ponies away from that particular food source.

Apprehensive at the thought himself, Grace took a steadying breath and unintentionally inhaled the scent of freshly caught and cooked fish. The battered cod fillet was a fun cooking experiment and Grace was looking forward to battering other vegetables in the future. In reality, the scent was unfamiliar and slightly off-putting. Before he could continue to doubt Blue Hope's taste, he took a bite. Chewing slowly, Grace looked up to see Juri staring.

"Well?" Juri asked, wincing at the sight of Grace's continued chewing. It wasn't a great sign that Grace was taking so long to swallow.

Finally gathering his wits, Grace swallowed and took a sip of water. "Well, it's not the weirdest thing I've eaten. But it certainly is up there." Juri flinched as Grace took another bite.

Flabbergasted, Juri followed up on the first part of Grace's statement. "What's the weirdest thing you've eaten?"

Swallowing again, Grace shrugged. "This is probably something we should talk about after eating. Don't want to put you off your feed."

Resolving to stop watching Grace eat fish, Juri looked out to the ocean. "Agreed."

They sat and listened to the waves as they ate. There was a silent Joy shared between the two as they sat. Every once in a while, one or the other would look over to see that yes, they were both still smiling like idiots.

Juri sprawled out, using Grace's hind legs as a pillow. Grace was mostly concerned with not getting bread crumbs in Juri's hair as he finished eating. When he'd finally had his fill, he used his magic to clean and pack things up. Juristic was asleep; his face relaxed and carefree in a way that he seldom was awake. Tracing his hoof lightly over Juri's face, Grace took the calm moment and made the most of it.

As the sun started over to the afternoon side of the sky, Grace nudged Juri back to wakefulness. "It's afternoon, sweetie."

"Sweetie yourself." Juri replied, still a little groggy and crabby from his nap.

"We can go back to the house if you want to spend more time in bed," Grace offered.

Cracking an eye open, Juri looked at Grace with an arched brow. "And just what exactly do you think we'll be doing in bed?"

Grace laughed, shrugging as a blush came over his face. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"I'm so sure," Juri remarked with dry humor.

Grace started to get up, but Juri grabbed a foreleg. He ended up oddly cuddled against Juri on his side. "Well, I'm definitely not doing anything on the beach. Sand is tons of fun until it's up your bum."

Juri laughed, a short bark-like blast that caught them both off guard. "Sorry, I just heard 'up your bum' and had some thoughts about that."

Grace's blush intensified. "Now who's head is in the gutter? I thought I was bad." Grace tried to get up again, but failed. "Come on, we at least need to put some of this stuff away. I wasn't planning on spending the whole day on the beach."

"Fine. We'll go home and put these things away. But then we can go for a walk. The boardwalk sounds nice," Juri suggested.

Gathering up their few things in his magic, Grace tilted his head. "Are you sure? It'll probably be fairly crowded. Well, certainly more crowded than this beach."

"I'll be fine as long as I have you." Juri's nonchalance caught Grace off guard, but there wasn't much he could say without hurting Juri's feelings. Instead, he resolved to be there for Juristic when he inevitably pushed himself too far.

"C'mon. Let's go." Grace led the way back to the beach house.

Author's Note:

I've been trying and failing to find the motivation to develop this chapter out to the length I'm used to. And while that and a plethora of personal issues have been going on, two months have passed since my last update. So, sorry if this seems a bit short, but I'd rather put something out than nothing, and I do believe I've done the best that I can with the chapter as is.

Comments

[Bruno]

Well, I do hope you find the inspiration to continue, i really like this story!