[reddykins]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

A crush? On her? Please, Gannetpaw thought with a roll of his eyes. Since it wasn't true he couldn't feel that familiar bubble of anxiety rising quite as high - had that been the opposite, it probably would have been. Thank goodness Gannetpaw knew exactly what kind of cat he liked. And she was NOT it. "Oh come on, Redpaw. If I had a crush on you, it'd be like this." He stopped for a second before going into 'nervous, introvert Gannet' mode. "H - hey, um... R - R- Redpaw, would you, uh... c - could I... help you w - with that?" He stammered, an anxious expression crossing his features. 10/10 impression of that, considering that moments before he had been perfectly fine. And slowly his stance returned to normal. This was not to last, as a semi-surprised expression crossed it just seconds later when she picked the leaf out. "Alright, alright! Point taken - I can do it myself."

The tom half-laughed, sitting down and quickly beginning to groom himself. The thing with a short pelt was that stuff didn't get as entangled in it as easily. And it was cleaned more easily. As his rough pink tongue worked at it, slowly the tom's black and white pelt began to look more normal. Not anywhere near as waterlogged and muddy as it had. But of course... Gannetpaw hadn't gotten everything out. He thought he looked fine. Except he didn't. The tom continued to try to work, just in case there was something he had missed (and there was) but of course there were always those muddy spots in strange places that were near-to impossible to reach. Submerged in his own world, the tom barely heard her words and answered somewhat absentmindedly - "Yeah."

He would do that every once in a while, answer questions without really hearing what the other cat had said. It wasn't the best skill or, indeed, problem to have, but Gannetpaw had it anyways. "Wait, what's ridiculous?" Coming out of his absentminded state and realizing that, in fact, Redpaw could have said something offensive against him and he may have accidentally just agreed to it, the multicolored tom's optics flashed with alarm. Please let it have been something good about me. Or just random, he wouldn't really mind. As long as it wasn't something seriously mean about him - he didn't mind the joking, teasing, offhanded jests, but what he did mind was seriously being made fun of. He hated that. It was painful to listen to and it was bothersome to hear.

Not meaning Redpaw had ever said something ill-tempered being completely serious, but there were other cats who had. Gannetpaw avoided them. And even though it meant generally sleeping surrounded by strangers or other "outcasts," as he thought of himself, the tom really couldn't care less. Being one of these "outcasts" didn't bother him in the slightest. It was better then being popular and surrounded by cats who were constantly trying to kiss up to him. At least, that was what the tom thought. He had never cared much for being considered popular, even though that would never happen. A lot of cats in the Clan weren't really that... how to put this... enjoyed by everyone, was the mildest way to say it. There was nobody that everybody liked. It wasn't possible. No one could be a cat that everyone would like the company of, and Gannetpaw knew it well. He was still wondering what Redpaw could have possibly been talking about. What was ridiculous?

"It's nothing," the calico replied, somewhat oddly quick. She hoped she didn't seem suspicious by brushing off her foolish mumbling, though Redpaw really didn't want Gannetpaw to hear what her mind had just told her. "Well, I guess the only thing ridiculous here is you! Your fur is sticking up every which way, silly thing." Redpaw leaned forward and lapped at his ear in a friendly gesture, lapping at a smudge of dirt.
"Say," Redpaw began slowly, her tail flicking as it curled around her haunches, "would it be breaking the code if we were to grab something small? I'll share it with you, but I'm starved." She ran her pink tongue around her lips, still faintly tasting the fish the apprentice had held between her jaws earlier. Her amber eyes trailed to the fresh-kill pile, taking note of the catches she and Gannetpaw had made. It consisted of just a bit more, too; a particularly plump carp that went untouched (as the Clans felt too humble to take such a big meal), a ragged, scrawny water vole that could've been mistaken for another one of Gannetpaw's catches, and a frog, its skin caked in slime. It made Redpaw's stomach lurch only staring at it, as it wasn't a traditional RiverClan meal. Of course, with ShadowClan being known as the "scavenger Clan" (to her, at least), it made sense there was a frog on the pile. She'd seen them around, but rarely were they ever caught and placed on the kill pile.
Forcing herself to glance away, Redpaw turned back to Gannetpaw. "So? Wanna share something with me?" She blinked kindly, stretching out her forelegs as she prepared herself to hoist onto her paws. "I'll even go drop off the carp at the elder's den for them to share if you're worried, Gannetstar. I think we deserve something after such a successful hunt!" Her eyes glistened, hopeful that her Clanmate would spend any additional time with her. Gannetpaw was beginning to warm up to Redpaw; she had begun to enjoy his company. But, it also formed a friendly rivalry to her - with all the constant sarcasm and sassy remarks, it made her heart ache to spar with him in a mock battle. Redpaw hadn't learned much, as Honeypool was yet to get into depth with battle techniques, though it didn't make her eager nonetheless.