The Cadet and The General (Final Space)

Chapter Six: Relaxation

Why is this chapter longer than the others? I dunno, I had this idea for a while xD

Pawblo woke up to the soldiers already gone from the tent. He poked his head out of the tent flap to see them doing tasks that were assigned to them.  As he walked out, he was curious as to where the General was. He stepped out of the tent.

"Hey, did any of you see the General?"

"Yeah, he told us to stay put as he was going to take care of something. You should go see if he has an assignment for you or something." The soldier that responded kept his eyes on the laptop. "He went that way." He pointed a finger towards a path into the jungle.

Pawblo nodded and soon walked off into the jungle, but not before grabbing his pistol with its holster as a precaution. As he treaded the path, he was taking in his surroundings. The jungle was quiet, with birds tweeting and the sound of water from a nearby river flowing.

Soon, he felt really hot all of a sudden. And there was steam coming from behind some bushes. Curious, he pushed them aside and noticed some clothes on the ground. They seemed to be familiar. When he looked back up, he saw a huge man, wearing nothing but a towel. He was standing in front of a hot spring.

The man turned around to notice who was staring. That man was General Cataloupe. He smiled. "Oh! Cadet O'Connor! What are you doing here?" He waved his hand.

Pawblo was embarrassed about seeing the General this way. He had a nice body for a guy at his age, and seemed to be active and exercising. His left (Pawblo's right) pec had scratch marks, though Pawblo didn't seem to wonder where they came from. The smaller ventrexian felt a little flustered of seeing Cataloupe like this, though at the same time was in love with him and could't take his eyes off him. He soon held back and covered his own eyes with his hands.

"Well, you seemed to have discovered my secret, so there's no point hiding it. I usually like leading the scout missions here because of this hot spring. Nobody else knows about it but me. Well, now you know, but you get me. Care to join me?"

Pawblo snapped back into reality as he took in the words that Cataloupe just said. "W-wait. You want....you want me to join you?? But I don't—!"

"Relax, I have a spare towel. No need to worry." Cataloupe soon noticed how Pawblo was using his hands to cover his eyes. "Are you....okay?"

Pawblo nervously replied, his eyes still covered. "Y-yeah! I'm just...n-not used to....this....you know?" It took a few seconds for Cataloupe to realize what he meant. "Oh! It's okay. I'll turn around. Unless, you're too uncomfortable. That's fine, you can head back." He soon turned around, giving Pawblo a bit of privacy.

The smaller ventrexian didn't know what to do. He decided that he'll follow his heart. So he slowly began to strip out of the clothes he was wearing. When he was done, Pawblo was now pretty much nude. Cataloupe whistled to get his attention. "You still there?"

"Y-yeah. Do you mind....going into the hot spring first?" Pawblo stood there, naked for all to see. This was his first time doing anything like this, and he needed to get used to it. Cataloupe gave a thumbs up and dropped his towel. Pawblo's blush grew brighter when he heard it. The bigger ventrexian slowly climbed up the sides and carefully slid inside of the hot spring. A sigh of pleasure left his mouth.

"Come on, Pawblo! The water's not getting cold!"

Pawblo slowly climbed up the side and soon slithered into the hot spring. He was groaning in relief, as this was his first time in a hot spring in general. He sat in the spring right across from Cataloupe, who was resting his arms on the top of the sides like a pool. As they both chilled in the spring, Cataloupe decided to initiate some small talk.

"First time?"

".....Y-yeah. Stuff like this isn't there on Tera Con Prime." Pawblo shrugged. "It's nice."

"Well, you're welcome here with me anytime." Cataloupe chuckled. "Don't tell anyone about the spring, though." Cataloupe adjusted how he was sitting. Luckily, Pawblo didn't see anything below the water, as it was foamy.

"....What are those scratches?"

"Huh?"

"The one on your pec", Pawblo nervously said. Cataloupe placed a hand on it. "Combat against an intergalactic terrorist. About a year or two ago." He seemed somber about it. "I thought it was severe, but luckily it wasn't." His eyes soon noticed Pawblo's left ear, which looked like it cut off.

"What about you? What's up with your ear? Unless it's personal. I'm sorry for asking." Cataloupe kept quiet. Pawblo nodded. "It's fine. It was, uh.....let's just say that it was a situation where it was either to do this or be trapped."

Cataloupe nodded. "Ah. I understand." He curled his mustache. "You.....have a boyfriend? I'm assuming, since you brought up being bisexual a while ago." Pawblo shrugged. "No. I got hit on by a lot of people back at TCP, but...nah. They were all sleazy. What about you? You must be married." The older ventrexian chuckled and showed off his hands. "No ring, so you're wrong, Cadet." Pawblo was shocked to hear this.

"What??? How are you not married?"

"I just never settled. I've hooked up with others, but....they never last or stick around."

Pawblo felt a little bad for the General. He tried to cheer him up with some words of encouragement. "Well, I think you look hot—I mean, uh, great! You're a catch. Those guys don't know what they're missing. Who wouldn't want a guy like you?" He blushed a little, feeling more embarrassed than ever before.

Cataloupe chuckled. "Well, thank you, Pawblo. I must admit that you're quite a catch yourself. Especially with that gorgeous fur color." He winked, throwing Pawblo off guard. The two of them were blushing, both feeling a little bit closer to each other now.

The smaller ventrexian snapped out of his gaze and quickly jumped out of the hot spring. "Uh....thanks, sir. For the invite. But I think I...I should be getting back to camp." He picked up the spare towel and dried himself off.

Pawblo didn't notice, but Cataloupe eyed him. He smirked, knowing that his cadet was following his training, and taking it seriously. It almost made him blush a little.

When he finished dressing back into his clothes, Pawblo picked up his pistol holster. "Hey, sir. You coming?" Cataloupe waved a hand. "No, I'm going to chill here for a bit. I'll be back soon. Don't worry."

Pawblo nodded and soon walked away, trying to keep the image of Cataloupe's huge body out of his head.

Cataloupe sat there, wondering the possibility between him and Pawblo. "Would it work?", he wondered to himself out loud. "I might be older, but.....he's something.....I'll just have to see if there really is a possibility." He shrugged it off and closed his eyes, taking in the warmth of the water as the day kept going.