Gray woke up the next morning like every other morning, he felt it was later than usual as it was brighter than what remembered. Gray saw his armlet lying on the floor next to a pile of clothes and remembered what had happened last night. He felt very satisfied lying next to Yurika and looked at her sleeping and disheveled form and thought she never looked prettier, even with her twintails undone and long hair strewn about and a puddle of drool forming at her mouth.
The armlet on the ground was blinking rapidly which told Gray he had a few messages, then it started ringing and Gray rolled out of bed to pick it up, trying not to wake Yurika.
Gray picked up the call and answered groggily "Hello?"
"GRAY! We've been trying to get a hold of you for over an hour!" a voice replied
"Geoff? What's going on?" Gray yawned lazily.
"Well, nothing really, but you missed breakfast and we were wondering if you knew where Yurika was." Geoff said, Gray thought he heard people giggling in the background, and that the voice was oddly close.
"Oh, uhhh… she's uhhhh…" Gray wasn't sure what to say since he didn't know what Yurika wanted to call it.
Suddenly Gray hears the click of his door's lock opening up and then the door comes flying open. Gray freezes when he sees that Geoff, Stacia, Xyra, and Paul come bursting through his door, Caleb probably wanted nothing to do with it.
"Congratulations you lucky son of a…" Geoff and the other 3 stopped in their tracks when they saw that Gray was standing their naked.
"Holy crap dude, warn us when you're putting out a fire!" Geoff and Paul immediately turned around as they knew better than to peek at Yurika.
"How could I warn you when you just burst in here!?" Gray said, placing his hands on his hips and strutting around like a male peacock.
Stacia and Xyra took a few seconds longer of staring wide-eyed before turning around and Gray heard Stacia whisper to Xyra "Yurika is very lucky". Xyra nodded in agreement.
"Dude, put some pants on!" Paul yelled this time.
"This is my room you jerks, I declare it no pants Tuesday in my room!"
"Why is it so loud in here?" Yurika sat up groggily in bed, luckily for her everyone wasn't looking in her direction.
Stacia and Xyra turned around and then ran over to Yurika with a t-shirt. "We're so sorry Yurika, we wanted to congratulate you two on finally opening up to each other and we kinda went overboard."
"Huh? What?" Yurika looked around the room and saw Paul and Geoff facing the door and Gray naked facing them with his hands on his hips with a silly grin on his face.
Yurika noticed Gray was acting cocky as he was flaunting himself and Little Gray in front of the others. "Gray! Did you wear those socks last night while we were…"
Gray stopped smiling and looked down at his socks and then back at Yurika before nodding his head and saying "Yes, why does that matter?"
"Gray, you wore just socks while you were…" Geoff and Paul started laughing at Gray while not turning around.
"What? What's wrong with that?" Gray said becoming confused.
"It's just weird, it's like saying you're not comfortable enough to show everything." Geoff said.
"Some studies have shown that keeping your socks on can make it easier to 'finish' due to increased circulation from keeping your feet warm and the security that comes from wearing socks." Caleb said as he walked in behind everyone else, not even slightly bothered by the scene of Gray strutting around naked in his socks.
"See! I knew it helped!" Gray exclaimed.
"I see you all are having fun, but we need to get busy, war doesn't wait for us. Oh, Gray, Major Valen said he wanted to see you." Caleb said plainly.
Paul, Caleb, Geoff, Stacia, and Xyra left Gray's room leaving Gray and Yurika alone again.
"Well, it looks like we don't have to try and explain anything now." Gray said while shrugging his shoulders.
"Works for me!" Yurika said happily
Gray started to pick up his clothes and was going to take a shower.
"Hey… Gray… what're you doing?"
"Gonna hop in the shower and get dressed, why?"
"We can be a little later than everyone else, right?" Yurika said and winked at Gray from his bed.
Needing no more words, Gray dove back into bed with Yurika not worrying about the time anymore.
__________
Princess Bang-gwi woke up and felt that it was way too early to be awake again. Looking over at the couch in her room, the Princess didn't see Chuhan Jwi and felt a little anxious.
Officially, Chuhan Jwi was just her bodyguard and caretaker. Unofficially, Princess Bang-gwi considered Chuhan Jwi her friend, sister, and even as a Mother, but she would never admit that to anyone for fear that her mother, Queen Manyeo, would replace Chuhan Jwi.
"I'm a grown woman, I don't need her sleeping in the same room as me anymore anyways." The Princess thought to herself. The Princess had only been training for a few days, but the pain she got after each day was less and less.
Chuhan Jwi would actually do her own exercise routine and Tae Kwan Do training for 2 hours before eating her own breakfast usually. Once the soldiers and pilots settled in for the daily routine, Chuhan Jwi would do the same as well.
The pilots were making their way over to the hangar while Chuhan Jwi was stepping out of the communal shower area wearing a clean training getting to start her routine. Xiǎng Pigu looked admirably at Chuhan Jwi in her red and black biker shorts and her red and black workout top that exposed her stomach. She couldn't help but stare at Jwi's athletic figure and six pack abs and admire how she still maintained her womanly charms even as she approached 40.
Xiǎng Pigu let out an audible sigh and said to the Princess "I wish I can be as awesome as her someday" while motioning to Chuhan Jwi as Chuhan Jwi started stretching herself.
"I know… but remember it's not for everyone." The Princess got a mischievous grin on her face and then whispered to Xiǎng Pigu "She's never even been on a date."
Xiǎng Pigu turned to look at Chuhan Jwi now with a little bit of pity, but also awe. She suddenly thought of something and turned back to the Princess "Hey, Ban, have you ever been on a date even?"
"Umm… I've been on several, but calling them dates is a little much… To maintain good relationships with the other major families, I've occasionally been forced on dates for matchmaking. I've seen so many pretty boys that I'm sick of them honestly."
"Hmmm, that might actually be worse than no dates at all…"
"What about you Pi, have you ever been on a date?"
Xiǎng Pigu's face turned red slightly and she said "Yeah, I thought I was even in love once…"
"What's that like?"
Xiǎng Pigu furrowed her brows as she wasn't sure how to answer that. "Well, it's like that person will always make your day better, you will miss them when they're gone even for a minute, and you will start imagining spending the rest of your life with them."
The Princess thought about this for a moment, then giggled and said "Hmm, since you always make my day better and I miss you when you're gone, does that mean I'm falling in love with you?"
"No! I mean! Maybe! I mean Yes! I don't know!" Xiǎng Pigu started waving her hands as she became extremely flustered from the Princess's teasing.
The Princess laughed aloud and said "I'm just playing with you Pi! You're my best friend! I know what at least that kind of love is like… I've just never fallen in love romantically with any boy or girl yet."
"Boy or girl?" Xiǎng Pigu said curiously.
"Well, yeah… I don't think gender should matter, if you love someone you love someone, right?"
"Wow Princess! I didn't think you were so… progressive!"
"Progressive? I guess so, I like to think of it as being open-minded."
"That's a rare quality, I mean nobility and royals have always been so unreceptive to new ideas."
The Princess didn't react or get angry even though she was a royal "We're not all like that…"
Xiǎng Pigu got worried she upset the Princess and waved her hands "I'm sorry Ban! I didn't mean you, I mean…"
The Princess shook her head to stop Xiǎng Pigu and added "I know you didn't mean me, but I am not unaware of how most of the nobility and royalty treat commoners like a commodity."
"Are you Ok with that?" Vincent suddenly chimed in from behind Princess Bang-gwi and Xiǎng Pigu.
The Princess and Xiǎng Pigu both jumped slightly then the Princess yelled "Jerk! How long have you been walking behind us?"
Vincent coughed and said "Just after you said you were open-minded Princess, as for why Miss Xiǎng Pigu said that I am unaware."
"Good, if you had been paying attention earlier I would've had to gouge your eyes out!" the Princess said while smiling and making her fingers look like claws.
"Ban, you're always so violent!" Xiǎng Pigu said while laughing.
"Oh come on, you know I'm just playing, right?"
Xiǎng Pigu and Vincent looked at each other and didn't respond.
"Fine then! I'll show you how violent I can be!" The Princess yelled as she chased Xiǎng Pigu and Vincent to the Mech Hangar.