The Cold Treatment

The next morning, Gray woke up feeling warm and snuggly. He felt somebody behind him and thought that maybe Yurika snuck into his bed or something. He laid there for a little bit and enjoyed the warmth, but was interrupted by a knock on his door.

Yurika pushed open the door followed by Xyra and Stacia, Gray thought to himself that the girls seemed very close with each other as he peeked over his bed sheets at them.

"Good morning Gray!" said Yurika in her usual good mood. Suddenly all 3 girls paused and their eyes went wide as they stared at Gray in the bed.

"S-Sorry for disturbing you!" Yurika said hastily as the 3 girls quickly left the room and slammed the door.

At this point Gray heard a male that sounded a lot like Geoff say "Oh, what's got them so excited this morning?"

Gray slowly turned and looked behind him to gaze at Geoff that was in his bed… with him… and had even snuggled up next to him… Gray was never an angry person, nor ever lashed out, and was never prone to violence. Today though, he felt violent… and Geoff ended up on the floor with what would probably end up as a few bruises.

"Dude! What the hell! I got cold and you said it would be ok to share the bed!" Geoff said painfully.

"What exactly did I say?" Gray said very confused as he would never have invited him into the bed unless his life depended upon it.

"You said 'Come on in, the water is great!' I do admit that sounded weird but that sounded like permission to me!"

"I don't remember saying such a thing! Wait…" Gray started to think really hard, he remembered he was dreaming about swimming in a lake with the other guys on the team and the girls didn't join them. He remembers yelling at them 'Come on in, the water is great!' then remembers the lake suddenly felt really warm and smaller for some reason.

"I uhhh, still don't know what you're talking about." Gray said avoiding eye contact with Geoff, he was a terrible liar after all.

"Whatever, it's fine, I probably would've done the same if you suddenly showed up in my bed as well." Geoff said admittedly.

Geoff went back to his room and got dressed and Gray cleaned himself up and got dressed as well then met with everyone at the cafeteria. After meeting up with everyone, the girls seemed to have a twinkle in their eyes as they had intentionally left 2 seats open for Gray and Geoff to sit next to each other.

Gray and Geoff sat down and started to eat their breakfast when Stacia finally blurted out "You two are so cute together" prompting both Gray and Geoff to choke on what they were eating while Paul and Caleb both looked at Gray and Geoff while scooting away from them slowly.

Gray coughed to clear his throat and said "Excuse me?!? What are you talking about?!?"

"It's ok, we get it now… now we know why you two get along so well and even why you both went to the city alone together that one time." Yurika said "I do admit I am surprised Gray, normally I can get a feel for that sort of thing and I totally thought you were in to me or Stacia!"

"How'd you guys know we went to the city?" Geoff asked

Gray interrupted him and said "That's not important! You misunderstand everything! We're just friends!"

"Oh, so you're just sleeping together casually?" Yurika said.

"Yes… I mean no! We're not gay! We had a minor misunderstanding and Geoff was cold since he didn't grab any blankets from his room while he was on the couch last night and he thought I gave him permission to sleep in the bed as well."

"Awww… that's no fun…" Yurika said while pouting.

Xyra's eyes were still twinkling and this left Gray feeling a little uneasy, but he chose to ignore it as she hadn't said anything.

"How did you guys know that we went to the nearby town?" Geoff asked again.

"We saw you guys leave together in a military pickup truck and Major Valen happened to be nearby and notice as well and mentioned that you two were going to try and have fun in the town." Stacia said.

"Oh, ok, that makes sense." Geoff said while exchanging looks with Gray. Gray was relieved that they hadn't heard about the food incident or about the incident involving Miss Maven or Lilly. Both Gray and Geoff unconsciously touched their own cheeks while remembering the reward from Miss Maven for bringing Lilly back.

Yurika grinned at their expressions and said "Looks like something happened though from that look you two are having right now. Spill it! Both of you got lucky right?"

"I wouldn't say it was lucky, more like a happy accident sort of thing, but it's not what you're thinking sadly." Gray said while shaking his head.

"Boo…" said Yurika as she pouted.

Gray rolled his eyes and said "Regarding last night though, let's use the code phrase 'Pajama party' when we want to meet up since it will sound less suspicious if someone hears us than saying calling it a late night meeting."

"Isn't that kinda boring… shouldn't we use 'The Geese are migrating south' or 'Go for Operation Chattanooga Choo-Choo!' or something else like those?" Geoff said.

"Those sound even more suspicious! And honestly I don't think most people would be able to say those without giggling." Gray said. "As for where and when, the default time will be midnight and place will be Caleb's room."

"Gray, I suspect that we should probably hold some of these 'pajama parties' in one of the rooms with bugs in it just so they don't suspect that it actually is something suspicious and have a normal one." Paul said.

Gray nodded "I agree, but I have not had an actual pajama party since I was like… 10 or something… What do we do?"

"Duh, just wear pajamas and eat snacks and talk about stupid stuff, for a coed we can play spin the bottle or truth or dare even!" Yurika said excitedly

"That sounds so middle school… I love it!" Geoff said.

"I get it, just a normal get together then with pajamas." Gray said. "We'll still call it the same thing though, just not talk about anything potentially dangerous."

"Let's meet up later around say 11am before we do any team stuff. I have a few questions for Major Valen though and we'll have a pajama party again tonight if I get the answers I'm looking for."

Everyone nodded and finished their breakfast and went off their own ways. Gray saw the three girls went together to the simulators, Geoff and Paul went back to their pilot quarters, and Caleb stayed in the cafeteria apparently deep in thought.

"Let's hope the good Major can help me out here." Gray thought to himself.

__________

Princess Bang-gwi woke up the next morning feeling very sore and achy all over her body. She had always kept herself in good shape thanks to Chuhan Jwi's persistence on keeping up with herself now that she could be considered an adult, but between the obstacle course, lap running, and hand to hand training she had never felt this sore before. Despite the pain, the Princess still felt satisfied with it as she felt like with enough of this training she could become stronger as a person inside and out.

"Are you up Princess?" Chuhan Jwi said from outside her room.

"Yeah, just woke up Jwi…" The Princess said slightly pained, she tried to get up but her body felt extremely stiff and she could barely move. "…and I can barely move"

"Yes, I was the same way after my first day of martial training. I can do something that will help ease the pain a little bit, but you'd have to miss breakfast." Jwi said.

"I don't think I can make it to breakfast anyways!" The Princess complained

"Stretch a little bit if you can, then fill up your tub with cold water, I'll go get a few bags of ice… and then I'll go get you some breakfast." Jwi said and then left to go find some ice.

The Princess managed to drag herself out of her bed and over to the private shower and tub she was allowed to have despite every other soldier sharing them, she loathed being treated special like this, but this one time she was a little glad for it because she didn't want anyone else to see her in this state. She turned on only the cold water and let it fill up mostly. Chuhan Jwi came back just as it was filled carrying 2 bags of ice with her. Jwi dumped the two bags of ice in the tub and then went over to the Princess.

"Try and stretch now, it should help restore some of your mobility." Jwi said and then helped the Princess stretch gently.

"Thanks, I should've done that before I fell asleep last night… but I was so tired I think I fell asleep before my body landed on the bed."

"I understand that all too well… now get undressed…" Jwi said

The Princess took off her pilot's jumpsuit which was what she had fallen asleep in. The stench from it made Jwi scrunch her nose as the Princess had been sweating all day in it yesterday. The Princess sat in the chair after taking off the suit and was taking her time taking off her underwear. Jwi knelt in front of the Princess and started massaging her thighs and calves.

The Princess relaxed and let her mind wander and then asked Chuhan Jwi "So… what happens if we lose this war?" while she finished taking off her underwear.

"Don't think like that… but even if it were, I'd stay with you and protect you for as long as I live." Jwi

"Such a stereotypical answer" The Princess said while laughing slightly. "…but still, thank you."

Jwi picked up the Princess in a typical Princess carry and then said "You don't want to thank me…"

"Why wouldn't I?" the Princess asked with curiousity

Chuhan Jwi smiled, carried her over to the tub filled with ice cold water and ice cubes and said "This is why..." then dropped her into the icy water.