A/N: So...this happened. I'm planning for this to be multi-chapter, but for now it's a Tumble x Jemi drabble. All fluff! ^-^

"Tumble, stop!"

Tumblebrutus chuckled, his paws reaching out, fingers wiggling. He clambered clumsily around the queen, managing to tickle the side of her stomach. Jemima scurried back, squealing, a huge smile on her face. He could watch that smile for hours and never tire of it.

He dove at her again and she twisted around, lighting fast, and grasped his paws in hers. Looking as if it required all her strength, she pinned them both down onto the bedsheets, effectively stopping his tickling. "Tumble, please," she got out between choked laughter. "You need to stop!"

Tumblebrutus relaxed his paws in hers, watching her with gentle eyes. "Okay, okay, I'm done," he told her soothingly. He gave her a wry grin, letting his whole body still. They'd been playing this game for about half and hour now, but Jemima still hadn't gotten a decent tickle on him. She watched him distrustfully, her eyes squinting playfully. After a few seconds pause, the tom making sure not to move, she began to lift her paws from his.

Big mistake. Tumblebrutus launched himself towards her, tickling her with a renewed fiery ferocity. She collapsed like putty beneath him, giggling and choking for breath.

Once finally satisfied, he joined her, both of them clutching their stomachs with laughter. After it had subsided, they lay in quiet peace, at first breathing heavily and then quieting. Tumblebrutus gave a sideways glance at Jemima, his tail swishing. The calico queen was staring up at the ceiling, a small smile on her pixie face. She was so unbelievably beautiful. He wondered if she knew, if she could sense how he was feeling. Jemima had a way of reading people. Even his father had noticed. "That queen is a quiet thing, but she sure is sharp," had been his words. So could she see? Did she know everything he was thinking right now, or perhaps suspected that he wanted something else?

They had been close friends since birth. Born only a few weeks apart, Tumblebrutus the senior, they had been almost inseparable during the first few months only because they were about the same size. Best friends. They'd played and laughed and joked with each other for as long as he could remember. Of course, now she had Victoria. In a weird way, Tumblebrutus was irritatingly jealous of her. He knew a lot about Jemima, but he was sure Victoria knew more. He saw them sometimes, whispering and giggling like queens do. It frustrated him even if it was a ridiculous frustration.

He had a tom best friend himself, Pouncival, but it wasn't the same. Jemima was friends with him too, but he had never been friends with Victoria. She was older than them, and annoyingly protective of Jemima. Whenever they were having a 'girl's talk', she would turn her back on him, nose up, and Jemima would join her with a giggle. She wouldn't even spare Tumblebrutus an apologetic smile when he would ask after her.

Did she talk to Victoria about him? Most of the kits knew they were friends, but he was sure none of them knew how close they really were. Embarrassing moments had been shared, tears had been shed, dire secrets had been whispered over wrinkled pillowcases…back when they were young enough to have sleepovers.

She had told him things she considered deathly important, like how she thought Tugger's new shoes were ugly or how Vicky could sometimes be vapid. He remembered that dig very precisely because he had spent the next five minutes chanting 'vapid Vicky' until Jemima had wapped him on the nose in annoyance. He wondered if she ever told the white queen things that bothered her about him. Could he be too, hmm, what started with a T…talkative? Did they chant 'Talkative Tumble' at their sleepovers? Which, by the way, was still accepted since they were both queens.

Tumblebrutus doubted it. But in any case, he could not deny how he felt about her. It seemed like one day a light bulb had gone off in his head and he began to think of her as beautiful. Slowly that transitioned into perfect, and now he couldn't remember what it had been like before he had felt this way. And watching her rest beside him, her eyes wide and blinking up at nothing, that feeling was growing ever stronger.

"Jemima," he said softly, and his tail stilled beside him, unconsciously so.

She tilted her head towards him, the small smile widening slightly. "Tumblebrutus," she answered teasingly. He stared at her just long enough to see her eyebrows shift into a slight frown. There. She saw it, whatever it was. She knew.

Perhaps that was what convinced him to do it. Later, he would think and could not remember for the life of him what had given him the bravery. But he thought perhaps that was it-the way that something had changed in her soft brown eyes, sensing that he wanted something... something else.

He leaned over just slightly-they were only inches apart anyway- and gently kissed her on the mouth.

At first she didn't react, and something inside of him froze cold, but then…but then. There was a soft pressure, and she was kissing him back. It only lasted a few seconds, too short. But he would still remember that kiss for the rest of his life, way past his adult years. It was the kiss he would compare all others to, the warm, hesitant kiss that lasted barely longer than a couple blinks.

When they drew away, her eyes were even wider then before, surprised and faintly happy. Her mouth was still in that smile, and a slight blush coloured her cheeks. "Tumble?" she asked, her voice lilting and high.

"Jemi?" he asked back, in that same teasing tone, and they both began to laugh, at first shyly and then as they had laughed a thousand times before. My best friend, he thought happily, and then, Take that, Victoria.

From somewhere beside him he felt the brush of her paw against his, and the fingers slowly interlaced. They'd held hands before, just the same as this, but somehow…somehow…it wasn't.

Because this time, it was perfect.

Another A/N: Yay! Please review and thanks for reading! :)