(Still Zuma's POV)
Three hours...
Three hours of boredom, just sitting in my hovercraft, glancing to Rocky from time to time, who is still in deep sleep
I took another glance at the mix, who is completely knocked out in the seat, yet still manages to look adorable.
After a minute I realized my "glance" had turned into staring. I'd turn away, but...
He's just so damn cute...
I hate to wake him up when he was finally getting some rest, and I could finally stare at him without it being creepy or awkward, but we have to start the swimming lessons...
"Dude, wake up" I said, slowly shaking the mix that was sleeping soundly right next to me
Rocky's POV
I open my eyes to see my best friend shaking me to wake me up
"Oh, we're here?" I said with a yawn and rubbed my eyes before stepping out of the hovercraft
"Actually, we've been hewe for a while, just wanted you to get some west befowe we stawted", the lab explained as he too stepped out of his hovercraft and stared at the ocean
"Seriously, Zuma? I understand that as my friend you have the tendency to worry for my health, but you must acknowledge the valuable time which is being wasted because of your decision to wait for me to get what you consider to be sufficient sleep. I told you, I may have been a little somnolent but that does not guarantee I would not able to function for an uncomplicated task such as swimming". Zuma turned to face me and was about to argue something when he looked to me surprised and covered his muzzle with his paw as if trying to repress laughter
Seconds later, he bursted out laughing so hard he fell to the cold sand while still laughing uncontrollably
After almost a whole minute of laughter the lab finally managed to calm down and I spoke up
"What's so funny?" I asked, my tone making it clear that I was not annoyed, but genuinely confused
"I-I'm sowwy, dude. You just speak all smawt like that but it's kinda hawd to take you sewiously when youw haiw is all cwazy like that..."
Zume quickly found a piece of glass in the sand and handed it to me. As I looked at my reflection on the glass I realized the fur on my head and right side was indeed crazy, especially on my head; it looked like I had finally turned into his favorite scientist, from the genius to the hairstyle. It was as if all my hair decided to go on different directions, leaving me looking like a mess
I frowned. "It was probably because of that sleeping position I was in. Urgh, I had just brushed it this morning!" I gently move my paw through my fur, trying to return it to its original state, but it's to no use; it won't go back down now
I was focused on fixing my fur on my right side, oblivious of my surroundings, when I suddenly felt something wet touch my head
I fliched and turned to see Zuma, who is still licking my head
Wait... what?
"W-What are you doing?"
The lab deadpanned "What? I'm gwooming you. You know, to help fix youw haiw" He replied continuing to lick through my fur
"Can't I just wash it off swimming-" I paused mid sentence and before I could continue Zuma interrupted
"Oh, well if you think you'we weady fow a full dive and swim aftew a day of getting your paws wet, then go wight ahead," he said pointing to the ocean with a daring grin
"F-Fine. You're right, I'm not there yet, so just continue"
"Nuh-uh. You gotta ask fow it, Wocky" he continued in a condescending voice
"Wha-" I sighed, "fine. Zuma, would you please groom me?"
Zuma grinned. "Hmmm... I don't know, dude. I must acknowledge the valuable time that would be wasted by helping you with such a twivial thing..."
I know what he's doing. He's playing with me. I know Zuma likes to tease me, but two can play that game...
"Oh, really? I just thought as a friend you would be happy to help me, but... I guess I was wrong to think that..." I looked down and whimpered lightly. I knew it worked because I could see Zuma's expression changing and his cocky smile slowly faded
"Don't do that with me, that's unfaiw!" The lab said with a playful shove. "Anyway, I'll help you out," and with that he did. Few minutes later and we were good to go
"Thewe we go, handsome as usual," the lab said jokingly, but I couldn't help but blush at the comment
"Th-Thanks. A-Anyway... let's get this over with," I smirked and glance to the lab. "Race you there!", I shouted as I ran with all my strength to the edge of the beach and the ocean
"Hey, not faiw!" Zuma said running after me, though probably going to win...
What came afterwards was a series of exercises and trainings that all involved the basics of swimming, and while I am still not at a Zuma level of swimming (which I will probably never reach; he's a fricking water god), nor can I completely submerge underwater, nor be completely comfortable with water, but I am happy with the little progress I made
However, after a while we got called by Ryder for a mission as I was still poorly attempting to swim around, yet I honestly looked like a drowning pupy swimming poorly while trying to find his way back, but I was enjoying the moment
"You heawd it, Wocky. Wyder needs us." The lab stood on the line marked by wet sand where the ocean's tides and the rest of the sand met, as he could feel it through his paws while he 'coached me'
"Aww, come on! Just a little more, I'm getting a hang of this," I replied like an infant not wanting to leave the playground
"Well looky hewe, looks like someone's enjoying himself. Wemembew, chin up and coowdinate youw fwont and back paws as you swim. But now we gotta go, dude"
I sighed, "fine." I rose to the shore and lightly shaked body to remove all the extra water on my fur, which simply ended in me falling backwards to the wet sand, just in time to be hit by the tides. I heard the giggling of my best friend which made me laugh too, and looked up to see the chocolate lab stretching out his paw in my direction, inviting me to take hold of it. The sun's golden gaze reflected upon his face. I could see with clarity every single detail, from his relaxed and warm smile to his beautiful hazel eyes, which glowed bright and golden at the moment. It was like the whole world stopped for a second, and all I could focus on was my best friend. A split second that was lasting an eternity, but to be honest I didn't want to end such a blissful moment
"Umm... dude? Awe you just gonna leave me hanging?" I was brought back to see Zuma still holding his hand in front of me, reminding me a split second does last only a split second, and I'd really been staring and zoomed out for several seconds before reacting. I shook my head to ensure I was back to reality and grabbed his paw before he pulled me back to my feet. But I had a feeling I'd never felt before. I glanced at his golden eyes and tried to make a casual smile as a form of expressing my gratitude, but based on Zuma's reaction I could tell I was smiling like a fool, and immediately covered my face with my paws as I felt blood rush through my cheeks
With my face burried in my paws, I heard a giggle coming from the lab. "Dude, awe you okay?" He removed my paws from my face and looked directly at my eyes, but to hide being so flustered I just cleared my throat and quickly moved to my vehicle while muttering a "yup. Everything's fine"
The mission was simple: there was a rockslide on a bridge which blocked the way of the train and me and Rubble had to clear it out. There rest of the pups weren't needed so they stayed in the Lookout ready in case they were called while we handled the situation
Yet throughout the mission I kept thinking about what had happened. It was really embarrassing when I realized I was being so weird, but before that... before that it was perfect. I can't describe what I felt, but I wanted to find out. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but I don't know if that should be alarming. I decided I would have to discuss this with someone else who might have insight on such emotions to figure it out, but who would it be? It had to be someone I trusted. Zuma would generally be my go-to, but since this appears to involve him, I went to my second most trusted person: Ryder
He is, after all, by far smarter than me. He might have an explanation or solution to whatever hapened earlier. "Great job, pups. Another successful mission, now let's head back to the Lookout," he said as everyone made their way back to their vehicles, but I stopped him before he reched his
"Ryder, can wel talk real quick?" Ryder stopped and turned to me
"Sure, what is it?"
"Well, I've just been feeling kinda weird lately, mostly earlier..." And then I proceeded to tell him everything, including things like the time we were building the jetski, what happened just earlier today, my best description of the feeling I got, and the list of symptoms that came along and in order of when I felt them. As I continued to tell him about the situation while the pups went ahead back to the Lookout, Ryder's grin grew wider and wider before I concluded and he spoke up
"So, all of this happens when you're with Zuma?"
"That is what I said, yes. Why?"
Ryder's grin was as big as it could get and it confused me. "It's just that I think someone has a crush on Zuma"
I blushed deeply thinking about the whole 'crush' thing. "Y-You mean a-as in... romantic i-interest?"
The boy nodded. "Th-This can't be right. W-Why would I have a c-crush on my best friend?" Before Ryder could answer, I anxiously stormed away to my vehicle and rushed to the Lookout. Ryder seemed surprised but he didn't seem so worried about it, knowing I could handle it
As soon as I got back I saw all the pups playing soccer together, and Zuma stopped playing and ran happily to me as soon as he saw me return. "Dude, you'we back! Took you long enough, I was gonna ask you if you wanted to be in my team for soccew!" He claimed happily, but I had too much in my mind to play, especially if it involved him, so I quickly thought of an excuse not to
"Oh, sorry, but I was going to work on some-uh- projects today, so I can't"
"Oh, I see... well maybe later we can do something with just the two of us, huh? Come on, we've been vewy busy with missions and the lessons that we haven't had much time to hang out. So what do you say?"
"Umm, the thing is I planned to work on it all day, so I wouldn't be so sure... b-but maybe tomorrow?"
The lab's smile faded slowly. "Oh, alwight then, maybe tomowwow," he replied with a fake smile to replace it
"See you later then," and with that I made my way to my pup house and locked myself inside to think
I spent the entire afternoon inside, even skipped a meal saying I felt sick, but in reality I just didn't want to see Zuma. I didn't know what to do. Could I possibly like him as more than friends? That can't be. And I'm not talking about the whole 'he's a dude' bullsh*t. I didn't know those relationships existed but Ryder assured me they were normal, and I honestly see no reason not to like a dude. If I really, really liked him, that wouldn't matter. But that's not what worried me. All I know about love is that father loved, mother loved, and Danny loved, and I loved all of them, yet mother is dead, father changed, and I don't know what happened to Danny after that day, but with father's behavior it was probably not good. All the people I loved are gone, and that even affected father, making him less caring and more mean and even violent. Even someone with half a brain could tell by that information that love can only mean bad, however or whoever it comes from
I sighed in frustration, puzzled by my situation. I went outside, hoping Zuma wasn't there, and realized it was actually much later than I thought. It was dark and everyone had gone to bed. Wow, I did spend a lot of time inside... well, might as well make use of this
I walked out the Lookout and headed to beach to think. Despite not liking water that much I enjoyed going there to think, and it was also so calm, it helps me relax
Then just as I walked through the sand I saw a figure laying down near me, which I identified to be Zuma. I panicked and tried to leave quietly but was still heard. I turned around to see the lab surprised, but then relaxed as he saw it was only me
"Oh, hey, dude, come and sit. You alwight?" He questioned from the short distance between us
"I'm good, but what are you doing here?" I honestly wanted to leave, but I couldn't do that to him, so I layed down next to him and we stared at the stars
"Just came hewe to chill and unwind, like I do sometimes"
Right... I should've expected that. It reminds me of the first time we met though. He was so sweet and kind to me... wait, no, don't think about that. And he wasn't nice to you in particular, he's nice to everyone...
My thoughts were cut off by Zuma. "Thewe awen't many staws out hewe tonight. Makes it easiew to look for sapphiwes-"
"Actually, there are still tons of stars, only that they are not currently visible. It could be because of the gases and whatnot, but it could also be from another possibility. You see, the galaxy is like a disc full of stars, but we are near the edge, which means when we are looking towards the center of the galaxy, we see the most stars, since we're looking towards the great mass of them. However, when we look away from the center, we see less stars. And you would think it shouldn't be that way because there are still stars everywhere around us and in every direction, but it is because of the Big Bang that we cannot see the rest of the stars. Since the Big Bang occurred, all planets and stars have been moving away from the center, and are still in movement. The farther they are from the center, the faster they move. Some stars move nearly to the speed of light, which is why their light cannot reach us, and it leaves us with what appears to be "less stars". And when the universe has finished exploding all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall towards the centre of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us seeing all the stars in the world because they will all be moving towards us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling. Of course we will probably be extinct by then, and even if there were some survivors, they would still not be able to see the sky full of stars because all the light would be blinding and the heat would kill every single remaining organism here, even if they lived in tunnels. Quite interesting if you come to think about it"
The lab turned and stared in amusement. "... wow... you weally now how to wuin any moment with youw facts and science, don't you?" He said joking, but I couldn't help but to feel bad for interrupting the moment
"Oh... I-I'm sorry... I didn't meant to..."
"No, no, it's fine. It's actually one of the things I like about you"
I felt a smile creep up on my face at hearing this. "Th-Thanks, but what were you gonna say about sapphires?"
"Well, when I was young, I would look at the sky and seawch for sapphiwes among the staws. You know, the bwightest and most blue looking ones. It was fun"
"But that doesn't make any sense. Stars are all stars, never sapphires, and their glow isn't actually blue. Ever" I sad perplexed
"But it's not always about what makes sense ow not. It was simply something that I liked to do, and it helped me see the beauty in the staws even cleawew seeing them as sapphiwes"
"Oh... come to think of it, I guess you're right..."
"See? It's not hawd to enjoy life if you just accept not evewything has to be so... logical. Just stawe at the stars and enjoy the moment"
"Yeah... just enjoy the moment..."
Just enjoy the moment...
Hello, awesome people of FFN! I apologize for the delay to posting this chapter, but I'll be going back to posting monthly after this. We're approaching the latest chapters that have been posted in my wattpad account, but luckily with my state being under lockdown for coronavirus concerns I'll have plenty of time to write some more by the time you guys catch up. As always, I'll remind you that you can check out my wattpad (with my same username) for an up to date version of this story, including another 2 chapters that have been posted there. This is just because I was halfway through the story when I joined FFN, and I didn't want to throw all the chapters in right away so I'm posting monthly. You'll also find some extra uploads I have including drawings I've made, late night thoughts and ideas, and some more personal stuff if you wanna check it out. Along with stating up to date about story announcements in my message board there. So just a little incentive for more people to join me on wattpad since it has more opportunity to connect with the readers and keep 'em up to date, so whether here or on wattpad, I'd love to hear what you guys think of the story so far! Thanks for the patience as well, until next time!
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