FFXV: After the Fall

Chapter 14

They woke up like they'd fallen asleep- in each other's arms- and were content to just lie there as such until someone tried to knock on their tent. That's what they both reckoned was happening, anyway; roughly two-thirds of the way up the zipper that kept the door section firmly closed to the elements, they both saw a roughly-round shape punch into the material a few times that made the entire tent quiver and wobble.
    "...well, that didn't work." They heard Prompto mutter under his breath. "Hello in there!" He then said in a much-louder voice.
   "What?" Gladiolus called out at him.
   "Are you decent?"
   "Yeah, but why-"
   "Oh good."
They then saw a pale hand scrabbling around at the base of the tent, looking for the zipper.
   "You're not comin' in." Gladiolus stated.
   "...why, what are ya doin'?"
   "Nothing."
   "Then you won't mind, will ya?" Prompto finally located the item, which was actually double-sided to Helena's surprise, and pulled it up to roughly halfway.
He then ducked his head into the tent space, and caught sight of the happy-but-annoyed couple as they lay in each other's arms under several short-furred throws that covered them.
   "There you are." He smiled. "Morning! How was it?"
   "Alright until about ten seconds ago. Where's the fire?"
   "It's...out now cos' it's morning? Oh! I see what you mean now, haha. Silly me! I got asked to find out what you wanted for breakfast, Iggy's gettin' it set up right now."
Gladiolus sighed, and his head lay back down onto the floor.
Helena's eyes looked at him for a second, then focused back onto the eager blonde. "Uh...I'm- sure that whatever will be just fine." She said haltingly as she propped herself up on one elbow.
   "So like...a little of everything? That do ya?"
   "Yeah." She nodded. "That'll be fine. When's it due?"
   "Ooh, I'd say about..." Prompto glanced at his watch. "...twenty minutes or so, I reckon. Give ya time to wake up and...yeah. I'm gonna go now anyways." He then hastily pulled the zip back down and left them to it.
Helena then hefted her own sigh, and looked back down at Gladiolus. He was lying there silently, but his face held a long-suffering look of barely-held patience.
She smiled at him. "Least there's a bit of time first."
   "Yeah. Just not much peace. Can't be helped, I guess."
   "You're used to it though, right? I mean, he'd have done this a lot on the last trip you all did."
   "Not this much, no."
   "...oh. Okay. Well, maybe he'll settle down after a while. Doesn't want us to feel left out, possibly."
   "Kinda feel like that explanation's a bit too prosaic for him."
She chuckled, and rubbed the top of his chest with her hand affectionately. "I'm sure it's not done for a bad reason. He probably doesn't even realise he's doing it."
   "Just not fond of bein' disturbed when I'm with you." He said with a slight smile. "These moments are still quite rare."
   "A little too rare?"
   "Yeah. That's gonna change once we're all done with this."
   "Well cos' they're rare, that just makes them more special."
She then bent her head to kiss his chest again, a gesture that was fast becoming one of his favourites after recently.
He smiled. "You'll find a positive in almost anythin', won't ya?"
   "There usually is. I'll soon try to revise that when he does somethin' that makes me wanna punch him out. But that moment has not yet arrived."
   "How long we got before we have to get up?"
   "Bout fifteen or so. Ten if you count-in getting dressed too."
   "Lay back down here, then. Might as well use it."
She did so, and felt his arms return to her back.
   "...I'm gonna petition for a transfer." She said after a time. "Need to start soon, really, they can take a while to work out."
He startled briefly, then relaxed and felt a grin start to spread across his face. "I'd forgotten about that." He admitted. "Guess it's cos' we've been pretty busy. There a lot to do?"
   "They'd need time to shuffle people around, yeah. Also gotta sort out what I'm gonna do with all my stuff."
Of course. She'd have a house, furniture, personal effects...
   "That's...are you sure? You'll have a lot of stuff."
He felt her gentle nod. "Yeah. Some of it I can get sent over here. The rest I can sell, I won't need it. Can't just let it sit there." She then took a slow, deep breath. "I need to get out more, really," she told him, "I've been quite sheltered for most of my life. Same house on the same Isle. I've not lived, y'know? Not like you guys all have. I'm living now, and I don't wanna go back."
He...just smiled. He loved the idea of it and if that was what she really wanted, then...yeah. Why the hell not? He wanted it too.
   "Y'know, it'll be new scenery and all that, you'll get to see the guys a lot...and me, of course...but you do realise that you still might not get out much?"
Her head raised back up. "Cos' I'm gonna spend a heck of a lot of time in bed, you mean?"
He grinned at her. "Something like that."
   "I...think I can cope." She winked at him. "Reckon that Ignis has got some spare paper and a pen?"
   "If he hasn't, we can soon get some."
   "I might get started, then." She made to get up, using one of her arms to begin raising the top half of her body so that she could shuffle over, but he stopped her by grabbing hold of that arm and pulling at it. The movement saw her land on her back with a loud giggle, and she looked up at him as he pinned her into place with his weight. "Oh, so not just yet?" She said afterwards.
   "Still got a few minutes."
   "That's not enough time for almost everything, y'know."
   "Almost." He said with a smile.