Part III: Action

Celestia strode down the castle corridor with a purpose once the workday ended at five, making her way to Luna’s room and not even bothering to return the greetings she was given by passing staff, much unlike her. Despite the conversation that transpired as soon as she revealed a very important detail over lunch, Fredrick, internally, became very nervous and distraught rather than angry… though she could only assume that anger would come later. He wished to return to his room to think things through, and when Celestia offered to have a few words with Luna discreetly on the matter, he refused without hesitation. He wanted to be the one to confront her about this incident, but ultimately, what he did not know would not hurt him. Celestia needed to have a few words with her younger sister, and this would constitute their ‘girl-time’ of the evening.

Passing right by the Guards, she entered Luna’s room and slammed the door, startling the dark alicorn at her desk next to her balcony.

“Celestia?! What is the meaning of—”

“Are you stupid?” Celestia cut her off curtly.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Are you stupid?” Celestia reiterated, crossing her arms under her chest.

“So are you going to continue speaking to me vaguely or are you actually going to make sense of your words?” Luna replied as she pushed her chair back and stood up, facing her older sister.

“You’re ‘in heat?’” Celestia uttered three words that made Luna’s face pale. “When did this start happening? Hmmm?”

“What did he tell you?! And what did you tell him??” Luna asked, raising her voice. Celestia immediately waved her off.

“Oh don’t even try to deflect the question as you’ve always done when backed into a corner. For somepony who is known for being straight and to the point, you’re really not pleading your case, Lu. And please, he’s an intelligent stal—man. I did not tell him anything, he merely put two and two together.”

“Well… to answer your question, yes I know I’m stupid for doing that. Moreover, I don’t believe this is any of your business,” Luna countered with a much lower tone this time around. Celestia scoffed incredulously.

“You’re the most analytical pony I know but god you’re so dense. You’re so fucking dense, light bends around your head!” Celestia punctuated with hand-imagery. What was also worth noting was that Celestia very rarely uttered profanity (that others could hear). “Yes, what goes on exclusively between you and Fredrick is indeed none of my business. He, however, is my friend too! And, unfortunately, the three of us are close enough where whatever happens between two of us is going to affect all of us; and since that is the case, I will intervene if necessary to obtain information. Now, would you care to explain why you’re blatantly lying to our dear friend?” she asked, her voice never raising beyond a stern level.

“Quite frankly, Celestia, I do not feel obligated to inform you of my reasoning. I am already ashamed of my choice of action as it is and I do not need you reinforcing that!” Luna shot back, quickly becoming irritated.

“Do you think I’m really doing this for my own benefit? I’m asking and borderline demanding because I want to help you!”

“Pffft. Yeah, okay Celly.”

“Luna!” Celestia barked.

“Fine! I fibbed! I did not even do that much but he questioned me! I could’ve told him the truth and deal with the consequences immediately, or that I was in heat and hopefully he would wave it off and life would continue as normal! I chose the latter and I regret it entirely. Are you happy?” Luna snapped, admitting nearly everything. She silently cursed her sister at how well she was able to extract information out of other ponies.

“Okay so you didn’t want to lie to him, it just ‘happened.’ I can live with that. Why?” Celestia punctuated her observations with another question.

“I need not explain myself to you!!!” Luna raised her voice further, bordering her Royal Voice. Celestia remained as stern as always, though her hands shifted to the sides of her hips.

“You’ve come this far, might as well spill the rest!” Celestia reasoned. She could easily tell that whatever this was stemming from was weighing in on Luna’s mind horrendously, just by how she was reacting. As her older sister, the Solar Alicorn had found out throughout their long lives that Luna would not always give up important info central to her own mental health willingly through talk, at least with her. So, using the cleverness of a leader, Celestia figured out the easiest way to get information and get Luna to open up for her own good was to antagonize it out of her.

Luna’s eye twitched.

“Get out! Get out of my room, now!” she ordered, pointed to the door aggressively.

“What is with you?! This really should not be as big of a deal as you’re making out to be, holy Tartarus!”

“I said GET OUT!!” Luna used her Royal Voice, blowing Celestia’s hair back, though the latter remained unphased. The dark alicorn balled her fists, bared her teeth, and her eyes flared bright teal as her horn lit up. Celestia’s facial expression turned dark as she closed the distance between them. Now it was her turn.

“I advise you to stay your tone and disperse your magic, sister. You need to let this out of your system for your own good and I will not tolerate your threats. I’m only trying to help you but if I need to physically knock sense into you because you refuse to not simmer down over what seems to be a miscommunication, then please… I dare you try something. You may be the better fighter fist-to-hoof, with a sword, or with a gun, but I have a thousand years of magic over you,” Celestia threw her threat right back at Luna, nearly looking down completely on her. She took Luna’s silence, and lack of a stance change, to continue:

“I’ll knock you on your goddamn ass!” Celestia punctuated by pointing her index finger to the floor behind Luna. After several tense seconds Luna’s eyes flared brighter and she lunged.

From the outside of the castle, the Lunar Princess was seen being magically thrown out her window, over her balcony, and screaming in terror the entire way down as she fell into the castle moat with a loud and quite visible splash. Celestia exited onto her sister’s balcony and leaned over the railings, supporting herself with her hands as Luna resurfaced, breathing deeply and recovering from the shock of what had just happened. The latter was panting as her eyes focused on her surroundings, taking in her own actions and the consequences of them. Instead of furor and confusion, the only emotion that her eyes harbored was regret.

“Feeling better?” Celestia called down, having to necessarily raise her voice on account of the distance. Luna sighed and pushed her now lifeless hair out of her face face.

“Very much so,” she called back up dejectedly but honestly. She really did feel so much better. Though unorthodox, Celestia always had a new way to make her see reason. Luna conceded that she definitely still had a lot of work to do with controlling her temper. The Solar Princess crossed her forearms and pressed her chest into them to comfortably lean.

“You really like him, don’t you?” Celestia put the question out there, deciding to meet her sister half-way figuratively. Luna gently paddled her hooves and hands to keep afloat in the moving water.

“More than you know…” Luna finally admitted, to which she internally admitted to herself that it felt good to say that.

Silence evolved between them, Celestia smiling endearingly as her sister’s rather obvious revelation came to light. There were no Guards around so no one else could hear but them.

"Fred cares about you. A lot, as you do him. I sincerely doubt that Fredrick will hold a grudge against you for a last-ditch lie like that, when under all the layers of your twattery was simple miscommunication. Either way, you two are going to have a lot to talk about and I support whatever decision you two come to amicably… And you should know that I’m always here to help you should you find yourself in need of advice. I know you’re new at this."

"Did... Did he put you up to this?" Luna asked, taking her sister's words in.

"No. In fact he asked me not to come and talk to you when I offered, as he wanted to do it himself. But to ensure the least amount of fallout, I felt it in best interest to see you anyway. Now, you two obviously have some important things to talk about but you’ll figure it out. You two work well together.”

“Thank you Celly… and I’m sorry…”

“Things happen, Luna. I think of you no differently nor do I love you any less. We’ve had fights much worse than this, not including the Nightmare Incident,” Celestia pointed out with a gentle smile. Indeed the two had innumerable fights throughout the years before Luna’s banishment. Most of them were shouting matches with their own royal voices but once in a great while, it was documented that a few arguments actually came to trading blows. Deep in the royal archives, there was actually a history book that detailed what was called the “Thirty-Minute War,” which listed the belligerents as “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria,” the outcome as “Nothing of value,” and the combined casualty figures as: “Two sprained hooves, one broken finger, one broken wing, two bruised horns, 2131 bits in property damage, Celestia’s favorite suit, Luna’s Pride, and thirty minutes of time.” That monetary figure was never corrected for inflation. As was the life of two sisters who love each other.

“Am I a foal for overreacting so grossly?” Luna asked, nearly pleading for reassurance.

“We come from a family of overreactors. I have my moments as well… although they’re for different aspects of life. I can’t keep this calm and motherly façade every waking minute!” Celestia pointed out. Luna gave a gentle laugh.

“Well, thank you again for knocking sense into me. I think I shall go find Fredrick before he finds me,” Luna resolved. Celestia’s eyes were drawn elsewhere before moving back to her sister in the water.

“Well you may be a bit out of luck on that one, Luna. Just be honest with each other and good luck!” Celestia called down, waving and exiting back into her sister’s room. Luna was stunned at her sudden exit and was about to call out to her when a certain human, clad in dark-green T-shirt and black shorts, had come back towards the castle after cresting a small hill overlooking the moat. He was known to go on walks outside and around castle grounds when he needed fresh air. Fredrick was as surprised to see her there as she was to see him so a small silence pervaded before the alicorn spoke first:

“H-Hi Fredrick!” Luna waved and called out to her friend nervously.

“Hey Luna… umm, going swimming?” he asked somewhat awkwardly, partly due to the central situation, but the rest due to being the first time he’s ever seen Luna swimming in her casual, sleeveless dress.

“Indeed! It was just so hot I felt I needed to cool off! Certainly did the trick I might add!” Luna called back, still bobbing in the water casually. Fred could not help but see the humor in the situation.

“But you’re in a dress…?”

“Wait, you do not jump in the moat with your clothes on?” Luna asked with a look of disbelief completely covering her face, like he was the weird one. Fred shrugged.

“I guess.” Fred was going to say more but Luna cut him off:

“Fredrick, we really need to talk. May we?”

“I was actually about to say and ask you the same thing. You should probably get out of the moat though,” he pointed out. Luna looked down and giggled at the ridiculousness of the situation before swimming to the edge. Fred carefully walked to meet her at the edge and help her out. As Luna got settled on solid ground once more, Fred could not help but forget the original situation at hand because he was too busy occupying his mind with the fact that Luna’s dress clung perfectly to her slim body, greatly pronouncing her breasts through the fabric. He was able to get away with eyeing her up as long as he did due to Luna wringing out her hair and setting it back to its ethereal state.

“I shall teleport us back into my chambers. I need to dry off first and change my attire,” she commented, charging her horn.

“Of course,” Fredrick readily agreed, and they immediately found themselves back in her room. He took a seat on her bed and Luna immediately beelined for the bathroom straight across, clean clothes in hand. When she went to close the door, however, it did not entirely click shut before she started undressing.

From where he was sitting, that innocent crack between the door and the frame afforded Fred with a tiny bit of a show. He did not even have to adjust his position, but he was able to clearly see his best friend undress fully, though mostly veiled through the crack. He did catch a glimpse of one thing of his affections, and as much as he wanted to turn away out of respect for her, he could not summon the willpower to do so.

That ass though…

While Fredrick would readily admit that he was a “boob-guy,” he knew to give the booty the respect it deserved. The firm, succulently-curved posterior that Luna clearly possessed was more than enough eye-candy to supply his late night fantasies for about a week. While he would not complain in any case, given the choice, he’d easily choose the perfectly sized breasts (certainly sized in the human high D-cup range by his estimates) that were beholden to her.

This really isn’t gonna make this conversation easier.

After Luna had slipped on undergarments and her typical baggy long-sleeve, she exited the bathroom and found Fredrick gazing up at the spinning galaxy in her room, though leaning very oddly.

Pitching a tent was not the greatest way to initiate a heart-to-heart.

“So…” Luna initiated, sitting on the bed next to Fredrick who turned to face her; his raging hard-on finally gone through extraordinary willpower. As a result, he thought he might as well get straight to the point. From the way that she was speaking and how dejected she looked, Fred could only assume that she knew what he was going to ask.

“Why did you lie about your heat?”

“I did not do it intentionally, for it just sort of… happened. When you questioned me about my slightly more physical actions, I panicked, and that was the first thing on my mind, so I blurted it out, hoping the entire situation blew over,” Luna spoke from the heart.

“That did not answer the question though… why did you feel the need to lie? Why were you panicking?”

Because she likes you?

Fredrick had the habit of not giving his inner thoughts and conscience more credit for their insight. That seemed like the only plausible solution but he did not like assuming things, lest he get the wrong idea and drive her away.

“B-because… I am…” Luna was struggling to articulate more out of possible fallout from her words. It was now or never though. “Interested in you,” she immediately averted her gaze elsewhere, finding her floor pattern intricate and complex. On Fredrick’s side, however, he was processing those words:

Told you, dumbass. Now, time to take it slow and choose your words wisely...

“Well, it was bound to happen sometime…” he responded with a thousand thoughts in his head at once, scratching his neck nervously. The dejection in Luna’s eyes showed even clearer.

Smoooooooooooooooth Criminal, Fred. Try again.

“No! That’s not what I meant! I know what you’re thinking and that’s not what I meant at all! It’s just…” he took a breath and gathered his words. “What I meant to say was that… I feel the same. I like you too; I really like you actually, but I did not anticipate in my wildest dreams that we were on the same level, because I knew we would get there eventually. That’s what I meant, Luna,” he corrected himself completely, placing his hand over hers. Luna’s face was awash with relief and her cheeks colored at the gesture.

“Y-You really feel the same?” she asked for clarification. Like when they first met, she needed the explicit words straight to her face. Her conviction only fueled his own:

“Yes. A million times yes as long as you also feel the same,” he affirmed.

“That means the same thing, Fred,” Luna said with a meek but joking tone. Fredrick realized that he indeed circled the implicit question back around.

“Oh right… heh, my bad.” Luna giggled, the mood finally lightening at the short but direct conversation. Fred picked up the reins again:

“So yeah… you didn’t have to lie to me, Luna. You should know through all of our mistakes that I’m open to getting closer, and well, you kinda know now,” he pointed out. Luna’s face visibly brightened and she scooted closer to him.

“I’ll be sure to remember that,” she said with a genuine Luna-smile on her face. With the pleasantries and obvious findings out of the way, now came the real questions that would determine innumerable things in the future.

“So, what happens now?” Fredrick asked. Were they together? Boyfriend/girlfriend? Boyfriend/Marefriend? What?

“That… is the hardest question, actually,” Luna began pensively. “What I’m about to say right now may sound horrifically insensitive but there is reasoning behind it… mainly political.”

“Go on…” Luna sighed and steeled her resolve for any negative reaction on Fredrick’s part.

“Traditionally it is those of noble blood that can seek our hands in the courting process, though it is not an explicit law or requirement. Nevertheless if anypony outside of Celestia got wind of a relationship between us, especially since you’re not of this world, the press and the nobility would be in an uproar. Normally I could not, as you say, ‘give a single slow-roasted, jack-toasted fuck’ about the press, nor the nobility… as you have stood against my endless contemptuous rants about them both. As well, you know well that said nobility is quite vain and petty. This could cause serious fallout… but I could not care less about that. I could shrug it off… but, the nobility especially, would see to it that your life is miserable. Because of certain checks and balances, on top of government influence, Celestia and I do not have the power to silence them. Even if we could, by equal protections, they would have little incentive to obey. It is not fair to you, Fred, and I refuse to let that happen,” Luna admitted, her eyes displaying a window of sadness in her soul.

So close, yet so far.

“We could forego title? At least for public relations purposes,” Fredrick suggested. Luna almost looked offended by that remark.

“Never. Fredrick, as my best friend, I care about you more than you truly know… if we were to officially take the next step I would not wish to hide like some coward. I would want to shout it to all of Equestria! The title in any relationship is the future-proof coating. Even if we went that route, one of us would be bound to say something outside of our bedrooms that we should not have… and it would all go downhill from there. Living like that would be horrible,” Luna rebutted. The two fell silent as they thought this entire scenario though. However, no other alternative was forthcoming, at least at that moment.

“I need to raise the moon. Would you mind waiting here for me?” Luna asked, standing up and moving to grab some pants.

“Naturally. I’ll be here when you return,” Fred affirmed with a gentle grin, which she returned gratefully. The two held their eyes locked for about ten seconds before Luna had to leave for a little while. Alone, he exhaled a breath that he did not know he was holding and flopped back onto the bed, a somewhat peaceful smile on his face. After all, it had been confirmed: they both really like each other.

This is awesome.

Even so, he was still worried about the title situation. He too, had little idea where to go from here if the scenario Luna painted was indeed true, and from how passionate she spoke, it most certainly was… as well, his own personal experiences with the nobility would validate her story completely.

“We’ll think of something. We always do,” he reassured himself as he stared into the spiral galaxy above, and there he laid until Luna’s eventual return and the onset of the night. The two had decided that after the day’s events, that they would keep each other company the rest of the night.

The odd pair had assumed their usual ‘cuddle-stations’ with Luna’s head and right hand on his chest with body flush against his own, and Fred’s right hand running up and down her side. This time, however, the difference was that instead of comfortably resting, both sets of eyes were wide open and staring off into nothingness. They had remained this way for over two hours… just thinking.

“Are you awake?” Luna asked softly.

“Oh yeah.”

“I do not suppose you have any ideas…?” Luna asked, hoping at least one of them could suggest somewhere to go from this point on. It was all just so confusing for the two friends. Luna snuggled closer into him, placing her face in his neck. Truth be told, however, both of them knew the best course of action at this point in time… in fact there were really only two ways to go. One was clearly unacceptable due to outside forces, and the other was perfectly clear as a result.

“We’re going to have to remain just friends, huh?” Fred finally addressed the elephant in the room. Luna sighed, again, dejectedly.

“Best friends. And so it would seem,” she nuzzled into his neck comfortably, though her action made his breath hitch just a little bit, especially when he could feel her rhythmic breathing against his skin. He helped pull her into him that much tighter.

The two really did not know what else to say at this point… what was there to say? Any dialogue pertinent to the “conversation” at hand would only be an affirmation of what they already knew. She wanted to cry at the revelations, truly. Politics had to potentially ruin everything… but before she could allow herself to, she decided to change something up. The mood was depressing, and quite frankly, Luna could not take it anymore. Even if it meant only temporary relief, she decided to rely on the one method that instantly brightened spirits between she and Fredrick:

She poked his stomach.

Mainly out of reflex, Fred poked her side. The small gestures were nothing more than silly hand play but to them it was some sort of calming gesture between the two. Luna countered with a poke to his left pec.

“We’re seriously doing this now?” Fredrick asked, curling his right hand around and poking the side of her stomach.

“We are seriously doing this now, unless you concede defeat!” Luna exclaimed, poking his thigh. Fred poked her cheek, eliciting a giggle from the mare. She adjusted her position on her side and poked right where his belly-button was. He gave out some weird hitch at the odd feeling.

“Button!”

Fred refused to let that slide and he scooted over quickly, giving him full access to her from and poked hers in return, to which she gave the tiniest of shrieks.

“Button.”

The poking and counter poking continued for about thirty seconds and it increasingly became faster paced. For just this little bit of time, their original thoughts disappeared into a veil of glee. Luna decided to up the ante… one which Fredrick always hated. She poked exactly where his nipple would be.

“Nipple!”

Fred thought for a split second, but suddenly, his inner mind made the decision for him:

Do it, fucker.

“Oh! Know what?” Fredrick disregarded everything and poked Luna’s right breast through her shirt. Though the underlying bra got in the way he knew with some degree of accuracy where his target was. Luna squealed and pulled back in complete shock, clutching said breast with her hand, Fred with a smug look on his face.

“Nipple.”

“You dare touch the royal breasts?!” Luna yelled with fake anger.

“I dare touch the royal breasts. What’cha gonna do? What. YOU. GONNA. DO?”

Luna, without hesitation and with a determined grin, grabbed and squeezed his left inner thigh, which she found out in the past was his second most ticklish spot. The reaction was immediate as he lurched his upper body upward with a less than masculine shriek of surprise and laughter. He responded by latching his right hand onto her left side, which was one of her sensitive ticklish spots, eliciting a similar reaction. Soon, the poking fight devolved into a tickle fight until the two were in a jumbled heap of limbs. With their preliminary energy finally expended, the two giggled the rest away and laid back down. This time, however, they took slightly less-usual position, which was spooning.

Luna snuggled her back into his warmth as much as she could and his draped arm fell on her semi-exposed stomach, gently tracing lines. Such positions would be counter to what the common opinion of Luna was: one who led justly yet with an iron fist. She was the definition of a fierce leader… not one who was the little spoon nor enjoyed being coddled. But that was just it: Luna loved her subjects, but she enjoyed the feeling of being cared for in return… and being pampered once in a while was never a bad thing in the slightest.

“Sorry for touching your boobs…” Fred bluntly spoke out, causing Luna to nearly bust out laughing.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I antagonized it out of you and you finally took the initiative. I’m quite impressed.”

“Wait, you actually didn’t mind?” Fredrick asked, completely mindblown. Luna rolled her eyes and instead of responding with words, she responded with actions. She took Fred’s left hand which was on her stomach and moved it straight onto her left breast. He froze up immediately.

“No, I don’t mind because it was you who performed such an action,” Luna added with a smug grin, one which he could not see on account of their positioning.

“Well, umm… okay,” he uttered all he could. At that point, he was attempting to make himself not look like an ass, and just ended up awkwardly cupping it, much to Luna’s humor.

“Seriously, Fredrick, if you’re going to go for it, commit to it. Don’t half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing!” Fred had the complete green light, so he just needed to instantly check with his subconscious:

Do it or you’re gay.

Right then, he truly groped her by every definition and synonym of the word. The sudden shift caused an involuntary coo out of the Lunar Princess.

“T-There you go… was that so difficult?” she asked sarcastically, shameless enjoying the attention her ‘girl’ was receiving.

“Kinda hard when your best friend is the hottest mare in Equestria,” Fred replied bluntly, his inhibitions lowered by the entire situation… quite honestly both sets of inhibitions were quickly diminishing as time progressed. Luna giggled a very girly giggle… one that he had never heard before.

“Doubtful, but something is certainly ‘kinda hard,’ currently,” Luna alluded, feeling a bulge near her ass that she did not notice was there before. Fred’s turn to roll his eyes.

“That was the most cliche sounding allusion I’ve heard in my life.”

“Shut it!” Luna replied and flexed her gluteal muscles, entrenching Fred’s clothed length, eliciting a strained groan from the poor fellow.

“Damn how often do you work out!?” he asked, completely floored by the powerful grip she was able to summon with essentially her ass-cheeks and a modest pair of panties.

“Enough for you to enjoy yourself, am I correct?” Luna asked coyly, peeking over her shoulder with an equally coy grin. She punctuated her words by wiggling her butt… just a bit. Another pleasure-filled groan.

“I hate you… so much,” Fredrick uttered out half-heartedly.

“Nay, that did not sound convinc—ooohh...” Luna’s teasing was cut off when Fred slipped his other arm under her body and gripped her other, neglected breast, squeezing them together.

“You were saying?” he added with his own coy tone of voice, beginning to actively knead the perfect orbs through her bra. Luna bit her lower lip gently at the nice, stimulating feeling of her sensitive chest getting toyed with. Her heart was racing and her breathing was a bit more erratic than normal, but it was expected given the circumstances. On Fred’s end, he was faring no better. His member was pulsating painfully in the pleasureful prison in which it was held. Luna responded to his actions by pressing her ass tighter into his crotch.

“I hate you as well…”

Luna continued to grind her ass into Fred’s crotch while the latter refused to let up on fondling her boobs in return. Soon, however, he became a bit more adventurous and slipped his hands under both her shirt and bra, feeling the perfect orbs that he fantasized over night upon night in entirety. They felt nothing short of heavenly… perfect enough to cup with one hand each but still overflow his grips just a little.

“Mmmmm… my, my, you have become quite the adventurer…” Luna commented, eating up all the attention and nearly forgetting to continue her own reciprocations.

“Implying you aren’t enjoying yourself,” Fred quipped in return. Luna moved his hands away and did something that he could not decipher… at least until Luna pulled her bra out from under her shirt and tossed it into the darkness. She looked back over and gave him a purely lust-filled grin. He had full access now. Naturally, he took complete advantage of that. The two friends continued their actions incessantly; Luna working and gyrating her hips onto Fred’s impossibly hard member while she enjoyed feeling of her sensitive boobs getting preferential treatment by his hands, especially when his fingers lightly pinched or brushed over her nipples.

Eventually, however, Luna just could not take it anymore and needed to do something… something she wanted to do for a long, long time:

She turned completely around, faced the now questioning Fred, and then smashed her muzzle against his face, their lips locking instantly in a fiery kiss that soon turned into an open-mouthed make-out with the Princess on top. Luna giggled as her larger tongue easily overpowered his own. They separated momentarily to catch much needed, life-giving air.

“Your tongue-game is weak,” Luna commented jokingly before she dove back in for seconds, grabbing his shirt and balling her hands up into fists. He scoffed while she continued her oral assault on his own mouth, before breaking away for the same purpose.

“Be sure to say that to me when I’m kissing your other lips,” Fredrick threw sarcasm back at her and pulled her back down to meet his mouth. She laughed hard before being occupied yet again. Yet a third time, they broke apart.

“Not tonight… I want to enjoy this!” Luna replied and threw her tongue back into the fray of their two connected mouths. The room was full of subtle groans, pants, and the smacking sound of relentless kisses of varying degrees of lust and intensity. It was clear that this was long overdue for the both of them. Soon enough though, they lost their energy, and though painfully aroused, knew that a line had to be drawn.

“Best friends, huh?” Fredrick asked sarcastically as they resumed the positions they were in when they first laid down, gentle pants escaping both of their battered mouths. Both even had a mark or two on their necks.

“I feel I’ve been convinced enough to not see an immediate, pressing issue with such status,” Luna replied, resting her eyes, a dopey grin on her face. Though both were completely satisfied for the night, however, one question remained:

“I um… so was this a one-time thing?” Fred asked.

“Did you really want it to be?” Luna asked half-heartedly.

“N-Not really, actually.” She laughed knowingly.

“I did not think so, and I too wish to continue our ‘friendly adventures,’ as time goes on. You are the only one I would consider such an endeavor with at any rate, Fredrick,” Luna admitted endearingly with a smile. Both were in agreement that this did not have to necessarily end due to the situation they were in. If that were the case, then, staying “best friends” really did not seem all that bad. Fred tried to find some moral wrong with the situation but he really could not. Both of them were consenting adults, both trusted and cared for each other, and they saw each other as necessary parts of each other’s lives and not just for attraction purposes… so the fear of a ‘friends with benefits’ quagmire was looking increasingly unlikely, much to his relief.

“Likewise, Luna. Likewise.”

Luna smiled and nuzzled the side of his face with her own before resting on him once more. After one more open-mouthed goodnight kiss, the two wordlessly let themselves fall into sleep’s grasp completely satisfied that disaster had, so far, been staved off. Best friends they remained for the day, but they mutually unlocked the fire-filled passion within them that would be guaranteed to ignite new possibilities and adventures.

Fredrick nor Luna could really wait until the next day…