A/N: Long time, no see guys! Don't get too excited now, this is only a short. I know, lame right? However, there is something to be excited for! I am currently working on a new story. It's quite different from my other ones but I am loving every bit of writing it. I'm a little less than halfway done, but I plan on posting it once the entire story is done. I learned from Terror's Peak that uploading right after a new chapter was finished caused too many lengthy delays. So yeah, it'll be a while before I post it, but at least I can post the all the chapters more frequently and consistently :) If you guys really want, I could post sort of a prologue to the story so you kind of have an idea of what it'll be about, but then it'll be a long time before the actual story is posted, so maybe not. Idk lol. Anyway, for the time being, I hope you all enjoy my very first short: Mission Mistletoe.
'Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the town.
Every pup was delightful, not a single frown.
Colourful lights were hung on the walls,
As the Paw Patrol happily decorated City Hall.
Despite all the work, they could not be tardy,
'Cause they could not wait for Goodway's Christmas Party.
Now Rocky, now Zuma, and don't forget Rubble!
On Chase, on Skye, and next is Marshall!
With the Paw Patrol working extremely fast,
There was no doubt Christmas Eve would be a blast!
The Christmas holidays were a very special and exciting time for Adventure Bay. There was so much to look forward too; giving gifts, the gorgeous snowy weather, Santa, the list is almost endless. However, for this special town, there is one unique tradition that nearly the whole city looks forward too, and that is Mrs. Goodway's Annual Christmas Party.
Every Christmas Eve, the cheerful Mayor of Adventure Bay would host a giant party at City Hall, celebrating the festivities. There was singing, dancing, lots of food and best of all, aside from all of the fun activities, these parties were a great opportunity for everyone to show love and appreciation to important people, or pups, in their lives. This factor alone was what made the Mayor's parties that much better than anyone else's.
Although she was the host, the Mayor still had to give major credit to the ones who helped her set it up each year, which were none other than the Paw Patrol. The whole team was absolutely buzzing as they worked to make the hall look beautiful. All they could think about was the fun that was going to come from it.
By about lunchtime, almost all of the Christmas decor was put up. Replicas of the famous eight reindeer, along with Rudolph, were hung from the ceiling, colourful lights were strung around the entire perimeter of the hall, and a giant, decorated Christmas tree with presents underneath was placed next to the DJ booth to top everything off.
Mayor Goodway circled the room in awe as she admired the dazzling Christmas vibes.
"This… place… looks… AMAZING!" she exclaimed. However, her excitement was brought to a halt as she scanned the enormous Christmas tree. "Um… pups, I think we're missing something."
The entire crew turned their attention towards what Mayor Goodway was looking at, in an attempt to decipher what she was implying. There were beautiful, bright lights circling the branches, silver and blue bulbs that shone in the light, and sparking white tinsel that gave the tree a snowy, winter feel. They analyzed it from bottom to top, and only then did they realize their fatal error.
"The star!" the whole Paw Patrol shouted at once.
"Coming through!" Skye gleefully shouted, directing all of the attention towards her.
The cockapoo pup fetched the big, golden star and zoomed past everybody with her trusty jetpack and wings. Gracefully, she flew to the very top of the towering tree and gently placed the star on top for all to see. Then, aviator pup carefully managed her way back to the ground where she was met with all the praise.
"Way to go, Skye!" applauded Ryder.
"Nice job, Skye! You're the best pilot around!" Chase complimented, possibly a bit too eagerly. The german shepherd's fondness of the cockapoo earned a few chuckles from the other pups. Skye, herself, simply giggled.
"Ryder, pups, this will be the BEST Christmas party Adventure Bay had ever been to!" Mayor Goodway proclaimed, "I couldn't have done it without you guys!"
"Don't mention it, Mayor," Ryder smiled, "it was our pleasure!"
"Ryder wait!" Rubble called as he poked his head into the nearly empty box of Christmas ornaments. "There's one thing left… it looks like food?"
This resulted in laughs all around as it was typical of the english bulldog to relate everything to food, due to his large appetite.
"No, I swear!" the construction pup insisted, "It looks like some type of berry."
"Ohh, I think I know what you're talking about," Ryder said as he made his way over to the box.
"Ah, just as I thought," the boy concluded, holding the decoration out for everyone to see, "Mistletoe!"
The pups tilted their heads at Ryder, still unsure of what these peculiar berries were or why they were some type of decoration.
"Ryder, what's a mistletoe?" asked Marshall.
"It's a type of berry that grows on trees," Ryder answered as he hung it above the opening of a door.
"Well, what's it for?" Rubble wondered, displaying a perplexed look.
"It comes from scandinavian mythology and represents love and friendship, which is why we put it up at Christmas," he explained. "However, there's also a special tradition that comes along with it," Ryder winked at his pups.
"Ooh! What is it Ryder?" asked an intrigued mixed breed pup.
Before the boy could answer, Mayor Goodway enthusiastically chimed in.
"Oh! It's the most romantic thing!" she blurted out, "If you and someone else happen to be standing beneath the mistletoe, you have to KISS each other!"
"Eww… gross!" the young bulldog voiced his opinion, "You won't catch me near that thing tonight!"
Ryder and most of the pups laughed at Rubble's innocence as the boy patted him on the head. Chase on the other hand was zoned out and blankly staring at the hanging mistletoe, fantasizing about him and Skye potentially getting caught under there together during the party. Getting slightly carried away in his thoughts, his tongue began to hang out of his mouth with a goofy smile on his face before Marshall nudged him and snapped the german shepherd out of it. By now everybody was scattered around and getting ready to head back to the Lookout to prepare for the party.
"Whatcha day dreamin' about?" Marshall smirked at his best friend.
"I w-wasn't day dreaming," denied Chase.
"Oh really?" questioned the dally, "So you weren't staring at the mistletoe, drooling over the thought of you and Skye smooching each other?"
"Dude, be quiet!" Chase covered the dalmatian pup's mouth.
"Don't worry, nobody heard me. They're all getting ready to leave," Marshall informed him. "So, you and Skye under the mistletoe. You want it to happen or not? 'Cause I can help you out."
The police pup was about to deny it again, however he began thinking about the offer at stake. Although slightly embarrassed, he did want his fantasy to become reality. Besides, apparently it was quite obvious that he wanted it to happen and that he was going to try. He might as well get a helping hand to better his chances.
"Yeah…" he blushed, "I really do…"
"Atta boy Chase!" the dally patted his friend on the back, "If you want her to know how you feel, what better way to kick things off, eh?"
The dally's encouragement helped Chase feel a little more comfortable, but he was still slightly nervous and unsure.
"I just hope she doesn't reject me…" the german shepherd worried.
"Don't be silly Chase, you're an amazing pup," countered Marshall. Of course, it wouldn't be a typical Marshall response without poking a little fun at the police pup. "Besides, once Skye gets a taste of those sweet lips, she'll think you're irresistible!" He added.
Chase punched Marshall's shoulder, frowning at the immature pup's snarky remark. The dally himself was cracking up over his own humour.
"Yeah, yeah, don't knock yourself out," the shepherd rolled his eyes. "So, how are you planning to make this work?"
Before Marshall was able to share a few ideas, Ryder called out to them from City Hall's entrance.
"Chase! Marshall!" the boy hollered.
"Coming!" both pups called back.
However, prior to heading out, the fire pup spoke a few somewhat reassuring words to his good ol' german shepherd pal; words that, despite their direct meaning, usually didn't end up proving to be very effective.
"Just trust me," Marshall winked.
And with that, they both caught up with the rest of the Paw Patrol and headed back to the Lookout to prepare.
In no time, the clock struck six and Mayor Goodway's Christmas Eve party was alive and well. Red and green flashing lights lit up the scene, while classic festive tunes, like Jingle Bell Rock and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, filled the air. Ryder and the pups were having a fantastic time as the Christmas cheer was spreading like wildfire.
"Oh Ryder! Pups!" Mayor Goodway ran over to the Paw Patrol. "Thank you so so so much for coming, and for helping out earlier. This is turning out to be a bigger success than last year!"
"No worries, Mayor," responded Ryder.
"Yeah! We wouldn't miss it for the world!" exclaimed Marshall, followed by the pups nodding in agreement. Each of them had their own little Santa hats on that matched their pup tag's colour, making them look as cute as ever.
"Ohhh, you pups are so adorable!" the Mayor laughed. However, she was quick to scurry away once she noticed something from the corner of her eye. "Oh! One moment pups, I'll be right back!"
The energetic, little Mayor ran up to the stage and paused the music, shining a spotlight directly onto Farmer Yumi and Farmer Al. They were innocently chatting in front the mouth of one of the many hallways, sipping their drinks and, unbeknownst to them, standing directly under the mistletoe.
As everybody directed their attention to the couple, Mayor Goodway took the to the mic.
"Looks like we have our first love birds of the night!" she announced, causing the two farmers to look up and notice the festive, dangling berries.
The married couple let out a chuckle and shrugged before sharing a quick kiss, earning applause and clanks of glasses from all around. Shortly after, the music went back on, the lights continued to flash, and the party resumed.
Chase's first instinct after watching what had just happened was to look to Marshall, who was raising his eyebrows at the german shepherd. They both walked to a secluded area where they could talk in private before discussing their plan for the night.
"I didn't think Mayor Goodway was going to make a big scene for everybody who stands under there," Chase worried, as he was beginning to have second thoughts.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Marshall attempted to re-motivate the police pup. "You won't be worrying about all the eyes staring at you once your lips are planted on Skye's and you two start making out and—"
"Marshall, I'm serious," Chase interrupted, not appreciating the dally's 'joke'.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he giggled. "Don't worry, once your special moment is about to happen, I'll distract Mayor Goodway so she doesn't centre you guys out."
"Alright, sounds good," Chase nodded. "So what's the game plan?"
"Well, here's what I was thinking," explained Marshall, "I strike up a conversation with Skye and begin to walk to where the mistletoe is. Then, I pretend that I have to go tell Mayor Goodway something, which will also act as a distaction. That's when you waltz your way on over to her and begin talking. Lastly, once you've been there for a little while, you just happen to look up and 'notice' the mistletoe, leading to your fantasy becoming reality!"
The plan sounded decent enough to Chase but it wasn't by all means perfect.
"But what if she notices the mistletoe when you walk her over there," Chase pointed out.
"That's why we have to wait until later," continued Marshall. "After a few hours everybody will probably have forgotten about Farmer Al and Yumi's incident so she won't see it coming. Plus it'll be darker, so the mistletoe will be harder to notice."
Chase shrugged, "Well, if you think it'll work…"
"I'm positive," Marshall said reassuringly. "I'll let you know when I think enough time has passed."
"And I'll let you know when I'm ready," Chase warned.
"Agreed," the dalmatian pup nodded, "Now, let's get back to the dancefloor before people get suspicious.
The german shepherd nodded back at him and with that, the two quickly jogged back to join the crowd. They sang, danced and ate with their friends, attempting to take their minds off of the topic until the right time came. However, it never failed to leave the back of their minds during all this fun, particularly Chase's.
The party carried on throughout the night, getting even more electric, and eventually the time had reached a quarter to eleven. Unfortunately for Chase, he still hadn't gotten his moment with Skye and the party was ending in fifteen minutes; they hadn't even attempted their plan yet. Sure it was dark enough, but all through the night, more and more couples were getting caught under the mistletoe which kept the topic alive. Even Ryder and Katie had been spotted standing beneath it by Mayor Goodway. That was something the pups would never let Ryder live down, although, the boy was completely content with that.
At around this time, Marshall approached Chase, who was getting slightly anxious to say the least. The last couple that was centred out under the mistletoe happened at about nine o'clock, roughly giving them enough of an interval for people, or at least Skye, to forget about it.
"Listen Chase, I don't mean to rush you but the party is ending soon and right now might be our only chance," warned the fire pup. "Ready or not, we have to act now."
The german shepherd let out a big sigh, and motioned for Marshall to commence their plan. His heart began to pound against his chest as he realized that there was no turning back from this. It's now or never… he thought to himself.
Meanwhile, at the Paw Patrol's designated table for the night, Skye was sitting with Everest and Katie as they snacked on a few treats. It wasn't long before Marshall showed up and slowly weaseled his way into the conversation unsuspiciously.
Eventually, he began to conduct the first phase of their plan.
"Hey Skye, follow me!" said Marshall as he got up from his chair. "I want to show you something."
"Okay!" she smiled at the dally. "Be right back guys!"
The dalmatian pup subtly fist pumped and began to lead Skye towards the mistletoe, which was conveniently on the way to the snack bar.
"It's over here by the treats!" Marshall lied, as they inched closer to the spot where he actually wanted her to go.
Once they were both directly below the mistletoe, the fire pup stopped dead in his tracks, causing Skye to bump into him.
"Oops, sorry Skye," he apologized and slowly began walking away from her, "I… uh… forgot something.. I'll be right back, don't move!"
The cockapoo pup simply giggled at the dally's forgetful and clumsy tendencies, but obeyed him nonetheless. However, as Marshall walked in the opposite direction, he winked at Chase which was the cue for him to make his move. Once the police pup started making his way toward Skye, Marshall couldn't help but smile.
"You got this, Chase," he whispered to himself, watching the shepherd inch closer and closer to the cockapoo. In fact, the dalmatian pup was so distracted that he smacked right into somebody's leg. Luckily for Marshall, it was none other than…
"Mayor Goodway!" exclaimed Marshall.
"Oh, hello Marshall!" the delightful Mayor looked down and greeted the pup, "Are you enjoying the party so far?"
"Absolutely!" the dally smiled back.
"So, what can I do for you?" asked the Mayor.
That's when Marshall discovered the fault in their plan. He didn't know what to distract Mayor Goodway with.
"I.. uh…" he stuttered as he tried thinking of something to say, "... Nice party, eh?"
"Yeah… I just asked you that, silly!" the Mayor awkwardly laughed. "Are you feeling okay Marshall?"
"Yeah! Never better!" he suspiciously grinned, cringing at the dumb question he asked.
"Alright then…" Mayor Goodway's voice trailed off as she looked beyond Marshall, only for her eyes to widen and her smile to reappear. "Oh! Excuse me for just a moment, dear!"
Marshall's heart sank. He didn't have to turn around to know what Mayor Goodway had spotted. The fire pup watched helplessly as she began to make her way onto the stage and cut the music. His surefire plan didn't turn out to be so surefire after all. Once the spotlight flicked on, all Marshall could do was pray for the best.
"Uh oh…" he gulped.
"H-hey Skye!" Chase stammered at he approached the cheerful, little cockapoo.
"Hey Chase!" she exclaimed, beginning to wag her tail, "How's it going?"
"Good! The party's been fun, as it is every year," he awkwardly chuckled, thinking about how much better it could potentially be in a few moments, "How about you?"
"Same! I'm having so much fun!" she smiled.
Chase paused for a moment, simply staring at the precious cockapoo standing in front of him. Her cute, pink santa hat that matched her sparkling magenta eyes, put together with her beautiful smile made her simply irresistible.
Once he snapped out of his short daze, he knew that this was the perfect moment to carry out the final step of their plan. However, just as he looked above them and was about to mention the mistletoe, a blinding light struck them from afar and caused him to lose focus.
Eventually, when both of their eyes adjusted to the light, they could see the Mayor standing up on the stage and everybody looking in their direction. Skye soon realized what was going on, as Chase spotted Marshall among the crowd who had a guilty, apologetic smile painted on his face. The dalmatian mouthed, 'Sorry,' from across the room, but before Chase could respond with anything, Mayor Goodway picked up the microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we have our next lovebirds of the night," she announced, "...or should I say, lovepups!"
The crowd chuckled at the Mayor's joke and at the cute pups in Santa hats that were sitting under the mistletoe. However, Chase and Skye themselves were frozen in place. The german shepherd bit his tongue and was panicked internally about what to do. Meanwhile, the aviator pup was quite shocked and embarrassed, constantly looking back and forth between Chase, the mistletoe, and the crowd.
The other members of the Paw Patrol had quite contrasting reactions to this moment to say the least.
"Welp, Chase is going to kill me," Marshall mumbled to himself, accepting his fate.
"Eww! Haven't enough people kissed under that thing already?!" Rubble grimaced as he turned his young eyes away from the scene.
"I knew they had a thing for each other," Zuma said as he nudged Rocky, who nodded in agreement.
"Awwe," Ryder smiled, "They grow up so fast."
"They're adorable!" exclaimed Katie.
Unable to handle the pressure and attention, Skye dashed down the hallway and zipped into the girl's bathroom, out of everyone's view. On the other hand, Chase, who was still standing there alone, was absolutely mortified to have just been rejected like that in front of everyone. If he was going to get rejected regardless, he would've rather had it happen between the two of them and not in front of the entire hall. Seconds later, Chase followed suit with Skye, running down the hall and into the boy's bathroom where he could be alone.
After witnessing this, the crowd laughed again, admiring the pups' innocence and cuteness. Within no time, the music playing and the party was back on again, causing everyone to forget about Chase and Skye's endearing, or arguably embarrassing moment.
Unfortunately for the two pups, they were too ashamed to show their faces after what had just happened. After a few minutes, Everest had gone to the washroom to check up on Skye, trying to cheer her up at the same time. In the other bathroom, Chase simply sat there facepawing. He wasn't sure what he felt worse about, being humiliated in front of everyone or the fact that Skye didn't want to kiss him.
It took Marshall a little longer than Everest to make the decision of whether or not to go and console their friend, mostly because he figured Chase would be angry, but in the end he ended up making his way to the washroom.
Upon entering, he could instantly see that Chase was in a state of discomfort. Before the german shepherd even got a chance to peer up at him, the dally was already accepting the blame.
"I'm so sorry, Chase! I didn't mean for that to happen, I really didn't! Mayor Goodway saw you guys and by then it was out of my control and—" the dalmatian pup frantically apologized before being interrupted.
"It's okay Marshall, I know you didn't mean it. There's nothing you could've done…" the police pup sighed, "...she clearly didn't want to kiss me."
"Don't get discouraged!" demanded Marshall, "She was probably just embarrassed too and didn't want everyone to watch."
"I don't know…" doubted Chase.
"Come on," the fire pup insisted, "Let's go back out there, maybe we can find Skye and talk to her."
"No way! I'm not going out there in front of everyone after what happened!" the shepherd protested, "I'm better off staying in here for the rest of the party, there's hardly any time left anyway…"
"People have already started leaving though," Marshall informed him, "Besides, I'm sure people have already forgotten about the whole thing, everybody was focused on the party and having fun."
"I'll come out to help clean up once everybody has left," he reiterated.
"Okay…" the dally sighed, "I'll come get you when it's time."
As Marshall went back out onto the dancefloor, he realized how much time they killed while in the washroom. Everybody was slowly putting on their jackets and making their way outside to arrive home safely before midnight. In addition, the lights had been turned on and the music was turned down to a minimum.
Surely enough, when the fire pup checked the time, it was one minute to eleven. Shrugging, he decided to just go and sit at their table for a few minutes until the last few groups of people emptied out of the hall.
There, he was met with the rest of the pups, Rocky, Rubble and Zuma, as well as Ryder. Almost immediately, however, their owner questioned Marshall about the incident.
"Hey Marshall!" he greeted, "Are Chase and Skye doing okay? They kind of disappeared after the whole mistletoe thing."
"Uhh… yeah Chase is fine," he lied, "I'm sure Skye is too. Maybe just a bit embarrassed..."
"Yeah, that's what I figured," the boy chuckled, "They're such cute pups."
Marshall chuckled along as the topic eventually changed. Before they knew it, however, the entire hall was completely bare of people, apart from Mayor Goodway and Chickaletta of course. Only the decorations remained standing.
"Alright pups, let's start cleaning up!" Ryder ordered. "We wanna make it back so we're asleep for Santa, right?"
"Yeah!" the pups all cheered and howled.
"Awesome! Now let's get a move on," he motivated them, before dishing out some jobs for each of them.
Once everybody was about to get to work, Marshall discretely went up to Ryder.
"Hey, I'm gonna go check on Chase first, is that okay?" Marshall asked. "I'll get him to come help too."
"Yeah! By all means," permitted Ryder. "What about Skye?"
"Uhh.. I think Everest is with her," he informed, "I'm sure they'll be out soon too."
"Alright then, I'll see you soon," waved the boy as he started cleaning up with the rest of the pups.
As Marshall entered the restroom, Chase seemed to have gotten over it for the most part. The german shepherd look up at him with a half smile, trying to hide that little bit of hurt and embarrassment that still lingered inside of him.
"Hey Marshall," the police pup addressed him, "is it time to start cleaning?"
"Yep," the dally nodded. "Are you good?"
"Well, as good as I'm going to be," he shrugged. "It'll definitely be a long time before I get over being rejected like that…"
Marshall saw right through the police pup's face and detected the sadness in his best friends voice, causing him to try to cheer the pup up.
"Come on now, don't be so glum!" the dalmatian pup patted his back, "It's Christmas, a time for being jolly. Besides, anything could happen. Don't let this discourage you!"
The dejected shepherd looked up at his friend and smiled before locking him into a hug. For Chase, the best Christmas present of all (for now at least…) was having such a kind, caring friend who would do nothing but support him.
Once the hug broke, Chase spoke, "I'll meet you out there in a sec."
"Sounds good," Marshall smiled back before leaving the washroom.
However, Marshall was immediately startled and jumped as he turned to see Everest standing right in front of him. She, too, had just exited the washroom, only she was comforting Skye instead.
"Oh my gosh, you scared the living daylights out of me," the fire pup groaned.
"Oops, sorry!" Everest giggled as the two pups began walking down the hallway into the main hall. "So, is Chase like, okay?"
"Yeah, just a little embarrassed," he chuckled, trying his best not to share Chase's secret crush.
"Same with Skye, especially since she has a…" Everest covered her mouth before continuing on, "...uh, nevermind."
Unfortunately, Marshall had a pretty good hunch about what the husky pup was about to accidentally say.
"Oh no…" Marshall worried, "Don't tell me you were gonna say what I think you were gonna say…"
"..What…?" Everest raised an eyebrow, curious as to what Marshall was getting at.
"Did it have something to do with a certain female pup having a crush on a certain male pup..?" the dally questioned as vaguely as possible, "...Because, that same male pup juuusssttt might have a crush on that female pup..."
It was quite evident once the realization hit the snow pup, as she bit her tongue and covered her mouth with her paw.
"Ah, shoot!" she cursed, "That just makes this situation so much worse."
"Yeah, I know," Marshall agreed as he rubbed his chin, thinking of some way to fix all this. Once they reached the end of the hallway though, Marshall noticed the mistletoe was taken down and lying in front of them. He then scanned around the hall, watching all of the pups take down the party decorations. Then, it hit him all at once.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Everest, follow me I have a plan," the dally said as he dashed off with the mistletoe dangling from his mouth.
Hopefully this one actually works! He thought to himself, chuckling.
After approximately a solid twenty minutes, Chase finally built up the courage and composure to get back out into the hall. There may not have been anybody left out there, but it was still brave of him to comeback from being turned down like that in front of a crowd.
Unluckily for the police pup, the second he emerged from the bathroom, Skye was simultaneously departing the bathroom on the other side of the hallway. It was like an action replay of what happened to Marshall and Everest only moments ago.
The two pups stopped dead in their tracks and make eye contact almost immediately, awkward eye contact to say the least. All of the bravery that had built up inside of the german shepherd was instantly depleted, although, out of pure instinct, it was him who spoke first.
"Uh.. h-hey.." Chase managed to stammer out.
"H-hi," Skye uncomfortably greeted him back.
Slowly but surely, the two began making their way down the hallway, towards the main hall. However, they both remained silent the entire time. The tension was eating them alive.
As soon as they stepped foot into the large hall, the two pups could only spot Everest, who was filling boxes with decorations next to the ladder.
"Hey pups! Come on over!" she called out to them. Seeing as the hall was already looking clean, Chase and Skye were eager to jog over there and do their share of work before the entire job was done. It was only fair.
"Hey Everest! What can we do to help?" offered Chase.
"I'm glad you asked!" she replied. "I have to help the others outside. They're taking all of the trash from tonight out to the dumpster, as well as loading some things onto our vehicles. Can you two just keep putting things in the right boxes?"
"Sure! Not a problem," obliged Skye, with Chase nodding in agreement.
"Thanks! I'll be back eventually," she informed them as she rushed out the door, seemingly leaving the two pups alone.
Being the productive pups they were, Chase and Skye got right down to work and began putting things away. It was relatively light work, but they were just glad that they were able to help. Although there was really no need for talking at the moment, both of them simply couldn't stand the discomfort that was present in the air. This time, it was Skye who spoke first.
"Listen Chase, I'm really, really sorry for what I did to you back there," the cockapoo apologized. "It wasn't anything personal, I promise, I was just… embarrassed."
"It's okay, Skye, you don't have to be sorry," Chase sighed as he bowed his head down, "I was embarrassed too. I didn't intend for Mayor Goodway to centre us out like that…"
"No, it's fin—" the aviator pup stopped mid-sentence, forming a perplexed look on her face, "Wait, you didn't intend for that…?"
The second Skye's face went bemused, Chase realized his fatal slip of tongue. He tried to recover as he madly blushed but it was simply too late.
"Awwwwe, did you purposely try to lure me under there?" Skye asked as she began to form a slight blush as well, admiring the german shepherd's charm.
"Uhh, I.. um…" the police pup stuttered, unsure of what to say. However, he eventually let out a deep sigh and admitted to his scheme. "Yeah… I did," he said as he shamefully looked down at his twiddling paws.
"Awe, Chase, don't be embarrassed. That's so sweet of you," she smiled as the police pup looked up again, smiling back at her.
This moment felt familiar to both of them. It was quite similar to the moment right before Mayor Goodway shined the spotlight on them. They were both in a daze, staring into each other's eyes, appreciating the other pup's beauty. Then, just like last time, their moment was interrupted. Except this time, it was for the better.
Ahem! Marshall cleared his throat, grabbing both Chase and Skye's attention.
The two lovestruck pups looked up to the source of the sound, only to see Marshall nonchalantly sitting atop the ladder. He was dangling the mistletoe from his paw, directly above the couple.
"Oh, don't mind me," the dally sarcastically grinned, winking at Chase.
The german shepherd looked back at the cockapoo, as she did to him, and blushed.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" she giggled.
"Absolutely nothing," Chase smiled.
And with that, the shepherd leaned in towards Skye and set his lips upon hers, both of them closing their eyes and absorbing every single drop of this moment together.
Marshall looked down and couldn't help but smile as well. Not only was he happy that his plan finally worked out, but he was also very proud of his friend for finally having his special moment with Skye.
As the two pups eventually broke the kiss, they smiled at each other before the cockapoo came forward and nuzzled the police pup's chest.
"I love you, Chase," she softly told him.
Chase placed an arm around Skye and gently rubbed her back.
"I love you too, Skye."
THE END
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed. I don't think I'm the best at writing shorts cause I have too many ideas that come to mind when writing, so sorry if it wasn't as good. Longer stories are my thing, as you can clearly tell :) Oh well. With that, I wish you all a Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays!) and a Happy New Year. See you in a while!
~SwarmX