I was staring at Gingerflight again. She was talking to the apprentices..... I think. All I saw was her mouth opening and closing........ I didn't hear anything...... I just saw.

Her smooth pelt, and her eyes......

"Another lovestruck Tom. I guess that's good news for the clan." Someone said.

I snapped out of my trance.

"Oh, W-Willowstar, hello." Well aren't you a charmer?

Willowstar purred. "Staring at Gingerflight again?"

I licked my chest fur, embarrassed. "How'd you guess?"

She rolled her eyes. "Your not the first lovestruck Tom, and you won't be the last. Besides," she added, "I know a few things."

"Wait? Is this about the vole I ate this morning?" I asked. "Because I swear I didn't know Echowind wanted it, I was just so hungry and-" Willowstar waved her tail.

"Fernshade calm down. I didn't even know about the vole." She said.

I let out a sigh of relief.

"But you know, She-cat's can be nervous too......." She said, glancing at Gingerflight.

"Why don't you go over the she's done, and ask to hunt with her?" Willowstar suggested.

"By myself?" I asked.

She smiled. "You can take Leafgaze with you if you like."

I looked at her curiously. "Aren't you supposed to be worried about important stuff? Like omens and wars?"

She gave me an equally curious look. "Your my clanmate, and if it's important to you it's important me." She nudged me with her tail. "Go on."

I felt like a kit just out of the nursery, where everything was big and scary.

Come on, you got this.

The apprentices were leaving, I could only assume she was done.

Here we go.

I padded over to Gingerflight. Come on you scaredy-cat. Talk!

I felt like my jaw wouldn't work.

Come on!

I finally managed to say, "Hey, Gingerflight?"

She turned, her blue gaze fixed on me. "Yes?" She asked.

Okay, this is it, don't panic.....

"Do you um......"

She was still looking at me......

"Do you want to...."

Now I saw her ear twitch, was she annoyed with me?

"Do you want to to go hunting with me and Specklebounce?" I asked.

She smiled. "Sure, only, I have to go get a rabbit for Lilysplash, I promised her one."

My tail drooped. All this for nothing?

"But I'll come with you two after I give her the rabbit." She added hastily.

"Okay." I said (thankfully in a normalish tone.)

But as soon as her back was turned I was literally leaping for joy.

Yay! I'm the luckiest cat in the whole forest! Oh I can't wait-

"So she said yes?" Leafgaze asked, interrupting my little celebration.

"Yup!" I mewed.

Leafgaze flicked his ear. "It's about time."

"W-what do you mean?" I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Your not the only who likes a She-cat." I vaguely recalled that he was Robinwing's mate, but what did that have to do with anything?

"And besides," he added,"I wouldn't be surprised if the whole clan knew, with you staring after her all the time."

"I do not stare at her." I muttered.

"Sure." He looked behind me. "Well, there she is. Let's go."

Leafgaze padded towards Gingerflight.

He's so lucky he's confident..... He can take a step without worrying he'll look ridiculous.

"Fernshade, you coming?" He meowed over his shoulder, Gingerflight at his side.

"Yeah." I replied, racing to catch up with them.

As we left camp, Gingerflight asked me, "Soooo what are we going to hunt?"

Her favorite prey is vole, or wait no, it's not vole......

"How about we try mice?" I asked.

"Oh that's great! Mice are my favorite!" She mewed, eyes shining.

Leafgaze have me an approving nod, although one Gingerflight didn't see, of course.

"Do you remember where that mice nest is, the one that Greenpond found?" She asked me.

Her eyes....... Her blue eyes..... I couldn't look away.....

I shook my head. "Oh uh, yeah, it's this way." I veered to the right.

Leafgaze made a face. "No thanks, I'll stick to birds. You two have fun." He said, before going off to the left.

Does he really not like mice? They're really not that bad..... Oh! He was giving me time alone with Gingerflight!

The bush that held the mice was directly in front of me.

"Do you want to go first?" Gingerflight meowed, pointing her tail at the bush.

"Well, we could both go at the same time." Then I realized that implied doing something together, and I turned into a stuttering mess.

"Well, I m-mean, that is, if you want to, I wasn't trying to-"

Gingerflight poked me with her tail. "I know what you mean mouse brain!" She said teasingly.

"I'll leap on the bush, and you catch as many as you can." She said, not leaving me any time to answer before she ran behind the bush.

Wait, did that just happen?

The spot where her fur had touched mine was still warm.

Come on, this is where you need to be the handsome Tom. I told myself, before positioning myself in front of the bush.

"Ready?" She asked, ready to pounce.

I nodded.

She leaped onto the bush.....

Gorgous ginger spots........

Wait what?

"Fernshade, what are you doing?" She asked leaping onto a mouse.

I blinked, and leaped for a mouse, before slamming my paw on another.

I leaped, aiming for the last mouse, but collided with Gingerflight, I guess she wanted the mouse to.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, bouncing off of me and landing onto the grass.

I quickly jumped up.

"Gingerflight, are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Oh don't worry, it's only a little dirt." She reassured me, shaking out her fur.

Her gorgous ginger fur...

Stop it. Focus.

"Well, we uh, we'd better take these three back to camp." I said clumsily.

"Definitely." She grabbed her mouse by the tail.

After a few moments of silence I decided to say, "Well that was fun."

You mouse brain! You had to say that? You couldn't have said something more-

"Yes, it was." She purred.

My eyes widened. It was?

"And I'm sure next time will enjoy fun to."She added.

Next time? She wants to do this again?
With me?

I felt like the luckiest Tom in the world. My pelt was all warm and fuzzy. 
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Fernshade and Gingerflight sat together, sharing a mouse.

"I can't wait to do this again." Gingerflight said.
"Together?" Fernshade asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Together." She wrapped her tail around his, snuggling closer to him.

I hope it will always be like this, me, with Gingerflight......... 

A few of their clanmate wore a knowing look on their faces, but they didn't say anything. They left the two to eat their mouse, together, underneath the stars.

A/N: I forgot to mention, each chapter happens right after the previous one, unless if I say so.

Sometimes it's hard for me to give my character flaws, only it's because their like my children, I want what's best for them. But as you can see I did give Fernshade a few flaws. He's very shy, and he can get jealous, and isn't very confident. But he's very sweet and he cares about others. The next chapter will come out tomorrow! 😉