A/N: I've been wanting to write something fluffy of late since Blood Feud tends to be more serious and less fluffy romance and so here is my response. I got inspired when I saw a picture of a fox carrying a stack of books taller than he is and the idea flowed from there. Well read on, and please let me know what you think!

-general whitefur

Books. I never really read books when I was younger. I always thought there was something better I could do with my time. I could go out and run around, or more often than not I could sit down and watch TV. Books, they just seemed uninteresting. I mean why read a book when the movie had explosions and stuff and you didn't have the make an effort? Well, now I read books. And I read a lot of them. Why don't I tell you why?

You see books have words in them, and I know that's painfully obvious, but bare with me. Books have words, and words are important. I used to think that the only thing that mattered were your actions, the only thing that mattered was doing things. It mattered more if you did something special than if you said something special. And besides everyone always said to me "Words are easy, actions are hard." I don't believe a word of that anymore. You know why? Because those words are easy to say, and I know better now.

But I guess I've kind of gotten away from the point. Books. I read them now even though I didn't used to, and why do I do that? Well because she likes to read books, and so she introduced me to them. Oh, I suppose I should tell you who she is. Well her name is Krystal, and a more lovely blue vixen, since she is indeed blue, I have never seen. We met five years ago while I was on a mission to save a world of dinosaurs in peril. Apparently saving a world wasn't enough, I had to save a damsel in distress too. I'll be honest and say when I found out about that part of the mission I was less than enthusiastic. I mean a planet was falling apart, I couldn't afford to just go off and try and save a stranger I had never met and who for all I knew was some ugly sharpclaw. Maybe I should have read more books when I was little. If I had I might have put two and two together that on those rarest of occasions where a damsel is trapped and in distress she is always the most beautiful thing anyone will lay eyes on. Don't ask me why, all I know is it's true.

In the end though I did save her, and when I first saw her...well I was smitten. There's a word I would never would have used until after I had met her, partly because I had never really been smitten like that before. They say there's some baby fox that likes to fly around and shoot you with magic arrows and that they make you fall in love with people you have no chance with. I believe it, the baby fox bit at least, no other species but vulpines would have that sort of sick sense of amusement. Seriously, foxes are like that, we have messed up senses of humor.

Well I saved her, and that little flying baby fox came along at that moment and shot me straight through the heart. I knew it had happened the moment I looked into her eyes, she was the one for me. And you know what? I swear she had that same look. Not that I ever would have believed it at the time. Either way it was turning out just like the fairy tale books you're supposed to be in love with as a cub, problem was I never really read them as a cub and so I had no idea that that was what was happening. That created certain...difficulties.

You see actions are one thing, but sometimes the actions we want to take are impossible if we don't say certain words first. You can't get into your computer if you don't put in the password, and for the sake of my point we'll count typing as saying, and you can't make an elevator go up unless you say what floor you want. Assuming it isn't an old fashioned push button one, not something I would have known about had I not started reading old books that she suggested. Ok I'll admit I'm terrible with analogies. The point though is there are certain things in the world where words are the key to your actions. A password to get into your computer is easy though, you know what the end result will be, you know you'll be looking at your background and some icons. So since you know the actions that will result the words are easy to say. Problem is sometimes you don't know what the end result will be, and that's where saying the words gets difficult.

I had a feeling I was in love with Krystal the first time I saw her floating above Krazoa Palace, trapped in that giant diamond. And every time I would go back there, release a spirit, and take one more look at her, just to reassure her I was going to save her, I got a little more sure. But it was the moment our eyes met that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, I am in love with Krystal. I should have said something, should have asked her on a date, should have asked her to talk, should have said anything to let her know I was interested. Problem was, I didn't. I was afraid to. There were a lot of actions I wanted to take with her, and don't be gross. I wanted to see a movie with her, I wanted to take her out to dinner, I wanted to go dancing with her, share a sunset together, so many things I wanted to do. But I couldn't. Why? Because I couldn't get out the words I needed to say. I was too terrified of what might come next. I was too afraid she wouldn't feel the same way, or that she wouldn't think the time was right. I was afraid of every little negative possibility, and I was in love with her.

I read a book once, after we got married three years ago. My friend and ex Fara Phoenix gave it to me as a wedding gift. It was a very old first edition of a story that even Miyu Lynx, the most prolific reader I have ever known, had no idea existed. It was called, "A Fox and A Vixen." It sounds like a generic name, and apparently there are about a thousand books in the Corneria Library database with a title either the same or similar. But this one was different. It was an old fairy tale about a peasant fox who saves a noble vixen and then falls in love with her. After I had read it I realized why Fara had given it to me, because it was the story of Krystal and I told just with different names by a writer from over a century ago. I treasure that book because it has a happy ending, because in the end even though the fox lad is a peasant with no riches, with no great estate to his name he eventually has the courage to ask the noble vixen's father if he can marry her. And her father says "Yes, because you saved my daughter, and because there is no one else she would ever be happier with." Fortunately for everyone involved they don't live in poverty, he is made a noble through the marriage and gets a wonderful estate, but that isn't the point. I never would have thought I had a shot with Krystal. I mean she is a noble vixen, ten generations of nobility to her blood. She is also more beautiful than anyone in the universe, she is more kindhearted than anyone I have ever met, more innocent than anyone could ever claim to be, and me? I was worse than a peasant, I was some mercenary who killed people for a living. See? No chance.

I wish Fara had given me that book as soon as I had met Krystal, or even before, because then maybe it wouldn't have taken so long. It wasn't until a year after we met, not until we had finally faced death together against the Aparoids that I realize I needed to say those words. That I had to have the courage to say those words, the words that I guarantee will stick in your throat when you have to say them to the person of your dreams, "I love you."

When I said them I was ready for her to just say, "How sweet, but I really just want to be friends." I was fully ready for that rejection. It didn't come, instead I felt her kissing me. That feeling is one I will never forget. All the romance books, even the ones I read together in bed with Krystal, I'll let your imagination feast on that one, tell you the first kiss you ever have is the one you remember. I don't remember my first kiss, if it was in college or high school, or whenever. But I will always remember what it felt like the first time Krystal kissed me. It was like everything in the world was right, like everything was finally where it needed to be. It was perfect.

After that we went on dates, we shared sunsets and moonlit nights, I introduced her to swing dancing and rock and roll, and she introduced me to books. To be honest I think the swing dancing took the most with her, and me, well I started reading so much I burned a hole in my bank account every time I saw a bookstore. Krystal says I'm trying to make up for all the years spent not reading, and I believe her. I certainly read books I never would have expected, I've even cried over a few romance novels. You can never tell anyone that by the way, I had something in my eye as far anyone, especially Falco, is concerned. I suppose I like the romance books because it's something that Krystal likes to read together. The words in there are things we relate to, we relate to being afraid to tell your love how you feel, because we were both like that. Not anymore though, we've probably said the words "I love you" in all their different forms a million times by now. It may have gotten easier, but those words never fail to make my heart flutter just the tiniest bit. That's because they're true, and because they mean my story, my book, my life, has a very, very happy ending.