(insert first couple chapters here)

Firepaw sat near Tallpines. He was at the edge of a small pond, with his tail over his paws. Twolegplace was just beyond a few fox-lengths. He had been thinking about Smudge.

"Why? Why are you so insistent that I stay away from the wild?"

He didn't tell Smudge what he really felt. If he did, he didn't know if they would ever look at each other the same way. He didn't know if Smudge felt the same!

But really, the main reason that he drives Smudge away each time, is because he didn't know what he would do if they could spend all day together, everyday.

It drives him crazy. He wanted to protect Smudge, but Smudge saw it as an attack. He wanted Smudge not to feel sad when he left, but each time they see each other, Firepaw knows that he gets worse each encounter.

He made up his mind to go over the fence. Once he landed in the grass of Smudge's yard, he realized he didn't really have a plan.

He padded towards one of the bushes, and crouched down. He waited for a long time, but finally, Smudge came wandering out. His pelt looked ragged and his Twolegs finally gave up on putting a new collar on him each time he took it off, as an attempt to convince Firepaw he was ready for the wild.

If he had never met Smudge before, he would say he looked like a real forest cat.

Smudge trotted to the fence, and tried to scramble up it. But he must've been weakened somehow, and he only made it halfway up before he slipped and fell back down to the ground.

Firepaw had had enough of this, and stepped out from the leaves. Smudge heard the rustle and turned around. His yellow eyes laid on Firepaw and he looked relieved.

"Rus-I mean, Firepaw!" He purred. "You changed your mind about the wild! Finally!"

"I didn't" came his reply. He sat down on the damp grass.

"We need to talk."

The sun had rested at the edge of the horizon. Firepaw had not returned to camp the entire day, and most of the Clan began speculating he had returned to his Twolegs.

Bluestar was in her nest, and recalled how strange Firepaw had been acting lately. He would always leave camp early, and come back late with a few pieces of fresh-kill. Her first thought was, of course, he had been sneaking off to his Twoleg-nest.

But a few days of spying on him had proven her wrong.

Of course, when she saw him walking to the fence, she had almost leaped in front of him and yowled "What in the name of StarClan do you think you're doing?!"

She was glad she hadn't, because when he jumped into another kittypet's yard, she realized it was a simple matter of forbidden love.

Of course, it was already complicated that his mate was a kittypet. But was made it worse was that it was a tom.

She thought about telling Tigerclaw about her worries. She had no thoughts that Firepaw might return to Twolegplace, but that he might convince the kittypet to join him.

She quickly realized it may not be a good choice.

"Tigerclaw," she had greeted him. "Do you think Firepaw would stay here? Even if he had a mate in Twolegplace?"

"Firepaw?" He had snarled. His claws whipped out and he then looked extremely dangerous. "With a she-cat?" Preposterous!"

She decided not to tell him it was a tom.

Bluestar sighed, and rested her head on the moss. It was the fourth day in a row that he began to meet with the tom. She hoped that, at some point, he would remember his loyalties and come back.

But who was she to talk? She fell in love with a RiverClan warrior.

"Talk?" Smudge asked. "Talk about what?"

"About us." He replied.

Smudge's eyes grew wide, but he nodded and crouched down.

"We were great friends," Firepaw began, after a few moment's thought. "We would always hang out together, talk with each other, and tease my sister, and mock Henry- Actually forget those last two." He shook his head. "What I'm trying to say is-" This was the difficult part. Firepaw was about to confess, but he didn't know how to put it in words.

"That-that you're abandoning me for the second time?" Came the smallest of mumbles. Firepaw looked up in surprise to see Smudge beginning to cry.

"Wha-no! Hang on, the second time?"

"Yes!" Smudge meowed. His voice shook with sadness. "You-you left me for the forest cats, an-and I thought I would never see you again!" Smudge looked away, unable to meet his gaze. "You br-broke my heart leaving, and you broke it again."

Firepaw was speechless. He had never thought of how selfish he had been being when he went to live in the woods. But all the pieces came together, and it became clear why Smudge was desperate to bring his friend back.

"Smudge," He mewed quietly, enough to catch his friend's attention. Smudge looked up, surprised to see Firepaw closer than before.

"That's not what I'm trying to say" His breath was on Smudge's face now, and both couldn't stop the huge blush on their faces.

"Then what are you saying?" He asked. Their noses were almost touching.

"What I want to say-" His voice died down to a quiet whisper. His heart was pounding and it became clear to what he had to say next.

"I love you."

AAAAAAAA OMG THIS WAS SOOO CUTE XD

Quite different from what I usually write, this is my attempt at writing a romantic scene!

Of course, I'm not going to publish this draft. It moves too quickly and I need to read it over and edit it. But I do love the idea! This will happen after Firepaw finds Smudge before he finds Yellowfang, then around his training session with Bluestar will be his third encounter with Smudge. This is the fourth!

I was thinking of turning this into a lemon, but I like how it ended better! I'll write a lemon some other time :P