(Zuma's POV)

I woke up to my alarm, which was set precisely five minutes before Chase's, and got up. I quickly did my morning routine before getting out of my pup house and headed to Rocky's

I knock on his door for a bit to wake him up

"Wocky! Time to get up! We need to get weady to continue youw swimming lessons!" I yell as I sit in front of his pup house and wait for him to come out

I could hear Rocky groan from inside, but he still wouldn't come out

"Come on, Wocky! You know what happens if you don't!" I yell as I look to Chase's pup house; his alarm should ring in just a minute

That sure worked. Soon after, I hear Rocky scramble to come out of his pup house. The doors opened to reveal the mix-breed that I've come to love over the years, but something seemed off; he was very tired

He looked at me and smiled, trying to seem energetic, but I know he was just trying to hide the fact that he was somnolent

"Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked with his same attitude, but at least I don't need to fake it

"Uh... yeah, sure" he said giving me that warm smile again

I get that he wouldn't want me to worry for him; it's actually one of the things I love about him, but to lie to me?

"Don't do that" I responded with a frown

"Do what?"

"Don't lie to me again just because you don't want me to wowwy fow you. You think I didn't notice how lethawgic you wewe yestewday? Well I did; I just decided to let it slide, but now you can bawely keep youw eyes open!"

"..." He didn't respond, instead he was standing there and drooling. Poor guy, I've always known he's a light sleeper, but at least he's usually able to get some sleep

"Wocky?" I said softly and waited for a second but he still wouldn't answer

"WOCKY?!" This time I practically yelled to his perked up ear. It's kind of adorable how one of his ears is floppy and the other one's perked up...

Wait, I'm still supposed to be mad at him for lying; I can't get distracted by his adorable ears, or his cute shaded eye, or his god-blessed tail... damn it, I can't even focus now?! I thought I had my crush on him under control?! If I keep being so obvious he's gonna find out...

"ALRIGHT I'M AWAKE!" Rocky yelled, forcing his eyes open and pulling me out of my thoughts. I didn't mean to startle him but at least I've finally got his full attention

He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "... I'm sorry, but I couldn't sleep last night, or the night before... was it that obvious?"

"Don't be sowwy, but yep, it was noticeable. At fiwst l let it slide, but now you seem extwemely tiwed. You need to get some west befowe we continue, so go back to youw pup house and get the sleep you vewy much need. I'll ask Chase not to wake you up today unless you have a mission and you can have bweakfast latew; it's vewy eawly in the mowning anyway". I turn around to talk to Chase who just got up and is preparing to wake everyone else up for breakfast

"Wait!", Rocky called. "Look, Zuma, I know that you worry for me but I'm fine. I just need to eat something and I'll be ready to continue, or should I say start, the swimming lessons. It's not like it's something I'm really looking foward to but the sooner we start the sooner we get this over with"

I couldn't help but to frown once again at hearing this. "Awe you weally not looking forwawd to this? This could be an oppowtunity fow us to have something in common that we can do togethew! Wouldn't that be fun?!" I barked happily as my tail bagan to wag in exitement. Just the thought of doing my favorite thing in the world with my favorite person in the world makes me happy, but I'll be even happier if we actually do it

"Well, I guess that's one good thing from this whole 'learning how to swim' thing, but I still find it unnecessary. I mean, what are the odds of us falling from another elevator into the ocean?"

"Hey, you nevew know" I responded jokingly. "Anyway, you should covew youw eaws"

"Huh?-"

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, IT'S TIME TO GET UP!" Rocky, who was so drowsy he forgot all about Chase and his megaphone, was now wincing from Chase's already loud voice being amplified to form ear-shattering sounds that could be heard all across Adventure Bay

"EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!" Rocky yelled in complaint

"What? I'm just doing my job!" Chase said in his defense

I giggled "At least you'we wide awake now"

Though still seemingly tired, Rocky laughed at my comment as we went into the lookout, with the rest of the recently woken up pups following behind us

As we enter the lookout, we are greeted as usual by an energetic Ryder. "Morning, pups. You ready for breakfast?"

"Sure am" replied Rubble, still half asleep

"You always are, Rubble" said skye, making everyone laugh

As soon as Ryder fills our plates, I watch as everyone begins to devour their food as if they hadn't eaten for days... well, except for Rocky

"What's the mattew? You need to eat something if you'we weally gonna go swimming... unless you changed youw mind, in which case you can go back to youw pup house while I explain it to Wyder, and I can wake you up latew-"

"I told you, Zuma, I'm fine. You don't need to keep insisting for me to go back to sleep, because that's not gonna happen. I'm just... not really hungry right now" he said pushing his plate aside

"Hmm... ok, but you still need to eat something, so eithew you eat at least half youw plate ow go back to sleep" I demanded, slowly pushing Rocky's plate back in front of him. The rest of the pups didn't know what was going on but simply continued eating and assumed everything was alright

Rocky grunted. "Fine, I'll eat", he said as he began to slowly eat his food while he muttered something under his breath, probably about me. Though frankly, didn't care if he complained; I was still not going to change my mind

"Alwight, Wocky, we'we hewe" I say, parking my hovercraft in a spot near the beach, "This is the time you actually learn how to swim— Wocky?" I glance at Rocky as I pull up, only to see him now fully asleep, and drooling all over the seat

I giggle at seeing how cute he is when he's asleep. Now that that stubborn pup is finally down, I can wait for a while to let him rest. But now I can't help but wonder, why he wasn't able to sleep these past couple of days? Was he having nightmares about what he calls that day? But then, why wouldn't he talk to me? I still remember when I had nightmares and Rocky gladly helped me feel safe...

Two weeks after Zuma moved in with Ryder

"Tomowwow is the day you will officially join the team. You can do this, Zuma" I told myself before going to bed. So far, I have only been observing during missions and training with Ryder, but tomorrow I'm officially becoming a member of the team, which means I'll go on missions now, and that makes me nervous. Yesterday, my new best friend Rocky, who appears to be the team's smarty pants, gave me kind of a course on how the hovercraft is operated, how to use my collar for calls and stuff, how my new pup pack works and how to use it, and what to do on missions. Quite honestly, though, I didn't get most of that

I know he means good, in fact, Rocky has always been so nice to me since I was invited to join the team, but it's like he doesn't realize he's practically speaking in a whole new language! He kept talking about the engineering of the hovercraft that was modified for pups to drive and bla bla bla. He went on for about an hour with the supposedly brief course, and I also think he took the "course" thing literally. It was supposed to be a casual thing; he would just explain it to me so I would get an idea on how to use the gadgets and stuff, but he chose instead to do an actual presentation about it. He was reading off flashcards! Who writes flashcards for a "casual" showing around?! By the way he was speaking you could practically call it a seminar!

I only paid attention for about ten minutes before drifting off into my thoughts, but I felt bad about it. He looked so happy during the course! His tail was wagging like crazy as he proudly explained how he and Ryder built the hovercraft just for me, and I could tell from his voice he was fighting the need to begin barking in exitement. And he was so sweet to do this for me... I can't imagine how much thought and effort he put into making that presentation...

And there I was, typical Zuma, ignoring his best friend who was only trying to help him. But what if I mess up in my first mission? I can't even remember how Rocky said the hovercraft was operated... what if I fail? Everyone is counting on me to become a part of the team, especially Rocky, but what if I can't? Will Ryder kick me out of the lookout? Will I not be able to be with Rocky anymore? No... I can't let that happen... he's my friend... my only friend. And he's been so supportive on me joining the team, but... what if I fail him? What if I fail my best friend who was counting on me...

I slowly drift into sleep, but am almost immediately woken up by Ryder

"Come on out, Zuma! It's time for your test!" He yelled from outside my recently given pup house

I step out to see Ryder, Chase, Marshall, and Rocky, but something isn't right. It seemed kind of early, so looked at the time

"What the hell, guys, it's fouw am! Why is the test happening so eawly? I haven't even had bweakfast today!" I said anxiously. How can I take the test while still drowsy and with an empty stomach?!

"A good member knows to expect a mission at anytime!" Ryder exclaimed. "Now, this is a simulation, but you better take it seriously because if you don't pass, you won't make the team, but also be confident; I don't want to put pressure on you". Wow, great way to not put pressure on me, I said sarcastically to myself

"Well, time for a mission! Quickly, let's go inside for the details!" As Ryder said this, everyone else started running inside. I guess I gotta follow them, I thought running after them

However, probably because of the nerves of the moment, or having an empty stomach, or for being drowsy, but for whatever reason I got confused and instead of going to the elevator... I headed to the kitchen

"What are you doing, Zuma?! You need to get to the elevator, you idiot!" Chase yelled in frustration

"I-I'm sorry, I'm coming". What's wrong with you, Zuma? You need to get this right. Do it for Rocky. I finally get into the elevator as we all went up to the top floor

Once we got to the top, I see the rest of the pups take a step forward into platforms of different colors. Not knowing what was going on, I reach the closest platform and stand there, and in the blink of an eye, a shining light illuminates the room for half a second before the elevator opens to reveal everyone in their uniforms

"Hey, that was my spot!" I hear Marshall say. I look down, only to see me wearing a red firefighter suit while Marshall is wearing an orange suit equipped for swimming

"Come on, Zuma, we went over this. You can do it" I hear Rocky say from behind me, followed by a sigh from Ryder, while everyone else looks at me with disgust

"Oh, I'm sorry... should we change?"

"Obviously!" Marshall said while unzipping his- or should I say my- uniform. "Now that you messed up, we'll have to change it manually", he complained

"And we're now wasting valuable time because of your stupid mistake!" Chase exclaimed. I frown and sigh as I take off Marshall's uniform. Now I really messed up

After changing to the correct uniform, Ryder continued the simulation showing an animation on screen, but as he spoke I began to drift off and slowly close my eyes from being so tired. "Why did Wyder have to wake us up soooooo eawly?" I muttered in complaint as I feel my eyes grow heavy and eventually shut down

Suddenly, I am woken up by Ryder saying "Paw Patrol is on a roll!"

Oh, great, now I even messed up in hearing about the mission, all I heard was the word beach. Guess that won't be of much help

I follow through as Rocky, Chase and Marshall slide down into their own vehicles. This time, I decided to wait until everyone had left to their own vehicles to look for mine, that way I wouldn't mess up again. I finally went to the slide which fortunately took me to my hovercraft. Wait... I don't remember how to drive this thing

I hear the engine start but I can't help but to feel anxious. I've already messed up three times before we even left for the mission

And now, as expected, I mess up again. Not knowing how to drive, I press the accelerator button with all my strength and my hovercraft is shot foward at great speed... but I don't know how to stop it

"Can anyone tell me how to dwive this thing?!" I scream frantically to the others as my hovercraft continues to drive incredibly fast, but it's to no use; I've already passed them by far

"What are you doing, Zuma?! You're supposed to know this!" I hear a familiar voice yell in the distance. But it wasn't a voice full of anger or annoyance. It was more like... disappointment

Wocky...

I see the others follow behind me for a little while, signaling for me to do something to stop the hovercraft, but I couldn't understand it, so I just froze in panic hoping I wouldn't run anybody over and try as best I can direct myself to the beach which is close by

"Zuma! You need to hit the breaks; you're driving towards the cliff!" I hear Ryder shout from behind me

I begin to hysterically push all the buttons I see in search for the breaks as I look in front of me to see the cliff signifying my doom only a few meters away, and after a couple of seconds of pushing buttons, I finally find the right one, making my hovercraft violently stop at mere centimeters from the cliff (A.N: I don't wanna confuse you but I use the metric system), but since the vehicle was already moving rapidly, the impulse pushed the whole thing along with me down the cliff to my inevitable death...

I suddenly wake up screaming, making me fall off my bed. I pant heavily as I use my paw to remove the sweat from my face. It was all just a dream

But... what if I do fail my actual test? Should I talk to someone?

I hesitate as I look to the recycling pup's pup house. Maybe I should talk to Rocky... no; it's too late to talk to him anyway. He's probably asleep... oh, what the hell, I'll do it

Quietly leaving my pup house, I approach Rocky's and knock on his door

Seconds after, I watch as the doors open to reveal my best friend smiling at me

"What's up, can't sleep?" He said with that sweet, warm smile. Surprising how he can do that despite of it being around midnight

I froze and blushed in embarrassment. I'm almost acting like a little puppy going to his friend because he had nightmares... "I had a b-bad dweam... and I was w-wondewing if I c-could..." I sigh, realizing I didn't even know what my plan was. "You know what, nevewmind. I really shouldn't have woken you up this late for something this twivial..." I said turning around to go back to my pup house

"Wait", I hear him whisper. "It's fine. I wasn't even asleep; it normally takes me a while, and I'm a light sleeper, so if I don't feel sleepy I know that there's just no point in trying. Anyway... nightmares, you say? Yeah, I remember having those when I first joined the team. Come one in, we'll talk about it..."

"A-Alwight", I respond as I enter his pup house. "This looks exactly how I wemembewed it to be... don't you evew clean up?"

Rocky's pup house was a mess. Papers thrown all over the place, metals all over the floor, and a bunch of books on his bed. I have to say I really thought Rocky'd be one of those super organized people who had everything in its place, but I learned since the day I met him and stayed with him that that was not the case

"Oh, that... I'm sorry, I just have all these projects I'm currently working on and those I want to start, I just don't have the time to organize everything... anyway, let me just make some space for us to sit while you tell me what happened in that dream of yours" he said as he started picking up the books on his bed and throwing them to a corner in his pup house

"I was just doing some light reading", he said, moving the last book to the corner. I take a peak to what he was reading. "A brief history of time". That's what he calls "light reading"?

"Here, take a seat", he said as he sat on his bed and patted a spot next to him, signaling for me to sit. "Tell me about your nightmare"

I take a sit next to him and take a deep breath before speaking. "I had a dweam whewe Wyder woke me up eawly in the mowning to take the test to join the team..."

"And?" Rocky questioned

"I messed evewything up duwing the simulation. I wan to the kitchen instead of the elevatow, I stepped on Mawshall's platfowm instead of mine and fowced us to switch unifowms manually, fell asleep duwing the mission bwiefing, and then... dwove my own vehicle down the cliff... now I'm scawed I'll do that duwing the actual test..."

"Look, I get that you're worried about the test; I did too, but you'll do fine! Just remember what I taught you during the introductory course" he said as he put his paw on my shoulder and stared with his sweet, bright amber eyes at mine

"But, Wocky, the twuth is... I didn't pay attention duwing the couwse..." I say looking away and pushing his paw off my shoulder

"Oh... was I that boring?" I give him a shy nod while still not bearing to make eye contact. "Oh well, I'm sorry. I've been told sometimes I can be a little too much, but I just wanted to make sure you knew everything you needed to know before you joined the team. Anyway, the good news is that you do actually remember all those things"

"Huh?"

"You see, our concious minds are able to retain and process only a limited amount of information for a certain amount of time. However, our unconscious minds have almost unlimited space for storing information, and sometimes our unconscious minds record information even while we're not focused on the subject, or 'drifting off' "

"Wait, you'we saying I leawned these things while not leawning it?" I asked lifting my head, my eyes once again meeting Rocky's

"Well yes. How else do you suppose you could have that dream? If you or someone in your dream knew you were doing things wrong or tried to correct you, it's because you knew the information, but your fear of being unprepared was reflected by your subconscious into the dream", he explained. I was having a little trouble following but as Rocky noticed he continued, "in other words, you do know, meaning you're ready for tomorrow... but that's not what's bothering you, is it? This is about more than whether you join the team or not", he said, making me look away once more

Jeez, it's like he can see right through me. "I'm scawed, Wocky", I said, more as a whisper, but he was still able to hear it

"Scared of what?"

"Of being alone again... I know Wyder; he's a good pewson, but if I fail, he won't let me live in the lookout just because he feels pity fow me. And even if he did, I could nevew enjoy living like that knowing I am not wanted hewe, which means if I fail... I'll probably nevew get to see you again, and I'll be back the way I was..." my lips trembled as I said the last word "...lonely..."

Rocky looked at me in shock, a tear escaping the corner of his eye. Nevertheless, he quickly brought me into a hug, allowing me to empty the tears that were forming on my eyes on the side of his neck as he held me

"You're not alone... I'll always be here with you, no matter what" he would softly whisper to me

After a few more minutes of me crying and Rocky whispering encouraging and reassuring words, I pulled out of the hug to speak. "Th-thanks" I said wiping off the few tears that remained on my cheeks

"Anything for you. You feeling better now?"

"Bettew... I'm sowwy I came to bothew you this late at night though"

"Hey, you'd do the same thing for me. We're friends, after all"

"Well, I bettew get going now" I said getting off Rocky's bed and heading for the door. But something was still bugging me...

"Hey, Zuma, you... wanna stay here for the night? I know that you've got your own pup house now so you don't need to sleep here anymore, but just so you can wake up and later take your test knowing that you're not alone"

It was at moments like these that I wondered if Rocky had the power to read minds, but of course I gladly accepted

I smiled. Just like my first couple of days since I got here. "Nowmal awwangement?" I asked as I hopped back on his bed

"Sure. Your blanket should be in... uh oh..." he looked at me with a nervous smile

"What?"

"I may have burnt it"

"What? How?"

"Ryder and I were working on a helicopter for a new member to use for searches, rescues, et cetera, but we had a little... incident. The prototype lit on fire and we had to put it out however we could, and since Marshall wasn't available, we couldn't use his water cannon, so we used the blanket... at least you'll be happy to know it worked, only the blanket didn't survive... I'm sorry, I didn't know we would need to use it in the future since you moved out, but you can use mine"

"No need, you can keep it. It's not that cold anyway" I said, laying down on one side of the bed as Rocky layed on the other

"Good night" he said softly

"You too"

Oh, how wrong was I about the cold. Somehow, Rocky's pup house was much colder than mine, and in just a few minutes after going to bed, I was already shivering, though trying to disimulate so I wouldn't alert Rocky, but after a while he still noticed

"It's a pretty large blanket, you know? We can share it" he said, turining to face my shaking body

"Y-Yes, please". I responded as he lifted his blanket and moved closer to me and placed it over our bodies, then turned to his side facing away from me, the way we'd done before, only this time we were much closer, my fur brushing with his

Without thinking, I immediately snuggled with Rocky's back, and slowly spooned him. As soon as I realized what I had done, I blushed deeply and regretted doing so. I tried to move, but while my mind wanted nothing but to push him away, my body had different plans, so I gave up and stayed in that position, only hoping he wouldn't notice

We slept like that through the whole night, and he didn't say anything about it when we woke up. Instead, everything seemed normal, but something was definitely different. I was feeling weird inside. I knew a spoon position was typical for couples, but we're not together! Still, I can't say I didn't enjoy the warmth he gave me, or his sweet sent filling my nose when I snuggled him, I even started to wonder what it would be like to kiss him...

Wait, I'm not gay! But Rocky's just so nice, and smart, and I have to admit also kinda cute...

Back to the present

I sigh as I look to Rocky, who's still knocked out in the passenger seat. I listen to his steady breathing, his belly expanding with every inhalation. He looks so peaceful like that...

Needless to say I passed the test, though looking back, I guess the time of my nightmates was also the first time I felt something for Rocky. Though I didn't accept it at first, eventually I realized I was hopelessly in love with the mix, and there was nothing I could do about it. Unfortunately, he never seemed to notice

I take another look at my crush, sleeping right next to me but has absolutely no idea about my absolute love for him

"Oh, Wocky, you clueless pup... when will you see..."

Hello, people of FFN! I hope you're liking the story so far. I should remind you the most up to date version of this story is in wattpad under the same name. If you check it out be sure to give me a follow to stay up to date on any announcements and newer chapters! (My username is the same). Meanwhile, next chapter will be posted near the end of January. See you then!

—LSMMPGBFECLRMCFD