Gael

It’s been a few days since the day at the gladiator arena, and Pylos has decided to take me to one of the trading planet malls to find me some more properly fitting clothes, though I’m mostly in need of underwear and better sleepwear. Renallia has already pulled us to several different stores that she thought had cute clothes, but we've only really gotten me the essentials - underwear, more scent blocking patches, some cuffs and a cloth choker to hold the patches in place for when I train. 

Upon entering another clothing store, I spot a pretty nightgown that catches my interest, but I try to look away quickly. I don’t need something so frilly in my wardrobe, I have no reason to wear such a thing.

“Hey, what about this one? This one would look cute, don’t you think?” Renallia asks, holding the dark blue silk nightgown with a soft shimmer to it I had spotted when we entered the shop up to my chest, comparing it to my body to make sure the one she grabbed would be a good fit. “This color would look really nice on you. Don't you agree?” She asks, looking over at Pylos from over her shoulder, who's standing off to the side silently, a nearly unnoticeable smile pulling at the corners of his lips looking very distracted. “Pylos? Hello? Do you agree or not?” Renallia asks again in a more sing-song tone, though he seems too lost in his thoughts as he just continues to stare in our general direction. 

I sigh and roll my eyes at both her and the apparently dissociating prince, “Why would I need something like this? I just need some regular sleep clothes. I don’t see the point of having some fancy looking nightgown.”

Renallia rolls her eyes right back at me, “It’s not about needing it, it’s about wanting it. Pylos brought us here to buy stuff that you needed and wanted, remember? You can pick out whatever you want.” She reminds me. “Plus, I saw you eyeing this when we entered the store.” The dusty purple half-breed shoves the nightgown into my hands and pushes me towards the dressing room area before I can deny such an accusation. “Now, go try it on and show us how you look!”

I begrudgingly do as she says, knowing that she’d probably dress me herself if I didn’t. I stepped into one of the small changing room stalls, finding a body-length mirror on one wall, two hooks to hang clothes on opposite the mirror, and a small bench that could only seat one person in a space barely big enough for two. I sigh and hang the nightgown on one of the hooks before undressing myself, looking at my half naked form in the mirror. My chest and belly is littered with scars, some long and jagged, some short and thin, some circular; all from either sword or knife slashes, stabs, and laser shots. The sight brought up memories I had made with the Spirits, missions that slowly got more dangerous the longer I worked with them and sparring sessions that got rougher than anticipated. I shake my head to clear away the memories and turn away from my reflection, pulling the nightgown on over my head before turning back around to look over myself in the mirror to make sure all the important things were covered. My gaze drifted over the shimmering, silky fabric of the nightgown hanging from two lacy black straps and falling to the middle of my thigh. It made me feel… good, oddly enough. I felt like the young omega I am, for once. Young and beautiful, regardless of my muscles and scars. I couldn’t help but smile at myself and the briefest thought of letting Pylos buy this for me crossed my mind.

“Hurry up and come out! I want to see it already!” Renallia shouts, earning a barely heard scolding from Pylos to not rush me from outside of the changing room area. He's been doing everything he can to keep me from being irritable with him again. It’s a little irritating in itself, but I get why he's being so careful. 

->I huff and roll my eyes before exiting the small stall, walking out to stand before them, catching the widening of Pylos’s eyes and the dusting of blush on his cheeks but try my best to ignore it. He was clearly taken aback at the sight of me in such a short and flimsy outfit, even if I was still wearing my leggings. I wasn't sure how to feel about his reaction. The smirk that spreads across Renallia's face as she puts her hands on her hips doesn’t help my uncertainty either. This is confusing. 

I look down at myself, fiddling with the cool, silky fabric. I’m starting to feel more than a little embarrassed about how I must look on the night gown, warmth spreading across my cheeks and up to my ears, certainly staining my cheeks a deep purple. “How… do I look?” I ask, murmuring in uncharacteristic shyness, glancing up at the two in front of me before quickly looking back down again. Gods, what is wrong with me? Get it together, damn it!

“Lookin’ pretty sexy there, Gael,” Renallia says, very smugly, nudging the prince with her elbow. “Right, Pylos?”

Pylos jumps and immediately starts stumbling over his words, his cheeks becoming noticeably reddish-purple, “Ah- Well- Um, of course! Though I wouldn’t necessarily have put it that way… Not that I’m saying that you aren’t! You truly do look- er, s-sexy in that.” I raise a brow at him as he actively avoids eye contact with me, rubbing at the back of his neck. Did the nightgown really look that good on me? Of course, Renallia helped put him in this position, but I wasn't expecting that much of a response. The way he’s blushing is actually kind of adorable. 

“Can we- uhm… c-can I get this, then?” I ask, sheepishly.

“Of course!” Pylos exclaims, a little too loudly for my liking. And based on his cringe, he didn't mean to be so loud. 

Renallia snorts out a laugh.

After I changed back into my regular clothes, Pylos was quick to pay for the nightgown in the original color I tried on and three additional colors, a dark red, deep purple, and black. I figured he had grabbed them thinking I wouldn’t notice, so I decided to take pity on him and acted like I didn’t. He was lucky Renallia was too distracted looking for other nightgowns to notice too. We headed back to the ship after everything was paid for, meeting Dradeth and Rexa as they arrived back too.

“I see you bought something. May I ask what it is?” Rexa inquires, raising a brow questioningly.

“Oh, just a few nightgowns that Gael wanted.” Renallia replies nonchalantly, I shoot a sharp glare her way.

Dradeth pats my shoulder, “You finally taking advantage of all that money Pylos has piling up?” She lets out a full chested laugh at the huff and unimpressed glare I send her way. 

“Well, I had only picked one, but Pylos decided to grab more on my behalf. Or maybe it was for himself.” I shrug, no longer wishing to take pity on the man since his generals have decided to tease me. I look over at him with a half-hearted glare, watching him duck his head and look away with a dusting of a blush in his cheeks.

“I didn’t think you noticed.” I hear him mumble to himself before Dradeth and Renallia start mercilessly teasing him. I roll my eyes and suppress the small smile trying to tug at the corners of my lips.

Pylos

It had been that night that I got the privilege of seeing that pretty little night gown worn by Gael. I could have sworn my heart stopped when I saw those thin muscular legs that night. During our trip to the trading moon shopping mall, he had refused to take off the loose pants when trying it on. But then, as the two of us were getting ready for bed, he exited the bathroom in the nightgown without anything covering his legs. It was the first time I had ever gotten the chance to properly see the strong legs that I have seen destroy training bots and throw Renallia off her feet during spars.

“I can feel you staring at me. Quit it, it's making my hair stand on end.” Gael grumbles, his back facing me as he rearranges his bedding to be exactly how he likes it.

I feel my face burn up with embarrassment, looking away from him quickly. “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”

“And why were you staring in the first place?” He sounded a little annoyed, but there wasn’t much of an edge in his voice like there usually is. It was something I had noticed slowly going away as the days passed. It brought a smile to my face every time I noticed him softening towards me.

“I was just admiring the way the nightgown looks on you. You look… very beautiful in it.” I barely let myself say the last bit of my compliment. Of course I wanted to say it, I would be an idiot to not want to compliment the beautiful omega that shares my bedroom with me. I simply worry that my compliment wouldn’t be taken well, or at the very least would result in unbearable awkwardness between the two of us.

The silence that followed was a little too long for my comfort, making my mind race to how I've already fucked my chances with him up again, but before I could open my mouth to apologize, I stopped by his quiet, “Thank you.” It shocked me a little, but brought my smile right back to my face. Don’t read too much into that, just take the win with a grain of salt. I tell myself, knowing that I’ll most definitely be reading too much into that little thank you from the young omega rebel.

I don’t say anything more than a simple, “Of course,” in response. Letting myself climb in and settle into my plush bed, ignoring the small pang of sadness that I remain alone in said bed. But I know he’s not comfortable with me in that way yet, if he ever does get comfortable with me that way. I can’t let myself get too hopeful about that. He refuses to even let his scent out around Renallia, if the ever present scent blocking patches on the sides of his neck and wrists secured with the new cuffs and soft choker were any indicator. His refusal to let his scent out did encourage me to start wearing patches as well, mostly to help him feel more comfortable, not that he really seemed to notice. It doesn’t matter if he’s noticed, he’s less on edge around me. Whatever it is about your scent is no longer making him feel on edge. That is all that’s important. 

He invited me to watch him train today, claiming he needed help determining which settings to use, but I know he already has a handle in the settings. I didn't want to call him out about that though, not when it would be calling out the fact that I’ve watched many of his training and sparring sessions. I highly doubt he’d appreciate me watching him so often.

I stood by the  door, where he instructed me to stay until he said otherwise. I didn’t mind, it was wonderful to finally get to see his movements up close. His movements were as beautiful and elegant as a dancer’s, it made me wonder if he drew inspiration from dancers or he knew how to dance himself. Bot after bot was disarmed and destroyed, the levels he set getting harder and harder, but he still won with little effort. I was mesmerized by him, drawn into every lovely strike and dodge and counter. It wasn’t until I was pulled out of the way by Renallia that I realized I was in line to get hit by a flying piece of bot debris.

“Jeez, I knew you were smitten, but you really need to pay attention to more than just the pretty omega showing off his skills.” She teases, smirking at me as my whole face warms, likely a light shade of purple now thanks to her calling me out. “Can’t believe he’s actually letting you watch up close this time.”

I look over at her in confusion, furrowing my brows at her, “This time? What do you mean this time?”

“Oh, he knows you’ve been watching him from the monitoring room.” She shrugs, snorting at my increased embarrassment. “Did you seriously think he’d never catch on? Pylos, he’s a trained soldier that has done stealth missions for years.”

“So he’s been able to feel my eyes on him this whole time, but hasn’t said anything?” I decide to ask.

“He claims he didn’t care if you watched, you stayed out of the way and let him be. I think he thinks it’s only fair too because he watches you when you train sometimes too.”

“He watches me when I train?”

“Yup, he has been since you showed off in the arena.”

It was a surprise to hear this, I had noticed the feeling of being watched the last few times I’ve come to train and spar, but I hadn’t thought it was Gael’s eyes watching me. I know my generals watch sometimes, as I do with them. But knowing now that  Gael has been watching me recently fills me with such a strong sense of pride, he’d probably hate that he was the one that caused it. I’ll just keep that from him, he’d probably be fine not knowing for now.