A/N - I understand I'm a sicko, I've just been trying to understand feelings I can't express elsewhere. I do believe there is something special about guys and girls coming to understand eachother despite their differences, and connecting deeper because of it. I know I may not be going about these feelings the right way, and you don't have to read any of this if it makes you uncomfortable, but I also believe stories, even the worst of them, need to be preserved, not because it necessarily justifies what has been done, but because it helps us understand the past and who we used to be so we can be better moving forward. I don't know what kind of writer I am anymore, or who I want to be, I guess I'm trying to connect, but I don't know how, I guess I'm just trying to help characters I like connect and understand eachother in ways that I've never been able to with the one I love, because she doesn't exist. So I'm not trying to make excuses for this story, it is what I wrote it to be, strengthening character affinity or just disgusting, take it as you will.


Bristlefrost and Rootspring stood in the forest practicing moves together. Rootspring had just given a surprise attack by leaping from a tree, and he had caught Bristlefrost off guard.

"Good one," Bristlefrost said.

They both paused and looked eachother in the eyes, sharing the moment of the other's presence. Rootspring was such a special cat, and Bristlefrost knew she felt the same way about him.

"Okay, another one," Bristlefrost said, taking the attention off the moment and returning to what they were doing, "This one is a little tricky, but if you do it right, you should be able to knock your opponent off their paws."

Rootspring watched intrigued, anticipating the move to see how it worked.

In a flash, Bristlefrost, ducked into a crouch. Throwing her back legs out from under her, she whipped around, rotating on her forepaws, carrying her back legs behind her, swooping around Rootspring toward his back legs.

Originally she intended to swoop his legs out from under him, lashing out fast, but it was an instant too late that she realized her aim was off, her back legs shooting right through the opening in his, colliding hard with his-

Bristlefrost didn't even want to acknowledge where she'd just hit him.

Rootspring went completely still. Then, in an instant, he dropped. As the pain began to set in, Rootspring began yowling agony. Bristlefrost regained her stance and stood there in shock.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

But Rootspring just laid there folded in on himself, in complete angst of his situation.

"Ughh!" He yowled, "Why did you have to hit me there?"

Bristlefrost was well aware that toms were very sensitive about that part of themselves, and she had never intended to hit any tom there ever, but now that she had, the expression on Rootspring's poor face, she couldn't help but blush inside.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "that's not how the move is supposed to work."

"Well, it should," rasped Rootspring, "It sure knocked me off my paws."

Rootspring saw Bristlefrost wincing self-consciously, and despite the pain, he couldn't help but feel himself blush inside as well. Bristlefrost was the most attractive she-cat he knew, and she had just saw him go down like only a tom-cat could, it was so embarrassing, but somehow it didn't hurt that it was Bristlefrost who was here instead of any other cat of any Clan.

Oh, but it was so embarrassing! And painful!

Rootspring laid there for awhile, curled in on himself delicately, he didn't think he'd be able to walk for awhile. Finally, Bristlefrost raised the question, "Is it feeling better now?"

"Not really," Rootspring replied faintly, still squirming in on himself.

Bristlefrost shifted her paws, by StarClan, that must've hurt bad for him to still be down there like that.

"Okay, while I'll just wait here," said Bristlefrost awkwardly, sitting down a few feet away, close enough to continue observing, but with enough room to leave him space.

Bristlefrost was glad she had a tom like Rootspring she could spend time with, but for the first time she realized sometimes if you do the wrong move, they can be taken down for quite some time.

She could only imagine how embarrassed that fact must make Rootspring feel.

"Let's not mention this to the other Clans," Rootspring rasped.

"Yeah," agreed Bristlefrost, shifting her paws awkwardly again, "Let's not."

So it was that it was their moment to share, a moment, no matter how awkward, was still a moment the two had spend awkwardly together, a moment Rootspring would go onto remember as long as he lived.