Chapter 17 - Please Cheer Up, Lass
After entering the room, Foxy made his way up to the stage with each heavy stomp he made. In his anger, he was ready to rip the curtain right off the hooks, he quickly stops himself, realizing what he's doing. Thinking about how worried and possibly scared Kitten might be, he slowly starts to calm himself down, taking quiet and slow breaths. Feeling ready to enter, Foxy pulls open the curtain and steps up onto the stage. The pirate looks forward and sees his first mate cuddling up to his jacket. The image makes him chuckle knowing she hasn't seen him yet. "Are ye cheatin' on me, lassy?" he jokingly asks.
Kitten perks up the second she hears her captain's voice. After returning from the vents, she saw his jacket and couldn't help herself but to cuddle up with it. The smell and the feeling of the soft fabric against her face make her feel slightly dazed, imagining him sleeping in the same hammock as her. She looks up at him with a very deep blush. "N-No! Never!" she retorts, throwing the jacket behind her to hide the "evidence."
Foxy continues to chuckle. "I'm jus' pull'n yer leg, lass," he says as he walks over to her, then sits down beside her, pulling one leg up and resting his arm on his knee. "That could 've gone better."
Kitten crosses her legs and holds both of her ankles as she questions him. "Oh? What happened?"
"Eh… Same old, same old. Freddy jus' thinks I need to be more protective of ya." He looks at her a little worried. "Ye don' think I'm too bad do ye?"
She shakes her head quickly. "Of course not. You're amazing!" replies with a blushing smile.
The male smiles back at his first mate. "Thank ye, lass. Freddy's jus' too ol' fashioned…"
"I'm sorry for causing a bunch of problems…" Kitten apologizes, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Arrrr, ye only doin' what ye think is best. So don' worry 'bout anythin', got it?"
"Well… I guess. I just feel bad for all the trouble I've caused everyone… Especially between you and Freddy... I'm sure he wasn't happy with me interfering with last night's shift…" Upon saying this, the feline's ears fall sadly.
"Arg! That blubber of fur gets angry at everythin'." Foxy moves his hand up to her head and ruffles up her hair, causing it to look a little messy. He smiles down at her with a genuine, fatherly look. "So don' think ye did anythin' at all. He'll leave ya alone soon enough, lass."
Kitten keeps her face away from his view to hide her blush, which she can feel grow hotter, and possibly redder, each time he speaks to or touches her. "A-Alright captain."
Foxy slips his hand off her head and, seeing how messed up he made her hair, he can't help but let out a hearty laugh. Turning his head away from her, Kitten moves her head off his shoulder to look up at him with a confused expression. "Wh-What's so funny?" she asks, her ears twitching curiously.
The pirate looks back at his first mate with an entertained smile, though he tries to hide it with his hand. "Y-Yer hair...!" he exclaims through his laughs.
With a sudden realization, the female pirate quickly grabs the male's hook and holds it up to see her reflection in it. Her eyes widen a bit to see parts of her hair sticking out in a weird way. "Naaa!" she squeals while quickly running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to fix it. After she feels like her hair is straight again, she lowers her head, blushing in embarrassment.
Slowly calming his laughter down after a few moments of fun, he begins to take a few breaths in and out to calm down the rest of the way. The pirate wipes his eyes with his good hand, then turns to his side to look at the embarrassed redhead. "Haaa... Ahh, that's what I needed. Thank ya, lass. Ye certainly know how to put a smile on them faces," he says in an attempt to make her feel a bit less flushed.
The only responses he gets are quiet and muffled whines caused by Kitten's hands covering her face. Seeing how embarrassed she looks, Foxy wraps his arm around her back, giving her a gentle squeeze. "Hey… I didn' mean it like that. I said it in a nice way. Ye make everyone smile; that's a good thing. Don' think of it as bad, Kitt'n." He once again hears no word, just another whimper from her. The captain sighs to himself knowing how stubborn this little feline can be but remembers one thing that could help since it worked once before.
He lowers his head down and starts to nuzzle against the side of her head like a cat would. His tail starts to move side to side across the stage floor, each time making a soft 'swishing' sound against the wood. Kitten can feel his nuzzles and knows that he is trying to comfort her like last time… and it works. Foxy is able to slowly bring the younger pirate out of her curl by moving her hands away from her face. She looks at him and quickly notices his face is closer to hers. The girl's blush is still there, but she doesn't even think twice of it. She enjoys this type of attention from him, so much so that she begins to purr in response to his actions. "You're too cute," she coos with a giggle, and Foxy scoffs playfully.
"Foxes are always cute. But, from what I hear from them parents, cats may be even cuter."
"Well, they're not wrong," she teases and pulls away to look up at him with her cute, child-like eyes.
Foxy rolls his eyes and turns his head away. "I suppose not," he admits before sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry.
Kitten giggles at how childish he's being; it is sweet of him to try and make her laugh. Even the stories of The Great Pirate Foxy, the most feared and terrible man of the seven seas, actually being a four-year-old trapped in an older body makes her giggle a few times. Seeing that she's in a better mood, thanks to him, she carefully slips his jacket off and holds it out to him with a small smile. "Here ya go, captain. Thanks for lettin' me use it."
Foxy looks down at it, then back at her. "Ye sure ye don' wan' it?" he asks to be sure.
The feline shakes her head, still showing a loving smile, and insists, "Take it. I'll be fine."
Taking a few seconds to make sure she is really okay with it, he takes it out of her hands. "Well alright. Thank ye, lass." He throws it around himself while leaning forward to wrap it around his back. After he slips his arms through the sleeves, Foxy buttons up the top two buttons before leaning back on the wall. Kitten's tail is swaying happily back and forth behind her, the end poking his back playfully once in a while.
Foxy raises his arms upwards as he stretches out, letting out a loud yawn. His surprisingly long fangs gleam in the light, astonishing the young lady beside him. He lowers his arms and sighs. "After all this fun, it'll be a hassle to check if Freddy-Bear would still wanna yell at me later. I stormed off before he could spout any other rubbish."
"Out of curiosity… What did he ask before you stormed off?" she asked, already knowing what it was.
Her elder captain lowers his ears remembering what Freddy had said before. "Eh… jus' somethin' I wish he wouldn't bring up again."
Kitten notices how upset he looks, a look very familiar to her and she knows whatever it is isn't good. 'Freddy had mentioned something about the "kid." Foxy looked so torn up, and now he's sad again. What happened to him…?' Kitten wonders, feeling sympathy for her captain. Kneeling beside the pirate, she wraps her arms around his left arm and lays her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry… I hope my cute personality will cheer you up~" she beams. Now it's her turn to try and cheer him up.
Foxy blushes again, feeling her warmth against his arm. He looks down at the red-headed female slightly confused. "Kitten?"
The response he gets is happy purrs coming from the cuddly child. The fox smiles back, still blushing a bit from embarrassment. Carefully wrapping his hook arm around her back, Foxy holds his first mate tightly.
"This is what I've been wanting. You're so warm, like a fluffy pillow," she purrs happily as Foxy chuckles.
"Hate ta break it to ya, lassy, but I'm no pillow."
"I know, but I still think you'd make a good pillow. Besides, you said you'd cuddle me.
Foxy blinks a few times 'til he remembers that she wanted to rest with him. "Right… Sorry, mate. I forgot," he apologizes with a slight laugh.
The feline opens her eyes and looks up at him. "You… You forgot...?" she asks, her voice sounding obviously hurt as her feline ears fall. His smile quickly fades knowing full well what he just started.
"Well, I guess th' fight ticked me off so much, I forgot. I'm an old sea dog. Me brain waves don' work so well. Sorry, Kitten…"
Feeling a little heartbroken from his words, she lets out a soft sigh, then lets him go before standing up. She brushes herself off, both front and back while keeping her gaze away from him. "It's fine, captain. I understand..." she says and softly huffs. The female pirate walks over to and out through the curtain with her ears folded back. She steps off the stage, then sits down on the edge and folds her arms before laying them on her knees.
'Oh boy...' Foxy groans in his head. Yep, Kitten is definitely a stubborn little girl. He carefully hoists himself up and brushes his bottom off before following her. He pulls the curtain away with the top of his hook, then sits down beside her. "Kitten… I'm sorry I forgot. We talked 'bout things that… angered me to th' bone."
The feline sighs again. He is really trying to apologize, but his words kinda hurt inside her more than help. It hurt that he forgot about what she asked him before the big talk. She can see that he's trying to cheer her up again, it just sadly doesn't work as much this time. However, Kitten does turn to and gives him a small smile. "Captain, I said it's fine. I understand how you are and that the talk turned into an argument. It's just that…" she slowly stops talking, unable to finish her sentence and barely holding her smile.
Foxy's ears droop seeing her saddened face. "What is it?" he asks, but she looks away and shakes her head, not wanting to continue her thought.
"I'm gonna go explore while there's no one here... Maybe they left after you did, so… maybe I won't see them outside," she says and gets up, making her way over to the room door.
Foxy quickly stands up and shouts, "Wait! Kitten, I…"
Before she grabs the knob, the girl turns around quickly to look at him. Her ears perk up a bit hopefully and asks, "Yes captain?"
A moment of silence goes by as the male decides against what he was originally going to say. "N-Nothin'... If ya see Freddy... walk away or call me if he says things to ya."
Her ears fall once again as she replies flatly, "Alright then..."
Foxy watches her exit out the door and flinches at the sound of the door closing a little harder than usual. He sits back down on the edge of the stage, then rests his elbows on his bent knees. Lowering his head down, he begins to regret not stopping or helping her. The fox lets out a heavy sigh before mumbling, "Way ta go, ya damn sea slug…"
