Today's the day. That was what Patch kept on assuring herself, staring at her awesome yellow-hued friend. Today you'll finally get over this dumb masquerade and tell her. No symbolism, no phones, no boys…

Patch glanced at the purple and yellow flower in her hoof one more time, frowning skeptically at it. "Just gotta look as adorable as possible. Then maybe she will go with me."

Her thoughts went back to the conversation she'd had with Melody earlier that week; back when she'd attempted saying it straight but ended up telling the rock star instead. Melody insisted that she'd already known and had known all along, but she was still surprised as she suggested expounding her cute side.

All she had to do was get out of the bush she was hiding in and actually apply that advice to the happy little filly with the green frog. Seeing Bon Bon laugh and play with the little amphibian in the springtime meadow was adorableness squared; adorableness2.

But her yellow friend was already the embodiment of cute, in her opinion, thanks to her eagerness to please, and her smelling like cookies and candy, and her apologies, and that way her hips just…

Something suddenly landed on Patch's head. She picked it off and stared at it questioningly. "Gribet."

Patch stared dumbly at the frog, Spot, and opened her mouth to question him… but she ended up getting tackled by 125% her weight in pure adorable.

"AGH!" The adventurer exclaimed in surprise as she tumbled over and on to her back.

Something (or, rather, someone) was weighing down on her lungs, muzzle and body.

The adventurer found herself blushing profusely at the contact between her and Bon Bon's muzzles. Patch squeaked out in surprise at the position of being stuck staring into her friend's sky blue eyes. Then she glanced to her side and spotted a certain amphibian eat a purple and yellow flower…

So it was not only her lungs that were being crushed: it was her feelings too.

"Ohmygosh, Patch, I'm so sorry!" Bon Bon exclaimed, getting off of her friend's face and blushing red. "I-I didn't mean to… I just didn't see you there!"

Then her friend finally realized her own weight was crushing Patch's lungs. She stood up on all fours and blushed even more liberally. "Oh my goodness, I really didn't see you there… I didn't mean to crush your internal organs!"

Patch took a deep breath to restore her oxygen levels and then her jaw went agape at the sight of her friend. "Hunh?"

She'd made that unattractive sound when she noticed that her flower had somehow miraculously landed behind Bon Bon's ear. "Y-Your ear!"

Bon Bon glanced up at the yellow and purple flower in behind her ear. Within about a minute of inspecting it, she went from totally uneasy to slightly less embarrassed but with a bit of self-consciousness mixed in. Was that contradictory? Patch thought fleetingly. "Oh! Um…haha." Bon Bon smiled in that self-conscious way that Patch melted a bit at. "Purple is, um, my favorite."

Then she cowered backwards, frowning. "Oh… is this flower for someone else? I- I'd hate to steal it if it was."

Patch propped herself into a sitting position, blushing more profusely than ever. "Oh! Um." Are you gonna tell the truth or what was the thing that the frustrated part of her mind growled before it went back to watching Secret Squirrel reruns and eating chips.

Take it slowly, the romantic part of her brain that only came out when she was talking to Bon Bon advised sagely.

Patch gulped. Keep it together, you goof...

So, it was after great hesitation that Patch responded. "A-Actually, it looks, um… What I mean to say is… I l-like how it goes with your b-beaut… uh bontifu- bountiful… purple hair." Patch finished lamely, clenching her eyes shut and flinching at her own indecisiveness. She sure as sugar wouldn't think anyone who stuttered quite like that as cute…

"Oh. Um, thank you." Bon Bon sat on her haunches. "W-Who was this for again? I think this is a really sweet gesture." There was a brief pause. "The one who's getting it is really lucky," she added in a more defeated voice.

That jolted Patch to her own haunch sitting, her eyes opening to see Bon Bon averting her gaze.

"UM… ah..." Patch scratched the back of her head. Lucky? That was comforting. With a slight grin, she replied. "Well, tell the truth, I- I thought it would go with your, um… your eyes."

The statement made their eyes meet. Bon Bon's mouth's corners turned up in a hopeful grin where Patch's became an alarmed frown. "Y-You really mean it?" she questioned in a whisper.

Patch gulped and shrugged. Just looking into those clear blue eyes just jarred Patch's stomach in all the wrong ways.

The time was right. All of the planets were aligned perfectly. Patch was gonna do it for once. For real. With no interruptions.

"Um, Bon Bon…?"

"Yes?"

Patch was so pink you might have thought she'd been holding her breath for an hour. "If you don't mind… I have something to tell you."

Bon Bon's eyes were glistening with unshed tears. The adventurer could tell joyful tears when she saw them. "Yes, Patch…?" her friend asked expectantly.

The idea that Bon Bon was excited for her confession served as the last egg that Patch needed before seizing her hidden fruit and eating it. "What I was wondering was if… if…"

Suddenly Spot bounced onto Bon Bon's head and stared at Patch with an on-tenterhooks expression on his face too. He licked his lips with his tongue.

Patch frowned and stared at the creature in shock. "Uh…"

The idea of Spot watching her dramatic confession of love was unsettling. It made her blood go cold. He was so smart that it was practically like having Miss Hackney or something watching! She glanced around quickly to make sure that wasn't the case.

After staring at Spot for another second, Patch gave him an infuriated look that just screamed, is now the time?

And the taupe pony could have sworn that he raised his eyebrows twice in a suggestive way. Just to confirm her suspicions, she saw him make a kissy motion with his mouth.

That frog…!

"W-What do you mean?"

Oh. She'd said that out loud, hadn't she?

That wasn't even a question.

Patch looked into Bon Bon's eyes to see hurt and suddenly sad, heartbroken tears. "Bon Bon, you aren't gonna believe this, but… Spot is on to us."

"You can't take anything seriously, can you?" Bon Bon accused, though Patch could hear the hurt very evidently in her voice.

Patch reached a hoof over to her shoulder and almost sniffled herself. "Bon Bon…"

The yellow pony slapped her hoof away. "We'll continue this at a later date," Bon Bon exclaimed, pointing her hoof a touch dramatically. "When you can take something seriously!"

Then Bon Bon ran away and made Patch harden on the inside.

She glared at Spot, who'd hopped off her head and sat on the ground. "Spot, I could hate you, because you just ruined everything I've been fighting for since school started…"

Seriously, that'd been the very closest she'd been to being able to get her thoughts across. There was no way Bon Bon didn't know, unless she was stupid (and Patch could attest otherwise). She knew she should have just been herself…

Then she sighed. "…But you're still the coolest frog around." The dumb plot was bound to fail anyway. Not being herself was, again, an awful idea.

"Gribet."