Gliding Paws [closed]

Sleetfang touched his paw to the ice and then pulled back with a good-humored hiss. "Silverpelt's stars, that's cold." His breath frosted in the early morning air. The dawn patrol had came and went while he was freezing stiff in his new den, and if he wasn't out doing something, then he might as well have huddled down with the kits and elders. He didn't hate anything more than just sitting around on his paws, as useless as fur on a fish. The hunting here might not be as good as the river, but it was private and quiet, and he'd never been afraid of a challenge.

Besides, it was nice to get some alone time. He glanced around to Shellwater, purring. "And whose idea was this again?" he asked. His, but shut up.

"What, did you think it was hot, Sleetfang?" teased Shellwater, a wide grin splitting her scarred face. She enjoyed the time with her... friend- stop that, Shellwater, you know he's not interested- and had jumped at the chance to go do something instead of sitting down and having a lonely self-pity party in the freezing cold warriors' den, where she slept between Sleetfang and Otterleap. Otterleap... He was a nice tom, but she knew that she was no prize, and that he wasn't interested in her romantically. And as their apprenticeship had showed, neither was Sleetfang. She snorted good-naturedly at his obvious compliment fishing. "Yours, genius."

Hot? If only. A nice warm bubbling pool to soak into in this weather, how nice would that be? Leaf-bare had pounced on the forest faster than he could've realized. He'd never known newleaf or greenleaf, but even he'd started to long for leaf-fall once the first snows hit. "Just the greatest genius you've ever seen. I know." Everyone had their strengths, he supposed. "Keep reminding me."

Sleetfang stepped out on the ice again, lashing his tail to stay balanced as it slipped and slid beneath his pads. One paw in front of the other... He twisted around to look at her, gliding seamlessly over the middle of the frozen pool. "I hope you don't think I'm a drypaw," he purred. He couldn't help but stare sometimes, like now. Not just at her scars, but just how she carried herself. It felt like a weight off his heart whenever he saw her smiling, relaxed, unafraid. Ever since the incident, it felt like something had shifted within her. He'd play into whatever stupid jokes or say whatever it took to see that smile more often.

He had to force himself to look into her eyes, and not at the claw marks he wasn't sure would ever fade away. Not just the ones raked through her splotched fur, but the invisible ones too. No matter how they punished WindClan, they could never take those scars back. That's what gnawed at him the most.

Sleetfang brushed all those dark thoughts away. Brooding wasn't helping anyone, either Shellwater, RiverClan, or himself. "The water's nice," he mewed in invitation, pawing at the solid ice beneath his feet. "Care to join me?"

Shellwater purred out a laugh at Sleetfang's antics. She padded over to the ice, putting a scarred paw against it. Brrr, it was freezing. Slowly but surely, she soon had all four paws on the frozen white pool. She started speeding up a little, trying to catch up to the tom. Slipping to the side, she tried to stick out her tail to balance herself, before realizing she didn't have one. "Oof!" She skidded forwards, falling on her face, legs splayed out awkwardly. Blushing self-consciously, she tried to get up, but her paws slid out from under her. StarClan, I'm such an awkward mousebrain. Knowing how ridiculous she looked, and feeling embarrassed, she just lay struggling on the cold ice. Stupid ice- you had to ruin everything. Way to remind me I'm the ugliest cat in the forest.

He couldn't help but wince when Shellwater went slipping forward, face first against the ice. If that'd been Sunfeather, or Otterleap, or even Frogpaw, he would've laughed. Not with her. With her, it took on a whole new meaning, and his eyes went glancing over the little bob of fur where her tail should've been. Sleetfang bit back the pity stirring in his gut, and with a glance around the brittle icy plains, threw his weight forward. That little bit of momentum was all it took for him to throw off his own balance. His paws scrabbled out helplessly beneath him, and then he was flat across the ice, sliding across the frozen pool at her level.

Cold. By StarClan, it was cold, but if he'd bleed for her in WindClan's camp, then a little bit of ice was nothing. Anything to see that smile.

"We make a pair of graceful swans, us fearsome RiverClan warriors," he said in mock resignation. "Careful. It's slippery."

Maybe he'd been an idiot, doing this. But who cared if she had a tail or not? StarClan didn't make cats to walk on water, and they weren't SkyClan cats jumping from tree to tree. She was smart, and she was a better fisher than him, and that was all RiverClan needed in a warrior.

Sleetfang pulled himself into a light crouch, on all four paws again but not daring to stand up all the way, and grabbed gently at her scruff to help her up. "Maybe it'd be easier on us to sit down instead?"

The calico she-cat had managed to lift her head up in time to see Sleetfang slip on the ice, skidding forwards to land near her. He looked... ridiculous. She knew that a cat as fit and strong as him wouldn't have slipped accidentally, and her heart melted at his kindness. His self-deprecating tone and his joking words lit up her face with a laughing smile again.

"Slippery? Oh, how nice of you to notice. I'll be sure to watch out for that," she purred sarcastically as he helped her up, gripping gently on her scarred scruff. She sat down by him, shaking flakes of ice out of her face. Snow started to come down from the gray clouds above, powdering the pool's slippery surface and lightly frosting the two cats' heads. Shellwater's burnished orange eyes gazed into Sleetfang's as she tilted her head thoughtfully.

She liked the tom a lot, she really did, but she knew he wasn't interested in her. They were friends, she knew, and that was all. So why did he go to such lengths to make her feel better? "Sleetfang," she started hesitantly, "I always feel better when I'm around you. You know how to make me relax, how to make me smile and joke and laugh. I know we're friends, but... why do you care so much? What makes you spend so much time with a crippled warrior like me? Why do you go out of your way to lift my spirits? Is it just out of pity, or because we were always such good friends as apprentices?" I mean, it's not because you love me. You've made that perfectly clear, and I don't expect you to, anyways. She didn't say that part out loud. "I just want to let you know, you don't have to feel... obligated to spend time with me. You could be with your friends, with Otterleap or Sunfeather or Petalbreeze or even Frogjaw. You don't have to waste time on me."

OOC: TURBO CHEESE MODE — MAX.

He made sure to sit close, their fur brushing together, to block out the cold. What little it did, it was better than sitting alone. Sleetfang had been staring up into the clouds, at the fat powdery flakes that had started to dust down from the sky when she spoke. He made sure to stare into her eyes, murky green meeting burnished copper. Her words stung at him like nettles. "Shellwater..." Without thinking, he pushed his nose into her scarred pelt, nuzzling close. "I hate when you talk about yourself like that," he breathed. "It's not pity. It's never a waste of time. Why can't I just want to spend time with you?" Maybe that was a lie. Of course he felt pity, but it wasn't just that, and it didn't make her some kind of burden on him. He just wanted her to feel... To feel... What was wrong with wanting her to feel like how things were before? To learn to live with what had happened? "I love spending time with you. I love when you laugh at my stupid jokes. I love the way you know how to tease me when I'm being a mouse-brain. I love how you are, and I hate when you act ashamed of yourself..."

Whatever it took to make her smile.

Did he love her?

There was a hollow feeling in his chest when he tried to search for the answer. Of course he cared about her, but could he say he loved her? Truthfully?

"I know I shouldn't say this, but you're still beautiful. Nothing could change that." He swallowed, barely able to keep her gaze. "I love you, Shellwater."

It didn't matter if it was the truth or not. Even if she rejected him, it didn't matter as long as his words hit home.