Chapter 21 - Emotional Conversations

Watching over his first mate for a few moments, Foxy starts running through different ideas that may help cheer the girl up. Looking down at his pizza, the fox considers what he can do that Freddy will not have a say in. "Kitten," he says, which makes her look up at her captain. "I'd like a word with ye." Standing up from his seat at the table, the pirate turns and looks at the other three. "Alone…" With that stated, he turns and walks into the main dining room through the kitchen doors.

The bunny boy watches the fox pirate leave the kitchen and a feeling of worry passes over him. Looking back at Kitten, Bonnie's ears fall to the sides of his face as he looks back at Kitten, and she can see the concern in his eyes. "Will you be okay…?" he gently asks.

Kitten was not really expecting his support, so his question does take her a bit by surprise. Looking back at Bonnie, she flashes him a small smile before saying, "I think so…" Standing up, the pirate realizes that she might actually be in trouble with her captain, so she looks at him again and admits a bit softer, "B-But I am a bit scared…" Gathering her courage, she takes a deep breath and walks out of the kitchen. The only sign of her discomfort is that her ears are down nervously.

Moving over to stand next to the wall across from the kitchen door, her captain crosses his arms. An irritated expression crosses Foxy's face as he watches the cat pass through the door after him. "Well..." the fox starts with a small sigh. "What do ye think we should do, lass?"

Looking up at him and seeing the irritation on his makes her much more nervous as to the reason he called her out here. However, the question confused her more. "W-Wha' do you mean 'we,' cap'ain...?" Kitten asks a bit timidly.

"Do ye really think she's a bad person? Ya have been with her fer a whole week, and ye never saw anythin', did ya?" Foxy asks with a raised brow, but Kat was quick to defend her only friend.

"What? No...! Alyssa is really nice…! And she frightens easily..." Her tone goes from shock and disbelief to fear that her defensive attitude towards her captain would get her in trouble. Now scared she was going to be ridiculed, her ears fall flat against her head apologetically.

However, Foxy doesn't seem to have taken it the same way she did. "Well then…" the pirate says with an inhaled breath as he moves one hand onto her shoulder, now staring directly at her with a seriousness in his expression and tone. "I let ya out when ya wanted because ye wanted to help 'er." Taking his hand back, Foxy straightens up again, points at himself, then crosses his arms again. "Don' listen to that bear. I'm your captain. Now, I'm letting ye do what ye think is best. What do ye want to do?"

The girl is so stressed emotionally, Kitten looks up at the pirate fox like a sad child as she tears up a bit. "I w-want to protect Alyssa," she sniffles as a couple of tears fall down her cheeks, though she is quick to wipe them away with the back of her hand. "I just want her to be happy..."

"Then do what ye think is best," the male smiles. "I'm sure Bonnie, an' possibly Chica, would agree wit' ya. I'll deal with Freddy meself. Ye do anythin' ye can to make sure that lass is safe."

Ears perking up at the sudden encouragement coming from her captain surprises Kitten. It takes a moment for what he said to process before a smile shines across her face again, tears of joy now rolling down her face as the pirate girl quickly hugs the taller male. "Thank ye, Foxy!"

He is not hesitant to hug her back tightly. This is his first mate, and he will protect her, not Freddy. "Yer welcome, lass," Foxy says with a happy sway of his tail behind him. While clinging to the fabric of his jacket, Kat sniffles, trying to calm down a bit, as the fox chuckles. She really is just like a child. "Come on, Kitten. Ye should eat more before yer rest. Or maybe I could... ask if ye an' Bonnie might be able ta stay alone."

Kitten's face immediately flushes red as she turns to look up at her captain. "Wh-What…?! Wh-Why would ye do that...?" she asks with her ears down once again, now embarrassed and worried that he is about to make fun of her for liking the guitarist.

However, Foxy just chuckles at her reaction as he brings his hand up and ruffles her hair up a bit. "I'm jus' messin' wit' ya, Kitten. Yer cute when ye blush," the pirate smiles down at her playfully with a snicker, but this just causes her face to grow a slightly darker shade of red.

Now flustered further, the girl hides her face against his chest so he cannot see her face. "Shush…!" she whines out in embarrassment, her voice slightly muffled against his chest.

The pirate captain also begins to blush slightly from feeling a little embarrassed at the way she's acting. This moment does not last long though as the sudden sound of the kitchen doors opening catches Foxy's attention. His ears twitching before looking away from his first mate to person popping their head in.

"Hey, you two!" Chica pipes happily as she opens the doors from the kitchen. "Do you want any..." But her question trails off as a sly smile crosses her face seeing the two pirates together and hugging. "Oooooh, is this what you meant about talking alone...?~" the girl teases with a grin.

Foxy and Kitten both quickly let go of each other and turn to face the blonde, both of their blushing facing now much brighter at her comment. "Chica!" the two almost shout simultaneously.

With a sigh, Kitten knows Chica is probably going to hold this over their heads for a while and nervously asks, completely embarrassed, "Wh-what did you want...?"

Giggling like a child, she smiles at the two as if nothing had happened. "Well, Freddy and Bonnie are finishing up, and they wanted to know if you two "lovebirds" wanna have some more pizza~"

"No, thank ya..." Foxy responds with mild annoyance as he crosses his arms and glares at the smaller girl.

As for his first mate, Kitten looks away to hide her blushing face as her ears fold back and tail lowers. "No thank you, Chica…"

With a shrug, the other girl smiles happily. "Oh well, more for me!" That being said, Chica wastes no time zipping back into the kitchen, letting the doors flap back and forth behind her until they stop on their own.

"Aye..." the male exhales with a shake of his head, before turning back to Kitten with a kind smile. He wanted to make sure she knew that he is not letting what the other girl said bother him. "She certainly can scare us, hmm?"

"Aye, that she can," she nods, her face still very red, not daring to look directly up at him.

The male pirate places his hooked hand on her shoulder while being careful not to catch her with the point. "It'll be okay, lass. On Monday, ye can do what you want but keep yer new friend safe," he says with a wink when she finally glances back up at him.

With a bright and cute blush covering her cheeks, Kitten smiles shyly and nods. "Alright captain." Along with the embarrassment making her nervous, the pirate girl can feel her heart racing inside of her chest from her captain's kindness towards her.

Removing his hook from her shoulder, Foxy raises his arms up above his head, stretching out a bit. "Ahhhh... I might be goin' to sleep soon. My aching gears need me ta nap..."

Kat can't help but chuckle at his comment. "What gears? You're in your human state, right?" she asks him with a cute smile.

Happy to see her smiling again, Foxy smiles down at her in return and shrugs. "Eh, maybe both. Each side I get all achy… Maybe I am gettin' old…"

Her blush grows while laughing a bit. "Well, you look good for yer age."

"Thanks, lass." The pirate captain pats her head. "Let's see how good I'll be in a few m're years." He chuckles, then turns away and starts heading off down the hall back to their party room to rest.

As the cat girl watches her captain leave, a smile gently stretches across her face along with a light blush. "You'll still be the greatest pirate to sail the seas, Captain Foxy," she says quietly to herself before walking over to the stage where Bonnie and she were sitting until they were called in for dinner. Hopping back up onto the wooden stage, Kitten sits herself on the edge of the platform. Different thoughts on ways she can protect her new friend now rushing through her mind.

Minutes pass by and Kitten doesn't even notice when the purple bunny boy enters the main dining area, finishing the last bites of a pizza crust in his hand. Licking his fingers clean after his last swallow, Bonnie looks up to see the pirate girl sitting on the stage again. "Hey, Kitten," he smiles and makes his way to her side once more.

Getting pulled from her thoughts, she turns her attention to the boy and smiles brightly seeing him again. It's comforting to the girl knowing that she has both Foxy and Bonnie looking out for her. "Hey Bonnie," the redhead smiles back as her tail happily moves back and forth behind her.

Jumping up onto the stage to join the cat, the rabbit plops himself down beside her on the wooden stage edge. "You okay?" he asks with mild concern. "I mean... after the talk?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kitten nods in response, now turning her attention to look at him. "How's your head?"

With a chuckle, Bonnie moves his hand up to rub his head gently and carefully with closed eyes. "I've been through worse," he smiles, now looking at her again. "One time, a mother came up behind me and literally hit me upside the head with her purse! She was very new to this place and never liked animatronics!" the rabbit laughs.

"Oh, ouch…!" the pirate chuckles with a kind smile. "Oh and..." A small blush starts to dust her cheeks as she speaks. "Thanks for cheering me up earlier."

Just the thank you alone was enough to make the shy boy blush himself and slightly stutter. "Y-You're welcome. The fall wasn't planned, but I hope it worked…"

"Well, it did." Kitten smiles cutely before pulling the bun into a sweet embrace that makes both of their flushed faces brighten. "Thank ye, Bonnie."

"Hehe... Y-You're welcome... again…" the boy says softly as his smile brightens.

Feeling a lot more comfortable around this boy, Kitten doesn't hesitate to scoot a bit closer to him and start nuzzling against his collarbone and neck like the kitten she is. Not expecting this kind of attention, Bonnie's body tenses up again, unsure what he should do back. Liking the affection, he doesn't want to move away from her, so instead, the bun simply looks away bashfully.

Kitten had started the hug, but when she didn't feel him return the gesture, the pirate girl pulls back to look at him directly. "Hey, Bonnie?"

Looking back at her, the purple-haired boy wonders if maybe he did something wrong hearing her tone.

"Y-Yes?" he stutters back in response, hoping everything is okay.

Finding the right words to say, the girl lets go of the guitarist and looks down at her hands now resting on her lap. "Why don't you hug me back...?" Kitten gently asks as her ears droop. "Just curious..." Honestly, she thought that… maybe… Bonnie was just being nice to her out of pity. Maybe he really didn't like her all that much after all.

Bonnie looks away as his own ears droop down in front of his face. "Well... I..." Taking a deep breath, he turns to look back at her. His reason is a bit silly, but it was something he was just doing to help protect her. "I don't wanna hurt you. Kids have gotten hurt from how hard I hug, so... I don't wanna see you get hurt by me," Bonnie admits a bit shamefully. However, hearing this, a smile is quick to return to Kitten's face as she chuckles a bit and looks back at the bun.

"Then just be easier with your hugs...!" Kitten smiles with a little laugh as the light blush returns to her cheeks. "Besides, I'm just like you, Bonnie. I don't think you can hurt me." Even with her smile, Bonnie does not lighten up from her words.

"I just didn't want to take that chance. I also feel so… weird next to you…" he admits shyly.

With a tilt of her head, the pirate is quick to just shrug. "Probably that 'new' scent still on me from being here only a couple of weeks," she chuckles, trying to let him know that she's not mad at him and make him smile again like he did with her. "The smell of pizza and kids hasn't quite sunk in yet."

This does indeed seem to lighten Bonnie's mood as he chuckles at her side joke. "No no, it's fine. You're... um..." Trying to collect his thoughts and find the right words, the shy boy moves his hand back behind his head and rubs it nervously. "You're... Um… Y-You're..."

"Yes?" Kitten smiles as she lays her head on his shoulder playfully. She's really enjoying watching Bonnie blush and fumble with his words. It's cute.

Now panicking a bit with her on his shoulder and unable to gather his thoughts, the rabbit boy mentally screams. 'Gahhh! I can't do it!' Deciding to abandon the thought completely, Bonnie's ears hide his face as he looks away. "Nothing... S-Sorry," he quickly apologizes to the cat girl.

This wasn't the reaction she was hoping to get out of him. Then again, she wasn't really sure what she was expecting to come out of his mouth, but it wasn't that. "Alright," Kitten shrugs as she sits up again.

And this isn't the way Bonnie wants to leave the girl after the rough night she's been through. "I-I'll just tell you this..." he says before looking back at her, now determined to get his thoughts out, one way or another. "You make it hard for me to even talk to you about how I feel..." Jumping down from the stage edge, the boy turns back to look at the pirate girl. "Don't think of it as a bad thing, please... It's just the truth..." he says with a blush and a look of nervousness written on his face.

Kitten takes a moment to process what Bonnie just said. Yeah, he's telling her to not think of what he said as a bad thing, but right now… that's all that's running through her mind. Ears folding flat against her head, she only sighs. "O-Okay..."

"Uh... I-I gotta go..." the rabbit sadly admits. This is just really bad timing on his end… "I have to... fix a couple of bugs here and there… W-Will you be okay here?" Bonnie gently asks her, hoping she isn't going to be too upset with him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." Kitten softly tells him before looking away from his gaze, trying not to blame herself for making things so awkward or driving Bonnie away.

This is definitely not the reaction he's wanting to leave her with… "Okay... but…" Quickly taking up this opportunity to make his first move with the girl, the purple rabbit grabs the edge of the platform with his hands. Leaning forward, Bonnie leaves a small kiss on Kitten's cheek before backing away and running off to the kitchen area. The brightest blush is painted across his face as he smiles, now praising himself mentally for manning up and finally having the courage to show her that she matters to him.

Kitten is left sitting on the stage with her eyes wide from shock as her face turns a deep shade of red. Slowly bringing her hand up to where he kissed her, the girl gently touches it as if she weren't quite sure what he just did to her. As the reality of the situation sinks in, the pirate turns to look in the direction of the kitchen, watching the doors swing and settle, and smiles happily, now feeling much better about what he said to her.