If there was any time that he was lost for thought, it was definitely right now.

Sitting on the top of the small, spiraling mountain that Banjo and Kazooie had went up so long ago to rescue the honey-bear's beloved sister resided that same bear. The only thing unusual about his routine of looking at the sunset with his shades protecting his eyes was the fact that the breegull was not there to accompany him. Given the present circumstances, Banjo knew why Kazooie was not there with him to enjoy the spring sunset, for the conversation that they had before was just as unusual.

It had been too long since Kazooie said, "Banjo, we need to talk."

Apparently, Kazooie wasn't really prepared to get her feelings across to him, and had a hard time getting her thoughts out. Due to the seriousness of everything, or at least what Banjo could tell (or she wouldn't be fumbling on herself in the first place), the honey-bear made this proposition to the bird. He said that because of the time she decided to do this, he will give her some space until she was ready to talk. After reassuring her of this patience, they had not really said anything to each other until earlier this afternoon.

She said that she would be ready to talk by the time the sun went down.

Banjo normally did almost everything with Kazooie, so it was a strange change of pace to be here without her, as he was accustom to being able to feel her heartbeat on his back, or at least her warmth. It was because of the sudden change of things that made him worry – not so much about their friendship, but what Kazooie had to say.

When it came to anything regarding the house (such as the rare case of something getting broken), Kazooie wasn't really secretive about it. In fact, she was the type that she would tell him the truth, and even tried to have it fixed before anything else happened. If it had anything to do with her personally, such as if she were sick with something that was normally a little harder. Kazooie was never the type to stay in bed, but she did eventually listen to Banjo if it got bad. Other than their occasionally weird adventures, he really couldn't think of anything that would make Kazooie act like this.

"Kazooie…" Banjo said softly as the light from the sun was becoming even more orange on the account of the sunset, "…what are you thinking?"

He had known Kazooie for years, so he couldn't really deny the hurt he felt when that started to change. They were able to read each other and tell each other everything…

Okay, almost everything.

As Banjo dug into his pocket and pulled out a necklace (a shark tooth necklace that was nearly identical to his own), his blue eyes were no longer on the sunset, but on the necklace he had made so long ago, yet intended to give to Kazooie eventually. His fingers curled over the necklace, feeling his hands shake at the secret he had been holding back from Kazooie for a long time. After all, he did like her – and a lot at that.

Yes, Banjo was not only fond of Kazooie, but was completely in love with her.

He smiled at the thought of how he got this particular shark tooth. It had been a vacation with their friends, and the beach was beautiful. Banjo occasionally thought that it might have been the moment, but he just couldn't forget about it. The sunset was bright and warm, and it was just him and Kazooie when it happened, but they had noticed it together.

The breegull made a rather witty remark about how the tooth reminded her of all the times that one shark from Treasure Trove Cove tried to eat them. It only reminded them of another shark that they had not seen for a long time since their meeting in Breegull Beach. Exactly why Kazooie went for the shark tooth at the same time he did, he wasn't sure, but as her wing touched his paw, they looked at one another.

By then, Banjo had already grown romantically fond of her, so of course she would ask if he was okay. We wished that he could get a pin-point on when exactly he fell in love with her, but they had known each other for so long.

If only he could find it in himself to say something about it. If he were in Kazooie's shoes, perhaps this would be what he would be worrying about. After all, they never really talked about their feelings – they just expressed them and just understood each other.

His mind was clouded with other doubts though, and before he knew it, the full moon was looking straight at him.

Banjo decided to take a deep breath.

"Well, it's now or never," he said, giving the moon one last long took before making his way back to the house.

While Banjo wasn't the smartest bear, he knew that most of his existence involved having a sense on things or figuring them out. He never really cared much for adventure as much as Kazooie did, but he did slowly become fond of it to some degree because of her. It's just the way that their relationship worked – you give and take, assuming that's how all relationships went.

As he saw the door in the distance, Banjo put the other necklace that he had in his paw straight into his pocket, taking a deep breath before approaching the door. For a split second, he stopped at the doorknob, looking at it intently due to the thoughts that were running around in his head. As much as he liked Kazooie, there was no way he could make her like him the way he did about her, and forcing it on her was just against his nature. It wasn't until he realized that he was holding his breath that he let it out in a sigh, composing himself before answering the door.

"Kaz! Tooty!" Banjo called, "I'm home-"

He honestly didn't have anything else to say other than his usual greeting, but that didn't seem to stop Kazooie from meeting him at the door and covering his lips with one of her wings. At first, he was rather confused by the gesture, but he it wasn't until a few seconds after it occurred that he figured that not only what Kazooie needed to say to him was important, but also the fact that Tooty might have already gone to bed at this hour.

"Shhh!" Kazooie stressed in a low voice, "Do you want to wake up Tooty?"

So she had gone to bed early – unusual for her to do, but it might have just been one of those days. When Kazooie's wing was off his lips, the breegull gestured to the bear to the table that was in the kitchen. As Banjo made his way to the table, Kazooie cut off the lights in the house except for the one in the kitchen, only meeting the bear at the table and being the last one to sit across from him (actually, the only one sitting across from him).

For a while, Kazooie didn't say anything, but looked down at her wings that were interlocking with one another. Exactly how Kazooie was able to do it to this day, Banjo would probably never know, but she brought her wings close to her beak before closing her eyes. Despite nearly a whole day to think about this, Kazooie was still conflicted, and it did make Banjo worry. He wanted to say something to her, but he wasn't sure what to say, or at least what to say that wasn't coming across on his face. It wasn't until she took a deep breath that she finally spoke.

"I told you that I needed to talk to you," Kazooie remarked.

The bear nodded.

"Yeah," Banjo answered gently, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He didn't gesture to the fact it took all day. Kazooie already knew this, and this wasn't a good time to bring it up, least it tick Kazooie off and void the conversation of its purpose. Besides, it wasn't like Banjo to tease her unless he was certain Kazooie could take it, but even then it was rare, as he himself by very nature hardly teased anyone.

"I realized that it would be pointless to make this a 'talk'," Kazooie said, "I also realized that it wouldn't make any sense to beat around the bush, or you might not get what I'm talking about."

To each his own flaws – it was considerate of Kazooie to acknowledge this.

"So instead of talking," Kazooie continued, "It would make a lot more sense for this to be a confession."

"Confession?" Banjo asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah…"

"…So what did you want to confess to me?"

"This really isn't easy for me to say," Kazooie explained, "But the reason why I didn't say anything before was because I wanted to be certain about it before I bring it up to you. I would completely understand if you don't understand, or feel the same way, but I do need to get this off my chest. You're my best friend, Banjo, and I have no reason not to trust you or get through with this if the outcome isn't in my favor."

"And you're my best friend too," Banjo remarked, placing his paw on one of Kazooie's wings, "But feelings, Kazooie? What are you talking about?"

"I mean that I like you," the bregull said, "And I don't mean the friendship kind either."

Once the words left Kazooie's mouth, Banjo took a minute to sink in what his friend just said, unable to say anything at the moment himself on the very account that he was, indeed, speechless. On the inside, Banjo had mixed feelings about all of this – mentally laughing at himself that he should have seen it from the beginning, but doubted the possibility anyway; he was also rather flattered that Kazooie was open to him about this, but far more happy about the fact that Kazooie was willing to put herself in such an awkward situation to say something.

Slowly, he removed his paw from her wing, compelling her to look at him, that same paw running through the fur that was on top of his head, looking down at the table as he tried to get his thoughts together.

"Banjo?"

"I always said that you were braver than I was," the bear finally said, his paw moving to the back of his neck as he gazed up at Kazooie, a sheepish smile lingering there, "I see that hasn't changed."

"What are you talking about?" Kazooie asked, completely confused about where that came from, and partially hurt from the response, "I tell you that I like you, and I mean like you, and you're telling me I'm brave?"

"How long have you felt this way about me?" Banjo asked, making the bregull huff and look away.

"Since our vacation to the beach…"

"I've felt the same way about you much longer."

Now it was Kazooie's turn to be kicked in the teeth surprised.

"Longer?"

"Yeah," Banjo said, sitting up and looking down at his paws as he spoke, "It's strange, isn't it? I should've seen from the beginning that it might have been something uncomfortable for you to talk about, but I guess I always thought it was one-sided."

"Well, it's not," Kazooie affirmed, kind of insulted that Banjo had something to hide as well, and the tone that rang through stung Banjo a little.

However, she knew that this situation was just as sensitive to him as it was to her, so Kazooie calmed her voice for the next question.

"So when did you start having feelings for me?"

"I honestly wish I could give you an exact time…"

"Any estimate?"

"Maybe about a month before the vacation, at least."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Now I feel really bad," Kazooie said, leaning back and resting her wings on the table, "I should've seen the way that you were blushing at me when we reached for the shark tooth that it might have been unusual."

"Don't be," Banjo said, placing his paw on one of her wings for reassurance, "I should've said something after I was certain how I felt for you."

"Okay, I won't – as long as you don't beat yourself up over this," Kazooie remarked, her tone a little more lightening to help sooth Banjo's worries, but it turned immediately back to worry for the next question, "…So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," Banjo said, his paw tightening up at the frustration that was running through his mind, "Do you… want to… talk?"

Kazooie turned pink.

"The romantic talk, right?"

"Yeah… I mean… we're both serious about this, right?"

Kazooie's wing and Banjo's paw almost involuntarily wrapped themselves into one another.

"I'm serious about this – are you?"

"Definitely."

"I'm also confused."

"I am too… but also really happy."

"Same here, so that's two things we have in common. Do you think you'll be okay with dating me?"

"If you'll consent with being my girlfriend."

"Of course, Banjo."

Gentle, nervous laughter rang through both individuals. It was hard to believe any of this was really happening, but the way the paw and wing interlocked with one another was their reassurance that they weren't dreaming any of this. At first, Kazooie was nervous to do so, but she did get up from the other side of the table, which puzzled Banjo until her expression became nervous.

"Can your girlfriend sit on your lap?"

Banjo was rather surprised that Kazooie wanted to do such an intimate move so soon in their relationship. However, if she was content with it, Banjo would consent with it, smiling and nodding while helping his newfound girlfriend onto his lap.

"How are we going to cuddle?"

"We will figure that out as we go along," Banjo said, closing his eyes as Kazooie's forehead touched his own, "I'm really glad we 'talked'."

"I am too."

"I love you, Kazooie."

"And I love you too."

Artist Comments

Thank you so much for reading another fiction by yours truly.

I know I haven't been pumping out fictions like I used to, but I've been clean out of ideas until recently, or at least ones that don't involve many chapters. As much as I want to bring back an old idea involving Banjo-Kazooie, I think I'm going to have to scrap my progress and start over.

If you have any ideas involving certain universes that I have written about in the past, or think I should try a new universe, please let me know in the reviews, as I keep track of them often.

May God's love, grace, and mercy be with us all.