Dare To Date

by Scyphi

(BONUS) Tea Time

After a long day of classes and deciding that they were feeling pretty thirsty and could use something to sate it, Gallus decided to lead Smolder over to where he knew a soda bar was set up. The mare staffing it was a coppery-colored unicorn with a pale blond mane, except for the tips which transitioned into an electric blue color. Smolder wondered if the blue was dyed instead of natural, but she never could be certain with pony manes.

Whatever the case, Gallus apparently knew her already. “Hey, Bittersweet,” he remarked as he took a vacant seat at the counter.

“Gallus!” the mare declared brightly, looking up from the soda she was finishing making before sliding it over to its awaiting patron, “Been a couple weeks since I’ve last seen you. Where’ve you been?”

“Oh, just been busy,” Gallus remarked with a roll of his eyes. “The usual stuff, mostly.”

“Well, you are still a school creature right now, so gotta pay attention to that every now then sometime, right?” Bittersweet strolled closer so to talk more but stopped when she noticed Smolder quietly taking a seat next to Gallus. “And you must be Smolder!” she declared.

Smolder blinked, surprised. “You know who I am?”

“Well, I know Gallus is buddies with a dragon, among others,” Bittersweet explained matter-of-factly. She made a sly smirk in Gallus’s direction, who sheepishly averted his gaze. “He has a lot to say about his friends, after all.”

“Huh,” Smolder said, glancing at Gallus before looking back at the unicorn. “All good things, I hope.”

“But of course!”

“Good! Then I don’t need to do anything to silence him.” Smolder shot Bittersweet a teasing wink.

She laughed in response before extending a hoof to the dragoness. “I’m Bittersweet Shimmer, by the way.”

“Hey,” Smolder responded back, accepting the hoof for a brief shake. She then frowned. “Name sounds familiar though, like something I’ve heard in class…Shimmer, Shimmer, Shimmer—you wouldn’t happen to be related to a Sunset Shimmer, would you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Bittersweet responded with a smirk before turning back to Gallus. “So, you finally got her to come here, eh?” She nodded her head towards Smolder.

“Well, it only seemed fair, seeing you’ve put up with me blabbing on about it,” Gallus replied nonchalantly.

“Bring any of your other friends here too?”

“Nope, it’s, uh, just us two.”

Bittersweet raised an eyebrow at them. “Oh is it now?” she asked as if intrigued. Smolder squirmed a little under her gaze, pretty sure Bittersweet had caught on as to why. But she didn’t ask further and instead changed the subject. “So anyway, I’m sure you didn’t come here to hear me chatter on.” She leaned back, ready to serve them. “What can I get you?” She glanced at Smolder again. “Especially you, seeing you’re new here. I’ve got sarsaparilla, seltzer water, orange soda, grape soda, cream soda, lemonade, frosted lemonade, fizzy lemonade, Tsar Bomba energy drink, Zap Apple Cola…”

“Actually, I think Smolder would be more interested in some nice calming tea, Bittersweet,” Gallus interrupted to suggest.

Smolder shot a surprised glance at Gallus then again at Bittersweet. “Wait, you serve tea too?” she asked before quickly adding, “And more than one kind? Because I’ve already been burned by that once before.”

“Sure do,” Bittersweet promised. “What kind do you want?”

Smolder hesitated for a moment, still doubtful. “Earl Grey,” she finally requested, “Hot.”

A mere few moments later, Bittersweet handed her a cup of hot Earl Grey tea. It was served in a plastic coffee mug rather than a proper tea cup, but Smolder was surprised to see it at all enough that she decided she didn’t care and proceeded to sup the surprisingly well-brewed drink, considering how speedily it was made.

Pleased that Smolder was satisfied, Bittersweet then turned to Gallus. “Do I need to get you one too?” she asked. “Perhaps that flavor of tea you yourself have been…”

“No,” Gallus replied quickly. “Just some Zap Apple Cola will do, Bittersweet.”

Bittersweet shrugged. “Suit yourself,” she said and proceeded to pull out a new cup to fill for him.

“Wait, Gallus has ordered tea here too?” Smolder interrupted, again surprised as Gallus hadn’t ever struck her as all that big on tea. “What kind?”

“Mint tea,” Bittersweet replied before Gallus could intervene, “Though obviously he doesn’t always order it.”

She went to fill the cup with the requested cola when Smolder suddenly motioned for her to stop. “Hey, how about you get him that mint tea instead,” she requested before quickly pulling out three bits and slid them over to Bittersweet. “My treat.”

Bittersweet examined the bits then glanced over at Gallus to see if he had any objections. But he voiced none and instead averted his gaze, looking sheepish but unable to bring himself to protest. So, since he didn’t, Bittersweet made the tea and slid him the mug. Gallus accepted it without protest, but instead of drinking it, he pensively stared into the broth inside.

With both of their drinks sorted though, Bittersweet rapped the countertop briefly. “Anyway, it’s been nice chatting, but there’s other patrons I gotta serve drinks to.” Giving them a wink, she turned further down the bar to mix other drinks.

Smolder, however, was looking at Gallus, who was still sheepishly avoiding eye contact. “So…mint tea, huh?” she asked finally, trying to coax an explanation out of him.

Gallus sighed and shrugged. “I decided to give it a shot here one time because it seemed interesting and I guess I was just in the mood to try.” He shrugged a second time, but he let a weak grin appear on his beak. “Clearly, it left a mark.”

“Soooo…you like mint tea, then?” she then prompted again, as it bothered her that she didn’t previously know this—she’d long made it a point to know the tea preferences for all of her friends, if they had one, since getting introduced to the drink herself.

“Well…it’s been growing on me lately,” Gallus admitted as he stared into his cup of tea without drinking it.

“Then how come you’ve never said so whenever I offer to make you some tea back at the school?” Smolder demanded.

“I didn’t want to make a big deal about it, because I knew you would too…and because I know you prefer the Earl Grey.” Gallus pointed to her cup. “So I figured I’d just save you the trouble and just have whatever you’re having.”

“Gallus,” Smolder protested, “I do prefer the Earl Grey, but I keep other tea mixes too specifically for this very reason! I have lemon tea for Silverstream, Darjeeling for Ocellus…”

“It’s not a big deal, Smolder,” Gallus said, waving it off with his talons.

Smolder watched him for a moment. “Well, it is to me.”

“And that’s why I hadn’t said anything, because I knew you’d make a big deal out of it,” Gallus retorted, but made a relenting sigh, rubbing at his brow. “Sorry, Smolder, I don’t mean to sound like a jerk about it,” he apologized. “It’s just…it’s like you and talking about our relationship in public. It’s just…awkward. Besides, you like the Earl Grey, so I figure I can let you have the pick because I know you like it.”

She turned to nurse her cup of Earl Grey. “I do like it,” she admitted. “And I appreciate you looking out for me like that. You’ve been doing a lot of that, in fact.” She looked back over at him. “But if we’re going to make you and me work, then it can’t always be you that’s doing all the giving. Let me return the favor and do some of the giving too, because I want to keep you satisfied like you’ve been doing for me. I mean, you are my boyfriend and all now.” She gazed into her dark brown brew. “Plus, it can be my way of returning the favor for getting me a cup of tea on one of these dates finally.” She took another appreciative sip and hummed appreciatively. “Seriously. The tea’s helped after all that…” she waved her paw vaguely, “…intense emotional stuff we've been dealing with.”

Gallus shook his head in amusement, finally taking a long gulp from his own tea. He let out a content sigh afterwards and grinned. “All right, fair enough, I guess.” He draped a caring wing over Smolder. “And at least you know about it now,” he reasoned.

“You’re darn right I know now,” Smolder replied back, shooting him a smirk. “Next tea party, you are so getting mint tea, feather butt.”

Gallus rolled his eyes, but he smirked as he played along. “I suppose you’ll make me wear that top hat and monocle again too.”

Smolder smirked as she supped from her tea again. “I dunno, maybe we’ll shake things up and have you be the one to wear the dress for a change.”

Laughing, they then tapped their respective cups together and proceeded to polish off their drinks.

Author's Note:

I once found a crayon labelled as "bittersweet shimmer" and I thought to myself: "that'd make for a good pony name." That's pretty much the full extent of Bittersweet Shimmer's backstory, so there's not really anything more for me to say there.

I saved this one for last because it was the one that would need the most editing to work as a standalone bonus chapter (it originally tied in directly with more than one event mentioned in the main story), and because it seemed like as good a spot as any to end on.

A few readers have offered to provide suggestions for other date activities, which is appreciated, but the reason I did these bonus chapters at all was because the content was all already written and would require minimal editing to repurpose for this. It was not my plan to write any more after that from scratch. Besides, I think we've covered the main jist of date activities--the rest after this point will probably start getting a bit formulaic, so might as well end it while still at a high point.

Besides, I could always keep those additional date activities in reserve should I ever choose to write another Smollus fic.

Comments

[SpikeSmolder fan]

This one was the perfect way to top off these dating stories with what Smolder loves to do - tea time!

Hoping to see another story featuring these 2 in the future, thanks again Scyphi!

[Yoshifan30]

Another great date story between smolder and gallus and it looks like they're just going out for tea and I did remember they did like a tea party before in your other story which that was cute and pretty funny I wonder what kind of date they're going to go next

[Manr]

This story new other sequels that gives more further into the relationship. Next topic we should do with jealousy issues well being in a relationship.

[Juria]

This was wonderful to read, and while I do hope to see more Smollus from you in the future, I can wait until you're ready to make more.

[Scyphi]

10622936
Yeah, I knew somebody was going eventually to point out how the show often portrays him with teeth, but I decided to go more for the realistic approach regardless, partly for variety, and partly because that gave me potential world-building avenues so to explore what that could mean for the average griffon lifestyle.

That, and I just liked Gallus's sass for that line. (Fun fact, that line was originally devised for a totally different fanfic that ultimately didn't pan out and just got recycled here)

Besides, I also know why the show renders him (and other beaked critters) with teeth--it's easier to form certain familiar expressions that way, a consequence of the human-like anthropomorphism the show gives to its characters. But to it's credit, it runs with it as a stylistic choice pretty darn well, so it's pretty easy to forgive it for that.

[Yordna]

10623199

Indeed; I love how you worked it into worldbuilding for how gryphons show affection, though I'll have to politely disagree with the idea that gryphons having teeth in the show is nothing but a non-canon visual design shortcut for anthropomorphization purposes and is not, in fact, their actual anatomy. They are part lion, so the teeth aren't really that ridiculous to think about. I'd even argue that they're soft and can function as lips, because, well, just look:

derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/3/27/1691795.png

Even so, the entire purpose of fanfiction is playing around in gray areas, so no harm, no foul. Ain't nothing wrong with personal preference. Well done on this fic overall. This ship really needs more love, and you have done it more justice than anyone else I've seen so far.

[God Praiser]

Absolutely amazing, God bless.