Archive of Our Own ^beta

That darn canary had outsmarted him once again. Sylvester was getting sick and tired of constantly being outwitted by something so small and annoying. But he wouldn't stop until he made that bird his lunch!

This time Tweety and holed himself up in a tree that was planted in the middle of a fenced area filled with dogs. Sylvester had already tried a variety of ways to get Tweety, but each had ended in failure. He had one final trick up his sleeve, he would disguise himself as a skunk! Even the fiercest dog would go running if they thought they'd get sprayed by him.

Sylvester snickered to himself quietly, this plan was absolutely brilliant! Why didn't he think of doing this before? No matter, he was going to finally get that bird and savor every bite.

Grabbing a paint brush, he dipped it in an open can of white paint and sloppily painted a stripe along his back.

"This'll surely get those mangy mutts off my back," Sylvester said as he strolled confidently through the gates of the dog pound.

Immediately the dogs were on high alert. They all turned their heads in Sylvester's direction and snarled before freezing in place as they saw the white strip adorning his back. Sylvester haughtily waved and the dogs scurried out of the pound, their tails tucked between their legs.

"Good riddance! Now time for some lunch."

Sylvester licked his lips as he climbed up the tree and grabbed Tweety from his nest. He climbed back down the tree trunk and settled back on the floor with a chuckle.

"Finally got you. Now say hello to your new home, my stomach!"

Just as the dogs had fled the scene, a certain French skunk had been passing by. Seeing the dogs bypass him at such speed had piqued his curiosity.

"Whatever could these hounds be running from?"

Looking in the direction that they had come from he saw a black and white figure with a very familiar looking mark on their back.

"Ah! Could it be? My love!"

Dashing over to Sylvester, Pepé tackled him into a hug. Startled by the sudden closeness, Sylvester had accidentally let go of Tweety, allowing the bird to fly safely out of the cat's reach.

"Bye bye puddy tat!"

"Come back here you little-"

"Ah mon chéri~ Fate has brought us together and now we shall never be apart~"

The skunk began peppering him with kisses, singing sweet praises as Sylvester desperately tried to get out of his hold.

"I'm not a skunk! Get off!"

Squirming in his tight grip, Sylvester managed to finally release himself from the skunk's hold and backed away. He dusted himself off as he glared in Pepé's direction.

"Sheesh! Ever heard of personal space? Not to mention you let my food fly away!"

The cat folded his arms across his chest as he continued to glower at him.

Pepé gave an apologetic smile. "I apologize, mon chéri. I did not mean to cause you any discomfort nor foil your plans. How about I make it up to you? I can take you out for dinner."

He was going to turn down his offer but Sylvester's stomach growled at the mere mention of food.

"Traitor," he hissed at his stomach. "Fine, but you're paying! Meet me back here later today."

Sylvester walked off, still pissed that Tweety had once again gotten away from him yet happy that he was going to get free food. Pepe could only watch him go, shocked that Sylvester had agreed to the date. Slowly his shocked expression turned into one of longing. This was the first time anyone had said yes to him. Hell, it was the first time someone hadn't run away from him because of his foul odor! This was his big chance! He just had to make sure things went smoothly. With one final look in the direction that Sylvester went, Pepé happily went his own way, plans of how the date would go already rolling around in his head.

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He was nervous. Sure Sylvester had agreed to dinner with this strange skunk, but he had initially done it for the food. Now that he had the time to process what had happened he realized that no matter the reason for him agreeing to this, it was still a date.

"Sufferin' succotash! I should have never agreed to this."

His stomach growled in response, not at all pleased that Sylvester wanted to back out of all the delicious treats that will be awaiting them.

"Quiet you," he said as he scowled downward. "I'll just stay for a bit, tell him I had a good time but I don't think it'll work out between us, and then never see him again! Won't be too hard to let the guy down considering the way he was acting before."

Nodding to himself, Sylvester continued on his way to the meeting place and only began to slow down once he saw the skunk in the distance. From where he was standing, Sylvester could see that he had tried to tidy himself up, his fur had been groomed and he was now wearing a red bow tie. He was nervously tugging on it with one hand as the other hand held a beautiful rose.

Sylvester sighed, "Well it's now or never. Hey! Over here!"

As Sylvester called out to him, Pepé was startled enough that a slight spray of his skunk smell had seeped out of him causing the rose to wilt and lose it's bright color.

"Ah there you are mon petit chaton! You look quite ravishing tonight." He extended his hand holding the flower and upon realizing it had wilted, he gave an embarrassed chuckle.

Despite the flower losing its beauty, Sylvester was touched by the gesture and graciously accepted it, a small smile gracing his face.

"Thanks," he softly said, cheeks turning pink.

Pepé's face lit up at that, causing the cat the turn a darker shade of red. Maybe turning him down would be harder than he thought.

Pepé held out his elbow and Sylvester gently linked arms with his.

"Let us go, dinner awaits us."

The two were arm in arm as Pepé guided them through alleyways to reach the back of a restaurant where there were carefully placed boxes and crates to be used as a makeshift table with chairs. A table cloth was laid carefully atop the ‘table’ and a lone candle sat in the middle. Pepé brought Sylvester to one side of the table and gestured for him to take a seat. Hesitantly he sat down and waited for Pepé to do the same. Once both were seated, neither knew what they should do or say. They sat in awkward silence as they occasionally glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes.

Starting to get sick of the weird atmosphere, Sylvester was the one who spoke up first.

“You know, I still don’t know your name.”

Pepé blushed, flustered that this whole time he never asked for the cat’s name or even given out his own.

“Pepé le Pew at your service, mon chéri.” Pepe extended his hand and gently took a hold of Sylvester’s paw, giving a kiss to the back of it.

“Sylvester,” he mumbled in response, flustered at the display of affection.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful cat, no?”

Once again, Sylvester’s face was turning red. He wasn’t used to this kind of attention. Coughing slightly into his hand to cover up his embarrassment, he looked away and simply nodded in response. Not realizing that Sylvester didn’t want Pepé to see how embarrassed he had become, Pepe’s grin had turned downward, believing that the cat was actually covering his nose because of him. Shaking his head, he forced a smile back on his face and started twiddling his thumbs.

This isn’t at all going like he had planned. He was going to woo the handsome cat in front of him and hopefully he’d be able to see him again. But the way things were looking it seemed like Sylvester might not even stay until the end of the date. As these thoughts filled his head, Sylvester was also thinking about the person in front of him.

“This actually isn’t so bad. He’s not as pushy as when I first met him. In fact he seems just as nervous as me, maybe even more so! Not to mention he put a lot of time and effort into setting up this date, it’d be a shame to just leave.”

“So Pepé, why exactly did you want to go on this date with me?”

Shaking away his bad thoughts his once forced smile turned genuine as he looked over at Sylvester. This was his chance to try and woo him! All he had to do was put on his charm and shower him in praise. That'll surely get the cat to see that he was still a viable dating partner.

“Well how could I resist such a charming young cat. One look at you and you set my heart ablaze! I could write whole books on the beauty that is you! Your beauty fills me with passion!”

“...Is that all? You asked me on a date just ‘cause I looked nice?” Sylvester gave him an odd look.

Unsure of how to respond, Pepé blurted out, “Yes? What else is there?"

He mentally kicked himself, why did he even say that!? He didn't simply ask him out just because he was pretty. Although it did start out that way, there was more to it than that.

Sylvester didn’t respond but simply gave him a blank look.

"On second thought, maybe I had been right about the date being a dumb idea."

Just as he was about to leave, Pepé desperately grabbed his arm.

“W-wait! We still have yet to eat! Oh waiter~” Pepé rang a small bell that he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere, and a human chef had exited the establishment that was in front of them through a back door. He wore a nose plug and quickly set down a silver platter and removed the lid, revealing a plate of spaghetti. Bowing slightly to the pair, the man hurried back into the restaurant to get away from the awful smell of the skunk.

Sylvester looked at the plate of food in front of him and then at Pepé who was giving him a nervous smile and puppy dog eyes. Sighing, Sylvester gave in, sat back down next to his date and picked up his fork. Taking a bite of the pasta, he moaned at the taste. It had been so long since he had eaten something so delicious.

Pepé smiled at the noise he made and began to dig into the food himself, glancing next to him every once in a while to make sure that Sylvester was enjoying himself. They continued to eat in silence. At one point they had both picked up their food and began to chew, not realizing that a long strand of pasta was being shared between them. They continued to chew until they were face to face, and only then did they realize just how close they were.

Sylvester moved back and blushed. If they had gotten any closer they would’ve surely kissed. Pepé, on the other hand, hadn’t moved from his spot. He had been so close to touching those lips. His own cheeks began to heat up at the thought of kissing the male in front of him. He knew the date wasn’t the best by any means but he had been so glad to have gotten to go on a date with Sylvester regardless.

“Well, it’s getting kind of late, I think I should get going.”

Trying to get out of the awkward situation he had put himself in, Sylvester was about to slink away again when a hand rested gently on his shoulder.

“Before you leave, ma chérie, I would like to express my gratitude to you. You did not have to go on this date with me but you had agreed and made me the happiest skunk here. I’m sorry for the rudeness of my statement before. I did not mean to offend you. You are very beautiful, but that is not the only reason why I wanted to go on this date with you. I truly want to get to know you better. You are the first person to see past the fact that I am but a mere skunk and went out with me. If you’d like to, I would like for us to go on another date.”

Sylvester looked at him and saw the earnest expression he was making and couldn’t help but smile. He did have a pretty good time despite everything, and Pepe did apologize for what he had said before. A second date wouldn’t be so bad.

“I think I’d like that.”

Before Sylvester could chicken out, he kissed Pepé’s cheek briefly and gave an embarrassed grin. Completely astonished at what had happened, Pepe had accidently released a foul odor in response to his happiness. Realizing what he had done he shook himself out of his happy stupor and looked horrified at what he had done.

“Well after this he most certainly won’t want a second date,” the skunk thought sadly.

Except, to his astonishment, Sylvester didn’t leave. In fact he didn’t even seem phased by the smell that was lingering.

“Um, excuse me but are you not going to run away?”

“Run away? Why would I do that?”

“Do you not smell the odor that is coming from me? Does it not disgust you?”

“I mean not really. After a bunch of failed attempts at capturing that stupid yellow bird, I ended up hitting my nose one too many times so now my sense of smell is off. I can kinda smell it but not enough that it bothers me.”

Pepé just stared adoringly at the cat. He held Sylvester’s face in his hands before going in for a long, deep kiss.

He pulled back and smiled at the dazed look on the cat’s face. “I apologize for not asking to kiss you first but I think I may just be in love with you.”

At this point, Sylvester’s face had burst into flames. He wasn’t expecting the skunk to be so bold, not that he was complaining. The fact that he had also admitted to being in love with him didn’t help the matter.

“W-well I can’t say I love you back but I can see myself coming to love you. That is if you’d let me.”

Sylvester put a hand on his face. He couldn’t believe he said something so cheesy! But Pepé didn’t seem to mind, in fact his smile seemed to grow even wider.

“Oh mon amour, you have no idea how happy you have made me. Sadly it is late and as much as I’d like to spend more time with you I do not want to keep you up all night. I’d gladly walk you home,” he gave a small smirk. “That is if you’d let me.”

Sylvester stuck his tongue out at him playfully. Taking his hand they began to walk off, the moon’s light shining on them. Neither were expecting their night to turn out this way but they were glad it had happened.