[217]

Originally Posted by Lonestar23

"That's me, just your average best friend." The tom purred. He wasn't quite sure what to call himself... so best friend would do. Her love? That didn't sound right. Her mate? That wasn't true, not yet. And he wouldn't want to bring an awkward thing like that up right now. So best friend was going to have to do, even though Tawnyflight was already aware that he had much more then friendly feelings for her. Thunderstorm pondered her question for a moment. Was he tired? He didn't really feel tired, nor did he feel the annoyance at everything creeping up in his mind when he was tired without knowing it.

"I... don't think I am, but I don't think a nap would do me any harm." Part of him more or less wanted to curl up with Tawnyflight here in the territory and forget all the troubles of the real world. It would be nice to forget. If only Thunderstorm could... but he was almost confident that he couldn't forget the matters that pressed at his mind. "If - if you wanted to sleep, I... I wouldn't mind." Thunderstorm would be able to think while she was asleep. About the future, about what might come, or he could curl up with her. Around her. Protecting her from the ShadowClanners that, in this fantasy of his mind, were coming to hurt her.

They were coming to take her away from him. But Thunderstorm would never let Tawnyflight be taken from him, because she meant too much. She always had meant too much, and he couldn't let anyone take her away from him.

Once he mentioned he wasn't tired, Tawnyflight felt like she wanted to just stay up and keep talking. To him. The thing she loved to do most. One might say, 'there has to be something you like more than talking to someone,' but no. This was it, her favorite thing to do. But it didn't even have to be talking. Just hanging out with Thunderstorm in general sounded like the perfect time to Tawnyflight, and she suspected it would be forever. She loved the sound of his voice. She loved the feeling of warmth that spread over her whenever their tails entwined or pelts pressed together. She loved him inside and out. She just wanted to yowl out that she wanted to be his mate right then and there.

But she couldn't.

She knew neither of them were ready. They'd only just become warriors, and even if it wasn't against the code, it still made sense to wait. If they were to become mates so early on, there was a chance they'd realize it'd been a mistake, or they'd realize they weren't meant to be. Tawnyflight had quite a strong hunch that she amd Thunderstorm were, in fact, meant to be though. She had a feeling that their spark, no matter how old it got, would never go out. They'd have their ups and their downs, but it wouldn't put the spark out, it wouldn't be nearly enough to do that. The tawny warrior definitely had plans to be with this tom when the time came, and she could only hope he'd feel the same.

When the tom's next words snapped Tawnyflight back into reality, her smile returned and she nodded. She'd definitely curl up right where she was, but with the weather recently, she felt like that might not be the best idea with the chance of even more rain. She could only hope it wouldn't rain again; that could set back ShadowClan's stay even more. She hoped that the ShadowClan cats weren't staying in RiverClan's dens, because she could only imagine how crowded it would be. She was hoping there's be makeshift dens for them instead, though if it did come down to den-sharing, Tawnyflight wasn't opposed to sharing with a certain tom to make room for others. Not that den-sharing would make a difference in that decision, though.

"Well," she mewed, "Ready to head back, then? We could go hunting or something afterwards, maybe."