The strong winds were violently blowing as thunder was heard in the distance, the sky lighting up leading way for the roar that followed. The trees below howling as the wind blew in between them, the branches cracking in the wind.
"Chase we're not gonna make it, I have to put us down!" Skye yelled into her communication link as the winds made for an unstable flight.
"Copy!" Chase yelled back through the link as he was violently being thrown around in the harness below.
"Be ready to disconnect!" Skye yelled as she began descending towards an opening in the forest.
"Now!" She yelled as Chase's paw touched the ground, he quickly freed himself and ran away from the rapidly descending helicopter. The landing gear made contact with the ground slightly bouncing from the force of the landing.
Skye jumped out and transformed her helicopter to her pup house and quickly ran inside shielding herself from the harsh wind, Chase followed her. The small pup house was not meant to house more than one pup at a time. They were laying down shoulder to shoulder as the wind howled outside.
"Very cramped." The larger German Shepherd said as he tried to make himself more comfortable.
"Yeah, very clearly." Skye said as Chase was shifting around. Chase unbuckled his spy pack and threw off his helmet placing it just in front of himself.
"That's a little better." Chase said
"I just wish I could have my full room right now." Skye sighed
"Yeah that'd be nice, but don't you remember Rocky's explanation on how that 'would break so many laws of physics.' or whatever." Chase chuckled.
"Barely." Skye said.
"Yeah me neither, only thing I could understand was that our rooms are actually under our parking spaces and our actual vehicles only become the entrance, or something along those lines."
"Yep, that sounds like a Rocky explanation." Skye said.
"You know it's one when you can't understand half of it." Chase and Skye laughed a little as they knew it was true.
As their laughter fell silent so did their conversation, now there was only the sounds of the raging storm outside intensifying as rain began falling and could be heard impacting the roof above.
"You... you think we can reach the lookout yet?" Skye asked in a hopeful tone even though the storm could still clearly be heard outside.
"I doubt it, we'd need a stronger antenna." Chase said before pressing on his pup tag, static sounded over the speaker.
"Yeah nothing." Chase said pressing his tag again silencing the static.
"I guess we'll have to wait it out here then." Skye said as she shifted trying to get more comfortable in the small space available to them.
"Yep." Chase yawned as he pulled in his spy pack placing it under his head like a pillow as he rested his head on it.
"How could you even think about sleeping like this?" Skye asked as she was squeezed between Chase and the wall of the pup house. She didn't get a response but only heard light snoring as Chase had already fallen asleep.
"How?" She asked herself in disbelief at what she had just witnessed.
"I guess... I guess, I should maybe try to get some sleep as well." She said as she removed her pup pack doing the same thing as Chase. As she rested her head down she closed her eyes, before she felt Chase's tail flop over on to her back. Her face went red as she quickly looked over at Chase, he was still asleep.
She put her head back down on her pup pack as her blush faded to a light one she let the tail rest on her back as its warm presence was surprisingly calming in the violent storm thundering down outside. She didn't mind it being there.
She could feel the stress from the long mission wearing on her as her body finally had time to relax, her brain no longer splitting its focus between the multiple gauges, yaw pedals, collective, and flight stick, whilst making sure Chase wasn't slammed into a cliff by the winds.
Everything eventually fading to dark as a silence took over.
They were both awoken by Ryder's voice over their pup tags open radio channel, as the tags were still switched to mission mode where they functioned like radios instead of phones.
"Chase, Skye, can you hear me?" Could be heard over the grainy radio connection.
"Uh, yeah." "Yep." They both said in a dazed voice after just waking up.
"Finally, are you g-*stagic*"
"Ryder?" Chase asked over the radio.
"Damn, there we go. You guys are too far into the forest for cell communication, and the radio is spotty." Ryder said as he came back through their tags.
"Are you guys okay?" Ryder asked.
"Yeah, we're fine." Skye answered.
"Okay, great. Is your helicopter okay? Can you get back?" Ryder asked.
"I haven't checked it out yet, but it's been through worse before." Skye said.
"Alright, check it out and get back as soon as you can, we'll need your helicopter for the cleanup work. The storm knocked down quite a few branches and trees all over the town." Ryder said.
"Okay will do, over and out." Skye said as she stood up in the pup house.
"Over and out." Ryder said before the radio fell silent. Skye put on her pup pack as Chase stood up doing the same thing.
They open the door revealing a clear sky, the still sun hidden behind the trees, as it was slowly climbing up coloring the sky yellow.
Skye transformed her helicopter and began walking around it inspecting it.
Chase however got distracted by something, a sun ray shining undisturbed through the forest a short distance away. He walked up to it where he saw a narrow split in the dense forests. On the other side of the split a short distance away he could see the sun just barely peaking over the horizon.
"Hey Skye! Check this out." He yelled over to the cockapoo who was inspecting the tail rotor of her helicopter.
"What?" She yelled back but Chase disappeared in between the trees.
"Ugh, what now." Skye said to herself as she walked over to where Chase had disappeared. She saw the partition in the trees but was blinded by the sun.
"Chase?" She asked receiving no answer. She walked through the small passage between the trees before reaching the other side where her eyes adjusted to the sun.
"Wow." Skye said as she found herself high up on a cliff above the water as the sun was just coming up over the horizon lighting the way for the day
She spotted Chase a short distance to the right sitting close to the edge looking out over the horizon. She walked up and sat down next to him as she also stared out.
"So pretty." Skye said.
"Yeah." Chase said as he took a deep breath and relaxed his body letting his tail fall to the ground, but it hit something else.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" "Sorry!" They both said as they recoiled to their paws upon him accidentally letting down his tail on hers.
They both sat back down silently as they looked shyly away to opposite sides.
"I-I, uhm..." Chase said after a silence as he looked back at Skye who turned to meet his gaze. Chase didn't finish speaking but only stared as Skye did the same.
The warm light of the early morning sun making their fur glow while shading the other side, creating a complex light show around their silhouettes.
"Skye, we have a problem, is your helicopter operational?" Ryder could be heard over the long range radio on Skye's pup tag, both pup snapped out of it.
"U-uh, yes. I'll be off the ground in 2 minutes." Skye said.
"Good, I'll brief you in the air." Ryder said.
"Okay, come on Chase." Skye said as she began running back through the parting in the trees, Chase was following close behind the slower pup before the pathway widened out in to the clearing where they landed. Chase sped past her and hopped in the back seat of the helicopter.
Skye caught up and hopped in the pilot seat and quickly powered up the auxiliary power unit. As the APU was winding up she disabled the rotor brake and visually inspected the collective. As the APU was powered up she started the main engine as the rotor began slowly spinning up. As it reached a running speeds she disabled the APU and took off from the ground.
"Perfect start." She said to herself as she quickly gained altitude. She tilted forward and began moving horizontally over the trees in the direction of the lookout.
Then an alarm began sounding but it wasn't one she recognized, she couldn't even tell where it was coming from. As she was trying to figure it out she unintentionally flew into a cloud but it didn't go white like usual. As she flew into the could everything went dark.
Skye woke up in her bed to her alarm ringing on her bedside table.
"Damn, that was... that sure was something." She said as she sat up.
As she thought about the dream she realized how it was exactly as she remembered that night. It was tight and uncomfortable but yet it made her feel warm, and the morning after she just felt like there actually was something special there. However, because of the whole Adventure City ordeal, they never had time to talk about it as it came so shortly after they had finished fixing everything that broke during the storm.
"Alright, this pup's gotta get some food." Skye said happily as she jumped out of bed well rested.
She grabbed her pup tag and happily skipped along to the lookout entrance. The morning sun warming her fur on the way there.
As she entered the lookout she walked over and filled up her pink bowl and walked into the common area. As she looked around she didn't see Chase, so instead she decided to go and sit with Zuma and Tundra as she had yet to properly meet her.
"Oh, sup Skye." Zuma said as Skye approached and put her bowl down.
"Hi Zuma, and hi I'm Skye, we never got to officially meet." She greeted both of them.
"Hi, I'm Tundra." She greeted.
"That's a nice name, you like snow?" Skye asked.
"I love snow, and you're the pilot here right? Fitting name." Tundra said.
"I've got so many different certifications, so aviator would probably describe it better." Skye chuckled slightly awkwardly.
"Why is that?" Tundra asked confused by what Skye meant.
"Well, I've got a type rating for my specific helicopter, an external load rating, NVG rating, and an instrument rating. As well as for planes I've got multiple type ratings for all the airplanes we have, a multi-engine rating, a seaplane rating, as well as a glider rating." Skye finished.
"Well I don't know what any of that means, but it sounds impressive, so good on you." Tundra said with a friendly.
"Thanks. Oh, and also Zuma, have you seen Chase today?" Skye remembered to ask.
"Uhh... no, I don't think so. If he's not in his pup house he's pwobably out walking again." Zuma assumed.
"Yeah probably, well thanks. I'm gonna go check up on my helicopter." Skye said as she finished her food.
"Okay, cya." "Bye Skye." Zuma and Tundra said.
"Bye guys." She said as she headed towards the door, but before she made it out of the common area something caught her eyes. Rocky was sitting alone in a corner reading a book.
"Get your friend stolen?" Skye joked as she passed by him on her way out.
"Heh, yeah I guess so." Rocky played along as she passed, but just below the surface that simple joke stung like a thousand needles
Rocky wasn't actually reading the book, he was just sitting with it so he had a reason to be alone. In actuality he was mostly looking over at the carped in the corner next to the book case where he and Zuma usually sat or... once sat.
He wanted to go up to Zuma and just continue on talking to him like nothing was different. But he just didn't know if he could handle being around the girlfriend of the one he loved.
Lost in an empty stare he failed to notice Marshall approach and sit down on the other side of the low table where Rocky's book was resting to his right.
"You sitting here all alone?" Marshall asked after a second.
"Hu- yeah I'm just reading a book." Rocky said slightly startled by Marshall's suddenly appearing.
"Oh I see, that's nice." Marshall said.
"Doesn't look like you're reading." Marshall thought confusedly to himself.
"So are you excited for tomorrow?" Marshall asked the seemingly distracted Rocky.
"What happens tomorrow?" Rocky asked as he didn't even remember what day it was today.
"Seriously? The anniversary party." Marshall said.
"Oh, right. Yeah, that's gonna be fun." Rocky lied. Honestly, he wasn't looking forward to it at all, besides he didn't even know where they were doing it this year.
"Rocky would never forget a date, especially an important one like this." Marshall thought to himself slightly worried about his brother's unusual behavior.
"Yeah, make sure to get some good sleep tonight. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day." Marshall said.
"Yeah." Rocky responded.
"Well, I'll leave you to your book then." Marshall said as he stood back up.
"O-okay." Rocky replied. As Marshall walked away.
"Why is he acting so weird? Maybe Chase knows what's up." Marshall thought to himself as he made his way outside the lookout.
As he was walking to Chase's pup house he saw Skye walking a short distance in front of him. He was about to say something but she turned and lifted her paw towards Chase's pup house, hesitating for a second before she knocked.
"Yeah? Come in." Could be heard from the other side of the door. She opened the door and saw Chase putting down the weights he had been lifting.
"Hi." Skye greeted.
"Oh, hey Skye, and uh, Marshall." Chase said as Marshall appeared in the doorway behind Skye.
"Marshall?" Skye said and turned around to see him standing there.
"Heyo." Marshall said with a smile.
"Did you guys want something?" Chase asked.
"We came here separately, but uh Skye was first, so." Marshall said moving his eyes to Skye to let her speak.
"Oh, well I uh..." Skye began
"Damnit Marshall, I wanted to talk to him alone." Skye thought to herself.
"... just wanted to borrow you pup tag charger, mine is acting up." Skye lied.
"Oh yeah for sure." Chase said as he went over and unplugged his charger and handed it to her.
"Thanks, uh yeah." Skye said.
"No problem." Chase said as Skye walked away towards her pup house.
"What's up Marshall?" Chase said as he walked to the door.
"I just needed to talk to you, can I come in?" Marshall as his tone switched to a more neutral sound as Skye left.
"Yeah come on in." Chase said as he stepped aside.
Marshall walked inside and looked around seeing Chase's weights on the rubber mat, he walked over to Chase's bed and sat down.
"Hey, pull out two beanbags." Chase said as he put his weights back in to the box and moved the rubber mat and box to the corner.
"Are they still under your bed?" Marshall asked as he stood up.
"Should be." Chase said. Marshall bent down and pulled out two beanbag chairs from under Chase's bed and put them on the floor. He sat down in one of them as Chase threw himself down on the other.
"*relaxed exhale* Finally some rest." Chase said as he melted in to the beanbag.
"So what did you wanna talk about?" Chase asked.
"Oh, right. Uhm, do you know what's up with Rocky?" Marshall asked.
"No, why? Something wrong?"
"No. Or I don't think so at least. He's just been acting a little weird." Marshall said thinking back on their conversations over the last few days.
"How so? Rocky is a bit, uh... specific, so you'll have to elaborate."
"Well I talked to him just now and he felt so lost. He had a book in front of him but he didn't seem to be reading it, and when I asked him if he was excited for tomorrow, he didn't even know what tomorrow was." Marshall explained.
"Hm... That is strange, he's usually on top of everything going on." Chase said as he thought about what Marshall said.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. I'm a little worried for him." Marshall admitted.
"Hey, I'm sure it's fine. Just give him some time and he'll be back to normal. Or if he isn't we'll just talk to him, so don't spend your time worrying right now." Chase comforted his best friend.
"I guess you're right. He's never really needed our help anyway, always doing his own thing and being great at it." Marshall said as a small smile crept back on his face as he was relieved by his brothers words.
"Yep, he's a smart one." Chase said chuckling a little.
"Maybe we should invite him to hangout again, just us three. You know like old times." Chase suggested.
"Totally, that'd be nice. But maybe we should wait 'till after the anniversary party. I'm going to bed early tonight." Marshall explained.
"That's probably a good idea." Chase agreed with Marshall as the conversation fell silent .
"Sooo... do you wanna do something?" Chase asked breaking the calm silence between them.
Marshall looked around the bleak pup house, the walls were empty and the only furniture was the bed and nightstand, other than that the room was completely empty aside from a carpet next to the bed.
"You don't really got a lot going on in here." Marshall said as he looked back at Chase in the beanbag in front of him.
"I've got playing cards." Chase said and pointed to the nightstand drawer close to Marshall.
"I guess we can play a little." Marshall said as he pulled out the drawer and reached in, grabbing the card he opened the box and pulled them out.
"Blackjack?" Marshall asked as he shuffled the deck.
"Sure." Chase said as they began playing cards on the floor of Chase's pup house.
Later with Zuma & Tundra
"Ughhh, so bored... " Tundra groaned as she stared in to the ceiling of the lookout.
"Do you ewer wun out of enewgy?" Zuma chuckled as he sat there plucking on the kalimba.
"It's only like 7 pm, how can you not have energy?" Tundra said.
"It's not about having enewgy ow not, it's about chilling and listening to this kalimba." Zuma said holding his gaze on the kalimba as he was keeping up a melody.
"Alright well if you aren't tired can we at least like go for a walk?" Tundra asked with a hopeful voice.
"I guess I can't say no to a walk." Zuma said as he stood up shortly followed by an excited Tundra.
"Finally something to do!" Tundra said as she sprinted out of the lookout.
"Hey! You said a walk!" Zuma yelled after her before running after. He caught up to her just outside the lookout as she slowed down to a walking pace.
"Just, we gotta be back soon. I wanna get some sleep fow tomowwow."
"Okay, do you know somewhere close then?" Tundra asked with an excited smile as she was finally outside again, even though they had only been inside for just under an hour.
"Ummm... Yeah, I know a nice place we can go. That way." Zuma said and motioned to a road next to the bridge at the end of the driveway.
From a distance Rocky had just opened his pup house door and was now just looking at them... or just Zuma as he disappeared down the driveway out of view with her by his side.
"No, don't Rocky. He's... he's found someone. Be *sniffle* happy for him. He's your friend... nothing else." Rocky said quietly to himself in a strained voice as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
"Deep breath, 1, 2, 3 and you're fine."Rocky said and forced a smile as he walked towards the lookout door.
He walked inside and headed to the kitchen, he was about to grab his bowl when he got stuck looking at the orange one.
"No." Rocky thought to himself and forced his eyes to his own bowl and picked it up. He filled it with food and walked into the common area, instinctively he walked to the same corner as always. However as he got there he smelled his scent, he had just been here... with her.
"No, somewhere else Rocky." Rocky thought as he walked to the other side of the room. He sat down but just stared in to the bowl. He was hungry but had no appetite to eat.
"That's stupid Rocky, just eat." He told himself and forced his head down taking a bite.
"*sigh*"
Meanwhile
Zuma and Tundra were walking down the asphalt road leading down to the ocean. Zuma walked slightly ahead before coming to a stop at the apex of the jump.
"Whoa, what's this place." Tundra said as she sat down next to Zuma on the edge.
"This is whewe I get down to the watew in my hovewcraft, but I just like to come hewe and enjoy the ocean sometimes." Zuma said closing his eyes and listening to the calm waves brush against the rocks below, as a cool wind blew over him.
"Oh." Tundra acknowledged before seeing Zuma and copying him. She closed her eyes and felt the cool wind blow over her thick fur. But she didn't get cold not only because of her dense fur but something else as well.
"I like it here too." She said keeping her eyes closed.
"Finally welaxing, ey?" Zuma said teasingly.
"Yeah I guess, it's calm here." Tundra said before opening her eyes and looking at Zuma who still had his eyes closed.
"...And it's just us here" She thought to herself looking at him.
"*peaceful exhale* We should pwobably head back, I need sleep." Zuma said opening his eyes.
"Oh uh, okay." Tundra said.
"Damn, already?" She thought as they turned around and began walking back.
"So, what happens tomorrow?" Tundra asked.
"Well I haven't weally had much time to talk to Wyder as he has been busy, but I believe we'we gonna stawt prepawing the beach for the pawty early. Then later at like 7pm ow something it actually stawts."
"Can I help?" Tundra asked.
"Yeah, we can always use some extwa paws." Zuma smiled.
"Yes!" Tundra said excitedly.
"Someone likes decowating." Zuma giggled .
"Uh, yeah." Tundra said.
"Let's say that's why I want to help." She thought to herself.
"Alwight, I'll see you tomowwow then." Zuma said as they both reached the top of the lookout driveway.
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'm gonna get some sleep so I can manage tomowwow." Zuma said as he broke off and headed for his pup house.
"Uh, goodnight." Tundra said as he was quickly making distance from her.
"Night!" He yelled back as he walked in to his pup house.
Tundra kept her eyes on the orange pup house before letting out a sigh and turning around heading for the lookout door.
"Well, I'm not tired..." Tundra said quietly to herself as the sun was still visible over the horizon. Her shadow following along on the wall next to her as if she was walking with her twin.
"How can this fancy place not have anything to do?" Tundra thought to herself walking into the lookout, once again not having anything to do. She looked around for anything for the restless pup to do, then she spotted a gray pup sitting by one of the corners eating.
"Maybe he's interesting." She thought to herself as she walked closer.
"Hi!" She said in her usual cheery voice
"Wh-, oh h-hi." Rocky hadn't notice her until she said something.
"Do you know anything fun to do in here?" She asked.
"W-well, I guess y-you could play pup pup boogie on the TV." Rocky suggested as he managed to get his speech together a little more.
"Oh, you guys got that? You wanna play?" Tundra asked in an excited tone.
"No. I-I mean, I'm t-tired, I need to sleep." Rocky said a little too quickly.
"Oh... okay." Tundra said as Rocky stood up grabbing his bowl and walking towards the kitchen.
"She's just like him..." Rocky thought as he left the lookout.
"He's a... uh, special fella." Tundra thought as she followed him exiting the lookout with her eyes.
"*sigh* Ughhh. Fiiinee, I guess I'll have to sleep as well then." She groaned finally accepting that she wouldn't be able to do anything fun with everyone else sleeping.
She sluggishly began walking out of the lookout dragging her paws not wanting to go to sleep. As she made it to Everest's pup house, she glanced over at the orange pup house. But she also saw the gray pup stopped in his tracks in front; his head turned staring at the door.
"What is he...? I never got his name did I?" Tundra thought as she was looking at the pup. Before she could say anything the gray pup's head fell; his gaze to the ground as he wandered off disappearing into the green pup house.
"Yeah, definitely a special one." Tundra thought before she slowly slid the door open and quietly stepped inside to avoid waking Everest. She walked over to and laid down on the mattress on the floor.
As she laid there on the thin mattress staring at the ceiling, she was thinking about the last couple of days with Zuma.
"*sigh* I guess if he isn't going to say anything, I'll just have to do it tomorrow." Tundra thought about the many perfect moments to say something Zuma hadn't taken.
As Tundra was replaying some memories in her head she didn't notice how her eyes fell heavy, as her heart rate fell. Her thoughts becoming more and more unclear until all went dark.
The clock on the bed side table went off but Rocky was already awake staring into the ceiling above.
"Fuck you alarm." Rocky groaned before leaning over and silencing the annoying sound. Letting out a sigh as he laid back comfortably, but he knew he had to get up.
"PUPS, TIME TO WAKE UP!" Chase's voice rung out through the pup houses.
"Fiiine." Rocky groaned to himself. He sluggishly rolled out of bed, still tired from a restless sleep. He grabbed his pup tag off the charging pad and stumbled over to the door. Sliding it open; the sun hadn't risen above the horizon yet.
"Chase, why..." Zuma groaned as he came out of his pup house, even though he knew why.
"Ryder's orders." Chase said already dressed and wearing his pup pack. Shortly thereafter all the pup tags beeped in unison.
"PAW Patrol to the lookout." Ryder's voice was heard over all the pup tags, as at this point everyone had left their pup houses. They knew what Chase waking them up meant.
"What's going on?" A groggy Tundra asked; not being used to whatever was going on.
"Just come on." Everest said pushing the barely conscious Tundra along towards the lookout door.
All the pups entered the lookout and sluggishly entered the elevator, except Chase who happily walked in last; feeling as refreshed as ever.
"What's happening?" Tundra dazedly asked turning to Zuma this time.
"We'we gonna stawt setting up fow the pawty." Zuma explained.
"Oh, right..." Tundra said sounding like she was almost falling back asleep. As the elevator started moving up she rested her head against Zuma who smiled a little at the action.
No one in the elevator seemed to notice as most of them looked ready to fall asleep as well; all except one pup who now wished he could be as tired and unaware as the rest.
"We're just friends, just friends... if even that now. No! Just friends, nothing less; nothing more." Rocky thought to himself as he tried in vain to keep his gaze straight forward.
The elevator reached the emblem and everyone got dressed in their uniforms in an instant before they continued upwards.
"What? How are you wearing that all of a sudden?" A still very tired Tundra asked.
"Don't question it, I twied." Zuma said as the elevator reached the top.
The glass doors slid open, Ryder was standing in front of the big screen and in front of him were all the colorful bowls of food. As well as two gray guest ones for Everest and Tundra.
"Food!" A now suddenly very awake Rubble nearly yelled before lunging at the yellow bowl, earning a slight chuckle from some of the less tired pups.
"As Rubble has already pointed out; here's your breakfast while we brief." Ryder said as all the pups stepped out of the elevator.
"Ready for action, Ryder sir!" Chase stated as usual.
"As you all know, today is the anniversary of the paw patrol and we need to set up for the festivities." Ryder explained before pressing a button on his pup pad displaying infographics about his following statements.
"All the materials and equipment are already at the beach. Rocky and Rubble, I need you and your vehicles to move everything out of the trucks and onto the beach. Marshall, I need your ladder if we have to mount something high up. Skye I need your helicopter to help place the bonfire logs upright, Zuma you'll be helping her attach them. And Chase, use your megaphone and make sure everything goes smoothly." Ryder explained the plan as the infographics came to a stop at the end.
"And uhm Tundra; I'm not sure what you're good at so feel free to tag along any of the pups and help out, just be careful." Ryder added on as he had not really gotten to know her yet, she tiredly nodded in response.
"Alright! PAW Patrol's on a roll." Ryder said as all the pups quickly finished their food, feeling a little more awake. He ran to and slid down the pole as all the pups began going down the slide.
Zuma went down after Chase and Rubble. He slid down and landed in his hovercraft, pressing a buttons causing the engine to swiftly turn over and skirt quickly inflate before the the fan blades began to spin. He felt a jolt in the vehicle and twisted his head back.
"Hi." Tundra said from his backseat.
"Uh, hello." Zuma said expecting Tundra to go in Everest's snowcat.
"Let's go." Tundra said as both of them heard the next pup coming down the slide so Zuma quickly drove away allowing the platform to rotate setting the green pup house below the slide.
As Rocky came sliding down he found his gaze locked on the hovercraft quickly making distance from the tower. He felt the slide disappear from under him as his heart skipped a beat; looking down just in time to adjust himself so he didn't land on his back.
"Agh." Rocky groaned as he landed weirdly on the seat hurting his tail. He was forced to quickly settle into his seat; turn on the engine and drive away to make space for the next pup.
"*pained groan* Shit." Rocky groaned as he was driving towards the location marked on his gps. He kept his eyes on the road; but wagged his tail slightly feeling a sharp pain as it moved.
"Perfect..." He sighed trying to sit in a way where he wouldn't be uncomfortable.
He caught up to Ryder, Zuma, Chase, and Rubble as the rest were catching up behind him. As they were driving, a message could sometimes come through over the radio from the other vehicles with information. They were driving along a small highway connecting Adventure Bay with the neighboring cities. As they were driving along a stretch of road along the coast Rocky's GPS signaled for him to turn off the road. Everyone in front of him turned off onto the short dirt road and shortly thereafter arriving by the beach.
"Rubble, Rocky. Trucks." Ryder called out over the radio as he pointed toward two trucks with some people standing around them.
"Got it." Rocky answered as he and Rubble drove over the dirt road toward them as the rest of the pups parked on the sand.
Rubble pulled up next to the truck with 10 big logs on the trailer and began carefully unloading them.
"*whistle* Open it!" Rocky got the attention of the driver who was chatting with another person next to the truck, over his powerful engine. The driver threw up a thumbs up and and opened the back of the box truck revealing loads of wooden pallets in the back.
"*sigh* This is gonna take a while." Rocky sighed looking over his shoulder at his tail. He carefully pulled forward and lined up his forks with the first pallet.
10 Minutes later
Zuma and Tundra had just attached a log to Skye's helicopter, she pulled up and rested the large log upright in the sand before Rubble steadied it by shoveling sand at the base with his dozer.
10 Minutes later
Marshall was erecting the wall-less tents and unfolding some tables under it. Hanging string lights around the frames to give the night a warm glow later.
Rocky was putting down a couple of pallets of snacks and water next to them. Sometimes having to get out of his truck to cut the plastic wrap off the pallets which had to be unwrapped right now such as the speakers.
30 Minutes later
Rocky sighed as he was finally done with moving and unwrapping pallets. He leaned back in his seat relaxing.
"Ow, shit." Rocky groaned quietly as he had forgotten about his tail and once again laid back on the sore joints.
"*sigh* I guess I should tell Ryder." Rocky said to himself gazing over the beach looking for him. He spotted Ryder and Chase still discussing some paperwork with the truck drivers a fair distance away.
"Maybe just go ask Marshall." Rocky said, once again scanning the beach before quickly spotting the black and white Dalmatian. He was helping Rubble stack and fix speakers on top of each other around the beach. They were the big concert speakers Rocky had bought for cheap last year; they were a bit overkill but they had them so why not use them.
"I guess it'll have to wait then." Rocky said as Marshall also was busy. He rested his head against the edge of his cabin as he gazed out over the beach and the pups who were still working. Feeling the tiredness catching up to him once again.
There were many wall-less tents with tables under, ready to have the drinks and snacks placed on them. On the beach were stacks of two speakers dotted around to give a pleasant sound no matter where you were. Then the main eye catcher was the big stack of logs Skye painfully slowly had lifted up and balanced against one another, as well as some laid around it to serve as seating. And helping her was Tundra and... Zuma.
Rocky felt his gaze locking on to the brown fur of the Labrador as he tightened the straps around one of the logs.
"M-maybe I should go over there." Rocky said to himself before his legs decided for him. He walked over; his legs in a confident stride whereas his head was hesitant, but there was nothing it could do.
"Good to go Skye!" Rocky heard Zuma yell as he and Tundra backed up from the log. As Skye took off he walked closer to Zuma and Tundra momentarily distracted by the log Skye was carefully lifting upright. As it was rising more Tundra turned to Zuma and said something Rocky couldn't make out through the whirring of Skye's helicopter even though he was standing just as close to her as Zuma.
As the log was almost at its apex Skye's helicopter jolted upward as the log fell out of the straps.
"WATCH OUT!" Skye yelled to no avail as her helicopter was too loud and no one was tuned into the mission frequency as it wasn't a mission.
Rocky's heart skipped a beat upon seeing the log fall, it began tipping towards Tundra who seemed unaware as she was still saying something to Zuma.
Rocky didn't move, only keeping his eye on the log...
"TUNDWA!" Zuma yelled as he spotted the log. He tackled her out of the way barely missing the heavy log.
Rocky's vision went blurry, his ears ringing, and sense of balance distorted. His eyes were stuck to the log as Zuma said something to Tundra with a worried face, but the ringing made it impossible to hear what.
"W-W-Why didn't I-I m-move." Rocky thought terrified of his own inaction.
As Skye landed and ran over to Zuma and Tundra, Rocky just wandered of back towards his truck.
"W-What's wrong w-with you..."
"H-How..." "FUCK!..."
"N-no, how could you..." "No!..."
"She could h-have been hurt..."
"He c-could have been hurt..." "H-him..."
Rocky dazedly made it back to his truck and hopped back in his seat with a blank stare, he didn't even notice the pain from his tail. The blurry and unbalance he felt growing into vertigo as he was unable to keep his eyes still.
*bang* *bang*
"Time to wake up Rocky. We're done and the people will be here soon." Chase said after banging on the side of the truck waking Rocky.
"Hu- o-okay." Rocky dazedly said as Chase walked away.
"Wha... what time is it? D-Did I pass out?" Rocky questioned himself as he picked his head up and looked around. The sun was once again nearing the horizon as the skies were colored with a hint of yellow. The bonfire had been fully finished, Ryder was testing the speakers with a microphone, the tents were fully stocked with snacks and drinks, and some tables had chairs around them for seating. The lighting was turned on in the tents. Everything powered by the compact and quiet generator Rocky had made a while back from spare engine parts.
"Ah, Tail." Rocky groaned as he once again felt the pain.
"Gotta talk to Marshall." Rocky said to himself as he made it out of his truck. He pressed on his tag and dialed Marshall.
"Hi Rocky." Marshall's voice was heard over the tag.
"Can you come over here for a sec." Rocky said locking eyes with him all the way over by the tents.
"Yep." Marshall said and hung up as he started running over to Rocky, quickly arriving with a smile.
"What's up bro?" Marshall asked.
"'Bro'? Really?" Rocky questioned.
"Fine, pebbles it is." Marshall said smugly.
"Okay okay, fine I guess bro is okay. Besides I actually need your help real quick." Rocky said.
"Yeah what's up? bro." Marshall said overly enunciating the last word.
"I bent my tail weirdly and it hurts." Rocky explained.
"Oh, sorry. Uh, where does it hurt?" Marshall apologized for his teasing.
"Dead center basically." Rocky explained.
"Can you still bend it?" Marshall questioned.
"Yeah, hurts though." Rocky said as he bent his tail a little.
"And does this hurt." Marshall asked before pressing on the center of his tail.
"A little." Rocky slightly groaned in pain.
"Alright, well it looks like it's just a sprain. But come back to me if it starts excessively swelling."
"Thanks Marshall."
"Any time bro. Uhm, you wanna come along to the rest?" Marshall asked as he was about to head back.
"Uh yeah, just give me a moment to fix something first." Rocky responded with a smile.
"Okay, see you in a bit then?" Marshall smiled back and walked off.
"Was that a dream before?" Rocky questioned as he was finally alone. He looked around to see where everyone was before he quickly walked towards the unlit bonfire.
As he arrived at the stack of logs he inspected around them. Although there were a lot of paw prints and sand kicked up from Skye's helicopter. Nothing matched a huge log falling over and someone being tackled out of the way, and none of the prints were Rocky's.
Upon being convinced it was only a dream Rocky let out a relieved sigh, as if he had been holding his breath the entire way over here. He looked back towards the rest of the pups sitting around under one of the wall-less tents chatting.
"I need to at least talk to him, just as a friend." Rocky spoke quietly to himself.
As Rocky began heading towards the rest of the pups he noticed how the first couple of cars began pulling into the parking spaces marked by Chase's cones on the sand. Chase had gone a little overboard with the parking spaces, but he just had to make sure everything went smoothly and a few extra spaces wouldn't hurt.
He could hear how Skye and Marshall were discussing something with Ryder, so he walked closer and decided to try to join in on the conversation as it seemed important.
"Come on Marshall, we've got the fire proof rope; why not use it?" Skye complained.
"I'm not gonna let you do a flyby and drop an on fire log this close to people." Marshall wouldn't budge.
"Marshall you know I'm a good pilot, besides the people are gone be over here; it's so far away." Skye tried to convince him again.
"No, even if you don't hit anyone the log could still miss and light something else on fire."
"What if she flies towards the ocean and keeps her helicopter above the sand the whole time?" Rocky jumped into the conversation.
"No- well..." Marshall stood in thought.
"Skye, if you keep your helicopter over the sand the whole time, and only drop the log if you are going towards the ocean..." Marshall began.
"Yes?" Skye said in anticipation.
"... Then fine, you can do it." Marshall finally allowed.
"Yes!" Skye said excitedly.
As the conversation changed topic Rocky got lost in a stare. He knew he needed to talk to Zuma at some point, but every time he got closed he'd always chicken out and as he just did; do something else that he convinced himself was more important in that moment.
"Just go over there Rocky." Rocky thought as he was looking right at him but not moving. His thoughts quickly interrupted by a group of people chatting as they came closer.
"Welcome." Chase greeted the group of people.
"Feel free to hang about and eat something, we'll be starting in a bit." Ryder said earning responses from some in the group as they walked over to one of the tents and sat down; continuing their chat.
Before Rocky even had time to react to the first few people showing up, more and more seemed to be flowing in as the sun began disappearing. The wall-less tents quickly became full and the chatting crowds growing louder as people were standing around.
"Welcome!" Could be heard over the speakers as most people quieted down and turned their attention to Ryder who was standing with a microphone between all the tents.
"As you all know, today marks the anniversary for the PAW Patrol. And to celebrate and thank you for all the support, enjoy the festivities and take this time to relax. Thank you." Ryder finished and turned off the microphone putting it away on one of the speakers before walking over to a group of people happily joining the conversation.
Rocky lost sight of all the other pups upon turning around after Ryder's announcement, there were now crowds of people as the music came on. The music wasn't loud by any means, it was actually quite nice, this mixed with the sun going down and the lights emanating a comfortable glow made Rocky quite relaxed.
The scale of the groups made Rocky a little hesitant to approach but he didn't mind, he found somewhere to sit and just enjoyed the environment around him. Finding a peace in just watching the calm waves slowly washing up and down the beach.
"I guess this isn't so bad." Rocky said to himself relaxing on the sand.
Rocky's ear twitched a little at hearing a faint whirring, he turned his head to the sky and saw Skye approaching in her helicopter with a small on fire piece of wood hanging below. Rocky quickly got on his paws and walked closer to the log stack, Chase had sectioned off the area with police tape as he was ushering some people back. Marshall could be seen sitting in his fire truck a little distance behind on the beach.
As Skye approached the logs most seemed to hear the helicopter as well and turned their heads to witness. She flew by at a fairly high speed dropping the wood on the fire in the direction of the ocean. She hit dead center as the accelerator on the logs burst up in flames earning a cheer from the crowd.
"Wooo!" Rocky cheered along with a laugh.
Chase undid the tape allowing anyone who wanted to sit around the impressive bonfire. Rocky decided to sit around the fire and was slowly moving through the stationary crowds as the logs around the fire were filling up with people. Upon finally making it out of the crowd Rocky stopped, his paws still in the sand.
"*saddened sigh* I... I guess I'll go somewhere else." Rocky sighed looking at Zuma and Tundra sitting next to each other by the fire next to Everest and Marshall. He turned around an disappeared back into the crows, his head hanging low.
"Heh, yeah I remember. That was a fun day." Marshall answered with a laugh at what Zuma had just said.
"Guys I'm gonna go drink some water, back in a bit." Marshall said standing back up and kissing Everest on the forehead.
"Okay Marshy." Everest acknowledged as he walked off.
He walked around the crowds and made his way to one of the tents. He popped open a cooler under one of the table and looked inside.
"Ooh, ice pack. Where Rocky?" Marshall said to himself popping his head up out of the cooler with an ice pack balanced on his snout. He looked around for the gray pup but was not able to see very far as the amount of people standing around hindered his sight.
"Hmm." Marshall popped the cooler lid back on and walked through some crowds balancing the sagging ice pack in front of his eyes.
"I'm surprised I haven't- Whoa!" Marshall thought before tripping letting out a yell.
"...tripped.*sigh* Shouldn't have thought about it." Marshall giggled to himself as he stood back up brushing some sand off his fur. Looking around he found himself just outside the main area where all the crowds were gathered. Somewhere to his left was the bonfire but he couldn't see it from down there. Behind him on the complete opposite side of all the crowds was the ocean. He looked up at the now dark sky at all the star constellations glimmering above.
"So pretty." Marshall said marveling at the sheer size of everything. After a minute he remembered he was looking for Rocky, and upon lowering his eyes he noticed something off colored in the sand a distance away. Looking a little harder he could just barely make out the silhouette of a small dog in the dark, it was laying down on a raised dune.
"That must be Rocky, right?" Marshall questioned himself as he began walking towards the dune.
"Oh, hi Marshall." He heard Rocky say as he was climbing the dune.
"It was you." Marshall said finally reaching the top.
"Yeah." Rocky answered. Marshall noticed how Rocky didn't meet his gaze like he would always otherwise do. Marshall laid down next to him. From up there you could see the entire party, the music faintly playing from the distance.
"Soo... what are you doing up here?" Marshall asked after a few moments of silence.
"Oh... I guess the music just got a little too loud for me." Rocky said in an unusually quiet tone.
"Oh I guess that's fair, those speakers are huge." Marshall commented.
"Why is he just sitting like that? He hasn't even looked at me." Marshall thought. He tried to see what Rocky was looking at tracking his eyes best as he could.
"Oh..." Marshall realized.
"Hey, uhm Rocky, are you alright?" Marshall asked a little hesitantly.
"Yeah, my tail just hurts a little" Rocky said finally looking at Marshall as he moved his tail slightly.
"That wasn't what I meant. I forgot the icepack as well." Marshall thought, mentally facepalming as he had just left it down there in the sand. Rocky turned his head back after the silence set in.
"Was there, uh, something you wanted?" Rocky asked wondering why he decided to come up here.
"You should tell him, you know." Marshall said bluntly ignoring the question.
"What?" Rocky asked confused by what Marshall meant, he turned his head towards him.
"Zuma; you should tell him." Marshall clarified.
"W-What?!" Rocky said choking up at the unexpected words.
"Hey, I'm not stupid." Marshall said.
"Hey." Marshall said, softly bumping Rocky on the shoulder.
"*sigh* H-How'd you know?"
"You've just been acting strange around him ever since we got back." Marshall explained ending with a silence leaving room for the barely audible music in the distance. Rocky's gaze moving back to the smiling Labrador.
"I... I don't know what to do." Rocky sighed putting his face in the sand.
"Just talk to him."
"I don't think I can. *sigh*" Rocky said quietly.
The conversation went quiet as Rocky kept his head low staring into the endless spaces between the grains of sand below him.
"I think I'm just gonna go home." Rocky said as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. Slowly walking away down the dune.
"You're gonna a have to talk to him sooner or later." Marshall said quietly as Rocky disappeared into the darkness. Marshall also stood up and began walking to opposite direction back towards the bonfire.
"He'll have to sooner or later, I can't help him." Marshall sighed to himself as he was walking back towards the fire.
"Just use that brain of yours brother." Marshall thought as he made it back to Everest, Zuma, and Tundra.
"Heyo." Marshall spoke before sitting back down on the log.
"What took you so long, I missed you." Everest said leaning up against Marshall.
"Big crowds." Marshall chuckled.
"That was a lie." Everest said noticing the tone in his voice.
"Sorry, I was with Rocky. He hurt his tail and didn't wanna talk about it." Marshall said more convincingly.
"That's better." Everest said smiling warmly.
"Have you seen Chase at all?" Marshall asked changing the subject as he looked.
"Nope." Everest answered.
"I think he's on the othew side of the fiwe." Zuma said having seen him over there a while ago.
"Thanks Zuma. Do you wanna see if we can't find him?" Marshall asked Everest earning a nod in response before they both stood.
"See you guys in a bit." Marshall said as they walked away around the fire.
"See ya." Zuma said as tundra gave a wave.
"This fiwe is pwetty neat." Zuma said staring up at the tall flames kicking up embers into the dark sky some distance away. He could feel the heat from the massive fire radiating over his fur.
"Yeah, fire is neat." Tundra happily agreed.
"... but uhm, do you wanna do some exploring? I've never been around here before." Tundra asked after a second.
"Ehmm, yeah suwe why not." Zuma said taking one last look at the fire before standing up.
Rocky saw from his truck how Tundra and Zuma walked away from the fire, disappearing behind some crowds as they were walking along the water. Rocky let out a deep sigh as he put his head against the steering wheel.
"Time to go, Rocky" He said to himself as he picked up his posture.
He pressed a button causing the powerful engine to quickly turn over. He flicked on his headlights and pulled off the beach onto the dirt where all the cars were parked between Chase's cones.
He found himself driving alone on the long highway back to Adventure Bay, the thoughts were getting to his head again.
He turned on the radio and screwed it to full blast; the powerful bass in his truck pounding in his chest as he put on a big smile.
Rocky's thoughts were louder than the music and the smile nothing more than an attempt to ignore his feelings. Silent tears began running over his fake smile as loud music played vibrating the loose items on his dash. Driving alone on the dark road.
"Phew." Zuma said upon reaching the top of the steep hill.
"Come on it wasn't that bad." Tundra said as she had made it up before him.
"I'm a swimmew, not a climbew." Zuma said quickly catching his breath.
"Why'd we have to go up hewe anyways?" Zuma asked.
"Don't you know anything? Higher up is always better." Tundra said as if it was a thing everyone knew.
"I guess." Zuma said as he walked past her. He pushed a bush to the side revealing a beautiful view of the ocean from the elevated cliff.
"Whoa." Zuma exclaimed, looking at the moon high in the sky glimmering on the tops of the calm waves in the ocean below. He walked to the edge and sat down looking out.
"Told you." Tundra said sitting down next to him.
Zuma was sitting there mesmerized by the vastness of the ocean. The bright moon casting a silvery path across the water, creating a dance of light on the restless surface. A cool breeze blowing through his fur pulling the smell of the sea along with it. It looked perfect. Yet, he felt an emptiness, once again he experienced something he always loved to experience; but something just didn't feel right.
"I guess this wasn't what I wanted right now." Zuma thought comparing the feeling to when he tried surfing a few days ago; when Rocky was watching from the beach. He began speaking as he turned his head.
"I thin- mphf-" Zuma's words were interrupted by Tundra's lips unexpectedly meeting his. He stumbled back slightly, pulling away from the kiss.
"W-wha- Why'd you do that?" Zuma spoke flustered by what had just happened, as his cheeks turned a little red.
"I-I- th- I m-mean-" Tundra flusteredly stuttered out turning red. She quickly looked away.
"I-I'm sorry." She said quietly.
"Don't be, it's okay. Just a little, uh, unexpected." Zuma consoled.
"I'm, uh, not weally looking fow that kind of a welationship wight now." Zuma said after a moment of composing himself.
"O-okay." Tundra said quietly.
"Just fwiends?" Zuma said in a hopeful tone. Tundra turned her head back to him seemingly a little more composed.
"Friends." She agreed quietly.
"So uhm, we should head back." Zuma said awkwardly turning his head back towards the ocean.
"Yeah." Tundra said her tone of voice matching the awkward situation. They both stood up; Tundra walking in front as they began descending the hill.
"Mmm... that was, something." Zuma thought cringed little at the awkwardness of the situation.
"I'm glad it happened with her of all pups though, at least she's going home soon." Zuma thought as they made it out of the wooded area. They walked in silence back towards the party.
"Uhm, I'm gonna go this way." Zuma said as he stopped between the crowds.
"Y-yeah, okay. I'm going back to the fire." Tundra said relatively quietly, she had to be a little louder to not be drowned out by the music.
Zuma was going to say 'bye' but hesitated and they just ended up standing there looking at each other awkwardly. After a moment they just went their separate ways.
"This can't get any mowe weiwd." Zuma said to himself as he turned away.
"That's pwobably enough pawtying fow me." Zuma said and chuckled awkwardly to himself as he walked through the crowd. He managed to spot Ryder pulling out a bottle of water from a cooler in one of the tents.
"Wyder!" Zuma got the attention of Ryder as he pushed through a crowd. Ryder heard him and waited there by the cooler for him to get through the crowd to him.
"Hey." Zuma said as he made it to the cooler.
"Hey Zuma, what's up?." Ryder asked.
"I think I'm gonna head home, I'm not feeling vewy well." Zuma lied.
"Oh, do you want Marshall to check on you?" Ryder asked in a concerned tone.
"No, it's nothing like that, I just think it's all the people and music. It's just a little much." Zuma explained.
"Oh, uh, okay." Ryder said understandingly.
"So is it cool if I leave? You guys can handle the clean up?" Zuma asked.
"Yes, Rubbles dozer should make quick work of all the trash. You're good to leave."
"Alright, thanks dude. See ya back home." Zuma said walking away.
"Bye." Ryder said before the Labrador disappeared through the crowd.
Zuma moved through the crowd, effortlessly weaving between people quickly making distance and before he knew it he popped out the other side of the crowd. He walked over to his hovercraft which he had re-parked in the makeshift parking lot. Jumping inside he pressed a button causing the engine to smoothly turn over. It overrevved causing the turbocharger to spin up with a whine as the rubber skirt inflated in a fraction of a second allowing the engine to fall back down to idle speed. Putting it to first gear Zuma could hear the fans behind him spin up as he was able to maneuver out of the parking lot.
Finding himself alone on the road; the lack of stimuli causing him to think back on the unfortunate situation.
"Ugh." Zuma shuddered a little at the awkward situation that wouldn't leave his undistracted mind as he drove along the empty road.
"Let's see if this is enough fun fow you, bwain." Zuma said to himself before pressing down on the clutch and engaging the rotor breaks, he slapped the steering wheel all the way to the right turning the rudders and redirecting the airflow underneath the skirt. His hovercraft kept going along the road but did a full spin around, the frictionless nature of the hovercraft allowing him to technically go in any direction and face another.
"Weeee." Zuma exclaimed as he spun around ending with a giggle as he disengaged the rotor break and let go of the clutch causing the rotors to spin back up and continue pushing him along the road.
"Alwight, that's bettew." Zuma giggled as he felt his mood lightening up. He drove along the road until the exit to Adventure Bay. Turning off the highway he made his way through the city to the bridge.
As he was driving over the bridge he glanced over to his left at the bright moon. The simple fact that it was there put a little smile on the Labradors face. He brought his focus back on the road as he neared the windy road up to the lookout.
After skillfully navigating the pathway he pulled in and parked his hovercraft. Leaning back in the seat as the turbocharger wound down with a whine. Looking up into the starry sky above, it was the same sky as always; but it was always as beautiful as the first time he saw it.
"*sigh* Now, what to do?" Zuma spoke to himself in a relaxed tone. Letting his eyes fall towards the horizon he spotted the green pup house; a warm light emanating through the open door.
"Rocky is home too? I guess he never was the party kind of pup." Zuma thought to himself as he vaulted out of his hovercraft kicking his hind legs up high, before landing on all four as he walked towards the light.
As he got closer he could hear the quiet plucking of a guitar, it sounded like he was tuning it. As he made it to the doorway he heard a full strum in perfect tune.
"Hey dude, whatchu up to?" Zuma asked stepping into the pup house.
"O-Oh uh, hi." Rocky said not expecting to hear Zuma's voice, he turned around in his swivel chair as Zuma sat down on to the bed right of the desk. The neatly tucked green blanket creasing at the shift in the mattress.
Rocky was unable to look away from those glimmering eyes; and that sleek brown fur. He knew it was impossible, yet help himself.
"I want to sit there with you. I want to hold your paw; and for you to hold mine. It wont happen, get that through your head Rocky." Rocky thought to himself.
"So... whatchu up to?" Zuma repeated himself after a short silence.
"O-oh, right. I-I was just tuning my guitar. Uhm, why aren't you at the party." Rocky spoke a little nervously as he hadn't actually spoken to Zuma for a couple of days at this point.
"Oh yeah, about that. Uhm, do you mind if I unload a little?" Zuma asked rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"N-No, by all means. I mean you had to listen to me after all." Rocky said and chuckled cautiously.
"*sigh* Don't tell anyone, but things got a little, uhm... awkwawd." Zuma began. Rocky just nodded along.
"So basically, me and Tundwa wewe walking and we found this amazing cliff. You should have seen it dude, it had an awesome view. Anyways, so I was checking out the view and then out of nowhewe she, uhm... she kissed me..." Rocky felt a stab in his heart, he couldn't believe that the first time in days he talked to Zuma; it was about her.
"Just friends." Rocky reminded himself as he tried to keep his emotions from painting his face.
"So I fweaked out a little, because you know; I wasn't expecting hew to just kiss me like that. Then she wevealed that she had feelings fow me, and then evewything just went awkwawd. We said we wewe gonna keep being just fwiends, but I think she just said that to get out of the situation." Zuma continued looking away as he felt a little embarrassed telling the story.
"Wait..." Rocky's heart skipped a beat.
"S-So she kissed you and you d-didn't feel the same?" Rocky asked cautiously not believing his ears.
"Well yeah, I bawely know hew. She's only been hewe for like what, a couple of days? You can't weally love someone you don't know, that's just shallow love; and that never wowks out." Zuma said. Rocky was trying not to cry or fall out of his chair or start laughing, at this point he didn't know; he just sat there frozen trying to keep his mouth from falling wide open.
"Anyways, I don't wanna think about that now, you wanna do something?" Zuma asked after a second.
"I- a- *clears throat* Yeah, w-what do you wanna do." Rocky got out as he felt his chest lighten up. The room around him appearing to get a little more colorful.
"I mean you got youw guitaw tuned, so why not play something." Zuma suggested motioning towards the guitar in Rocky's grasp.
"I-I mean I was gonna try to play something I heard e-earlier on the radio." Rocky said trying calm himself down to not look like a total freak. But he just couldn't help the relief he felt, like an endless pile of weights being lifted off his soul. Although nothing had changed; Rocky couldn't help but smile. Smile... for real... Rocky had thought he had forgotten how.
"Let's heaw it." Zuma said straightening out his posture.
"Uhm... it went something like this." Rocky said looking down at the strings.
(Important A/N Play the video as you are reading if your device allows it; otherwise read first.)
y-o-u-t-u-b-e-.-c-o-m-/watch?v=OZ665tdEXuc (Remove dashes)
"Oh, I love this song." Zuma said upon hearing the recognizable strums.
"I recall when" Zuma began singing along.
"We were young and" His rhotacism seemingly not affecting his singing.
"Never cared 'bout a thing. Whoa!"
"We were fire, perfect liars"
"We were gone with the wind" Rocky couldn't believe his ears.
"Everybody wants to know what, Different really means" Zuma's voice was unrecognizable.
"And everybody tried to be like us, but some things they could never be"
"'Cause we will never turn our hearts away" Rocky stopped playing in disbelief, Zuma didn't seem to notice as he continued singing.
"You and I" Zuma's voice taking on an angelic tone in Rocky's ears at the absence of the guitar.
"I will be your friend, all my life"
"If I lose my way, I'll be fine"
"'Cause you won't let me go"
"You won't let me go"
"You won't let me-" Zuma cut himself off as he noticed how he got carried away; he hadn't realized that Rocky stopped playing.
(End of sound)
"Hey! Why'd you stop playing?" Zuma asked.
"What?!" Rocky uttered in pure confusion.
"What do you mean 'what'?" Zuma asked.
"What do you mean! Since when do you sing like that." Rocky said.
"What? I don't sing like anything special." Zuma said.
"Are you serious! You sing like an- I don't even know, an angel." Rocky was at a loss for words.
"No I don't Wocky." Zuma chuckled.
"Wha-!" Rocky began but gave up on his stubborn friend.
"*sigh* You look like one though." Rocky thought frustrated that Zuma didn't understand how well he sings.
"It's getting late isn't?" Zuma asked.
"Uhm, yeah." Rocky answered after glancing at the clock.
"Alwight, I'm sleeping hewe then." Zuma proclaimed falling over in Rocky's bed.
"B-But I was gonna keep working on something, I need the light." Rocky said.
"It's fine." Zuma said sitting back up in the bed. He lightly tapped the side of Rocky's bed with his paw; causing the in-line drawer to open. He reached inside and grabbed Rocky's cap.
"Thewe we go." Zuma said placing the cap on his head and laying back down pushing the brim of the cap over his eyes.
"Where am I supposed to sleep then." Rocky asked as Zuma was obviously quickly gonna fall asleep.
"You'we not that big pebbles, you'll fit." Zuma said with a yawn. Rocky froze up at the implication of what he said.
"I'm gonna uhm, s-sleep there?" Rocky asked cautiously.
"Mhmm..." Zuma replied already half asleep as he had tired himself out setting up for the party.
"O-Okay." Rocky didn't know what else to respond, he could feel his heart beating; pulsating in his head.
"I guess I should uhm, get to work then." Rocky said.
"Sounds good..." Zuma mumbled.
"I guess I haven't really worked on anything for a while..." Rocky thought as he placed the guitar next to the desk and pulled out a rolled-up sheet of paper from a drawer. He spread it out across his desk and looked over it, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He placed down his pen against the paper but couldn't write anything. He felt his attention wandering; taken hostage by his feelings once again.
"I should tell him..." Rocky thought looking over at the seemingly already asleep Labrador with a cap over his face.
"But... he's not... he likes girls." Rocky continued his thoughts still staring straight at Zuma. The only part of his face visible under the cap was his jaw.
"And we've been friends for so long... nothing more." Rocky was nervously fiddling with the pen in his grasp.
"He's gonna think I'm weird... No, I... I shouldn't say anything." Rocky stood up from his chair.
"B-But I want... I want him to hold me again." Rocky thought back to the time on the beach as he approached the bed.
Rocky softly jumped up on the bed next to Zuma. His heart was racing but it wasn't like anything before, instead of the usual feeling of stress and worry that usually accompanied his raised heart rate; he felt warm.
The bed was quite roomy and he could have easily laid down where he stood, but he crept a little closer; a little closer than he normally would. He laid down and just looked, he couldn't help himself. He noticed Zuma's chest rising and falling as he slept peacefully, he noticed Zuma's fur glistening in the light he had yet to turn off, he noticed Zuma's ears resting against his cheeks. He noticed his own body feeling things he couldn't describe.
Rocky quietly reached for the light switch, and with a click, the room fell into darkness. Rocky laid back down, his eyes open but not being able to see anything.
Soon his eyes began adjusting and a faint silhouette appeared against the light colors of the interior. The lime green and white of the cap slowly began to become more and more visible.
Rocky's heart pounding in his chest, he felt a warm and fuzzy sensation in his body; unlike anything he had ever felt before in his life. All thanks to water of all things. It made him vulnerable, vulnerable enough to open up and realize how he felt.
"Maybe feelings aren't all bad. I just need to get better at them." Rocky thought, he felt happy and hopeful despite the situation. But there was still that feeling of longing in his heart. Zuma was right next to him, so close he could hear every breath. Yet he felt so far away; oblivious to everything Rocky was unavoidably aware of.
"I... I love you..." Rocky whispered, hesitantly putting his paw on Zuma's. He couldn't help himself from feeling his sleek yet briny fur, it was just so fascinating the way the texture interacted with Rocky's longer rougher fur. It didn't matter how many times he had high-pawed Zuma before, this feeling was just different. It wasn't about the physical touch but the emotional sensation; something Rocky never thought he would be thinking to himself.
Zuma made an unexpected sound causing Rocky's heart to skip a beat as he quickly pulled his paw away from Zuma's, his body going cold at the possibility of Zuma being awake. But then the Labrador mumbled something unintelligible as he tucked in his paw and turned in bed seemingly undisturbed.
"Okay, calm down he's still sleeping." Rocky calmed himself his heart beating out of his chest and on the verge of breaking out in a cold sweat.
"I probably shouldn't touch him anyway, he's sleeping. Th-" Rocky's thoughts were interrupted by a dull slap on his hind leg. Zuma's short-haired tail had flopped over onto him. The unexpected touch making Rocky blush. He didn't dare move a muscle; not in fear of waking him but in fear of him moving his tail away leaving him in the cold as the simple accidental touch was warming his entire body.
"It doesn't mean anything... yet it means so much." Rocky thought relaxing his entire body, closing his eyes with a warm blush on his face, his heart rate skyrocketing.