It was the evening of Friendship Day; the festivities were over and everyone had gone home. The pups were back at the lookout eating their dinner, and afterwards decided to play some rounds of Pup Pup Boogie before they had to go to bed. Walking over to Chase, who was lost in thought and sitting away from the other pups, Marshall asked, "Hey Chase, wanna play Pup Pup Boogie with us?"

"Huh? Oh, not right now, Marshall. Thanks, though."

"Are you okay, Chase? You seem kinda zoned out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied.

"Alright, but if you need anything, lemme know." Marshall then went back over to the others and began a match against Zuma.

Chase had been zoned out thinking about something almost the entire day; his mind couldn't get over this one small thing that occurred during Friendship Day. When everyone was in town singing together, there was a brief moment where Skye sort of snuggled up against Chase's chest, catching him completely off-guard. The German shepherd has had a crush on the cockapoo for almost as long as he's known her; unbeknownst to him, most of his teammates suspect this, including Skye, although she isn't as convinced as the others. Ever since she laid her head against him, he's been asking himself questions like, "Does she have a crush on me too?" "Was it just a friendly gesture?" "I really want to tell her how I feel, but should I?" "Would that mess up our friendship if she didn't feel the same way?" "What if—"

"Alright pups, time for bed!" Called Ryder.

As the pups were heading to their respective puphouses, Marshall stopped Chase in front of his puphouse.

"Chase, is there anything you wanna tell me?" He began quietly. "You were zoned out looking in Skye's direction the entire night."

"Wait, I was!?" Chase asked, slightly panicked.

"Don't worry, I don't think anyone else noticed. But you know you can tell me anything, right? We're best friends."

"Yeah, I know. It's just...something I'd rather keep to myself right now. Thanks for your concern, though."

"Anytime, Chase. Goodnight!" Marshall called as he was heading to his puphouse.

Chase entered his own, got comfortable, and tried to go to sleep, but he was still awake, constantly thinking about Skye and what he should do. 20 minutes of trying to fall asleep and indecision passed. By this point, he figured all of the pups would be asleep, but he knew he wouldn't be able to unless he tried to do something.

"Well, here I go," he said quietly to himself.

He snuck out of his puphouse, closing the door behind him. The cold air of the night hit him like a truck; he didn't realize how warm and cozy his puphouse was until he had left it. Quickly but quietly, he made his way to Skye's puphouse, which was neighboring his. Once there, he gently knocked on the door with the back of his paw. "Skye?" He whispered in an attempt to make the knocker's identity known without waking her if she was asleep.

After a few seconds, the door opened.

"Chase? What is it?"

"T-There's something I need to tell you," he started shakily. "I know the middle of the night is a weird time, but it kept bugging me and I couldn't fall asleep, so I figured I'd at least try and see if you were still up."

"Do you want to come inside first?" She offered. "It seems pretty cold out there."

"Wait...what? Like, inside your puphouse? But it's so small!"

She only giggled. "You silly pup," she said before practically dragging him inside by the collar.

Chase, now warm but blushing hard and extremely uncomfortable due to the proximity to his crush, took a moment to settle down in the only available space in the puphouse, which happened to be right up against her, side-to-side, facing the door. After a moment, she tilted her head and partially laid herself into him, similar to what she had done earlier during the Friendship Day celebration. Chase had no idea what to do, but after a few seconds, she reverted to her previous position. He couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed by this.

Breaking the silence, Skye asked, "So, what was it you needed to tell me?"

Chase began, "Do you remember earlier today when you kinda snuggled into me during the Friendship Day song?"

Skye also began to blush at Chase's mention of this. "Yeah...why?"

"Well..." He took a deep breath and released it. "Skye, that moment has been on my mind ever since it happened. I don't know whether you did it simply out of friendship or if there was something more to it, but what I do know is that..."

He had to pause to confirm mentally that this was actually happening.

"What I do know is that I've had a crush on you for almost as long as I've known you, Skye. You're adorable and you're so kind to everyone, and you're the best aviator I've ever seen. No one could do your job on the team better than you can, and I'm really happy to have you in my life. I don't know if you feel the same way at all, but...I hope that if you don't, our friendship won't be affected."

Skye just smiled at him. After a few seconds of no response, Chase began to panic mentally: "I bet she doesn't feel the same way, I shouldn't have told her anything, our relationship will never be the same, I—"

His rapid thoughts were once again interrupted; but this time, it was by Skye.

She reached a paw up to Chase's chin, turned him to face her, and kissed him.

Of all the things that may have surprised him that day, this one easily took the cake.

He was completely startled at first, but quickly began to kiss back. They broke the kiss after about 10 seconds.

"Skye?" Chase asked in a half whisper.

"The snuggle was partially because we're close friends, but it was also because I feel the exact same way you do. You're incredibly good at what you do and you're a great leader, but when you're not being a tough police pup, you tend to show how deeply you care for your friends and how much they mean to you. I think that's really sweet."

Chase smiled back, and they nestled into each other for a few minutes, just enjoying each other's company.

He hated to end the moment, but there was a new question bugging him.

"Skye?"

"Yeah, Chase?"

"What are we going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" She inquired.

"If we start dating, would that make things on the team weird? I wouldn't want the other pups to feel uncomfortable or left out somehow if we acted differently around each other," he explained.

"Yeah, I agree with you." She paused. "What if we just keep our feelings a secret and only act like this when we're alone together?"

"That's a good idea," he said.

They cuddled a little bit more before Chase felt like he had to break the silence again.

"I should probably be getting back to my puphouse," he said, attempting to stand up in the small space. "Who knows what they'll think if they find us together like this?"

"Don't go, Chase! After all we've said tonight, I want you to be here with me. Besides, we're always up before the other pups," she reminded him.

Chase, always preferring logical answers to things, realized she was right. "Yeah, that's a good point..." He trailed off before being tugged back downwards by Skye.

As the two laid together side-by-side, they began to drift off to sleep.

"Goodnight, Skye."

She licked his cheek. "Goodnight, Chase."