Archive of Our Own

The high-pitched sound of Kaeloo’s alarm clock wakes her in an instant. She doesn’t have a habit of staying in bed for too long, it only takes one ring to wake her up, as opposed to the ten Stumpy has to set up. She is particularly cheerful today, and has every reasons to be. After a few jumps on her bed, Kaeloo rolls towards the door and opens it.

Kaeloo is met with a huge pile of red and white roses placed in the middle of the hallway. Whaaat? There is a card attached to it. Oh, she can’t possibly contain her excitement. "Meet me in the clearing of the adorable woods at 7" it says. What a mystery!

Unfortunately the card isn’t for her, the frog sees. Hands on her cheeks and eyes almost popping out of their orbits, she let out a sad little sound, then frowns. Anger, anger… It should just take her a minute.

Yes, the frog is gone now! The only trace of her presence is a small giggle echoing in the hallway.

Kaeloo has this strange habit of waking up before the sun even rises, what’s up with that. The last two hours were so boring Bad Kaeloo had to try and say hello to a few rocks and trees to pass the time. He walks towards the couch once more, to see if some of his friends have woken up yet. There is no way he can stay another minute alone with his anxious thoughts about what’s lying in the hallway.

Instead of complete silence, he hears stuff this time. Buttons being pressed. Frenetic high pitched sounds of frustration. A mocking laughter.

"Hi friends!"
"Ha! You startled me." says Pretty after a few short breaths. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, I guess."

The question is actually another question, Bad Kaeloo thinks, but he absolutely doesn’t want to answer it. Stumpy is meticulously choosing outfits for a character on his console’s screen. Why does he look more tense now, playing a dressing up game than he is on a fighting game, the toad does not know. He never really had to care about choosing clothes, maybe it’s indeed a very challenging thing to do. He quickly looks at Pretty then closes his eyes to show his respect.

"What you play?"
"Imagine: Fashion Designer." Pretty answered. "Stumpy kinda sucks but we’re having fun. Right, hazel?"
"Nothing goes with this blue top? This game is so stupid, I’m sure you put it in hard mode just to mess with me! And look at this skirt? Green with neon orange flowers? Preposterous!"
"Nice word! And this early in the morning? I’m impressed!"

Pretty claps, making the squirrel blush. They have this bet going on, where Stumpy has to use at least three fancy words a day for a week. He has no intention to loose. Bad Kaeloo leans on the couch behind Pretty and acts nonchalant. Hopefully his acting is good.

"So…" he says looking up. His body is twisted in a very unnatural way. "Have one of you send gift today?"
"What now?" Stumpy asks, his eyes not leaving the screen.
"I, huh…"
"Gifts? What for, is it someone’s birthday? Bad Kaeloo, look at me in the eyes. Is it Kaeloo’s birthday? Do we still have time to grab something?"

Now the bunny is running in circles around the couch. She has both hands in front of her chattering teeth. Stumpy remains strangely unaffected by all of that, and keeps hitting his screen with his stylus. This is unusual Bad Kaeloo thinks, that Pretty is the one to scream around while Stumpy does nothing. Is the world turning backwards? That would explain why Kaeloo let him out for this long.

"No, no!" blurts Bad Kaeloo. He puts his right hand in front of Pretty to stop her. "You not worry. Not Kaeloo birthday."
"You big meany! Was that some kind of prank?"
"Did you receive some kind of special gift?" asks Stumpy out of the blue. Pretty hits him in the back of his head. He shrieks.

Bad Kaeloo feels cornered. Yes he was the first to ask the question but now the gift talk is happening and ho no what did he do.

The gift. Is that even a gift? A pile of flowers in a corridor barely counts as a gift. If anything, it’s clutter. On the ground. That he’ll have to clean up later. So it’s the opposite of a gift really. Who said it was a gift? That idea is as preposterous as a green and orange skirt.

"Bad Kaeloo, are you alright?"

Pretty has a frown on her face. She looks kind of worried and that’s not good. Because if she’s worried it means something about him is worrying her but he’s not worried and no one should be worried about him being worried. Now his mind is going in circles. Thinking is so hard sometimes.

"You look very tense, do you have something to tell us?" Pretty continues.

Now Stumpy also looks worried. Well, puzzled would maybe be more fitting. This is too much. Those four questioning eyes are up to no good, Bad Kaeloo thinks. If they continue talking he’ll have to talk about the flowers and the card, and he really thought he could do it but now he’s sure he can’t. Stumpy raises both hands in the hair and shouts with a huge smile:

"You can try to dress up my favorite super model if you want, it always cheers me up!"

But at the exact moment Srumpy finishes his sentence, Bad Kaeloo runs away as fast as he can. The good thing about being the swiftest in all of Smileyland was that acting cowardly was rarely a problem.

Stumpy focuses his eyes on his screen again. Maybe the skirt isn’t that bad, he says to his friend. Pretty nods after a quick glance at the oddity, but steals Stumpy’s stylus a second after and changes it to a pair of pants.

Yes there is something Bad Kaeloo wants to do now that his friends are beginning to wake up, and no he won’t do it. Let’s lay out the facts. He got a ton of flowers with a card with his name on it, asked two of his friends if they knew something about it then ran away when things got mildly complicated. How would he even react in front of a particular friend who will remain unnamed?

Maybe he could’ve stayed with his energetic friends if he wasn’t so dumb. Now everything’s ruined and he’s back to square one: wandering in Smileyland without a purpose. There could be a purpose. But no. Now’s not the time to look for someone. Maybe later. Or never. He hits his head once. Twice.

After some thinking, Bad Kaeloo decides to walk towards Olaf’s place. He wants to have his insight on the flowers and card but he’ll have to pay attention to not make the same mistake as earlier. What the toad would like to know is what does the "gift" (not a gift, we established that) mean. As in, why would he suddenly come out to see some flowers on the ground, and a card asking him to go somewhere tonight? He can’t see any explanation for that. Alright, maybe there’s one explanation… but that’s not it, so it must be something else.

Olaf and his fridges’ village is chilly and because of condensation each of Bad Kaeloo’s exhale becomes a little white cloud. He loves when it does that. A pink fridge asks him what he’s looking for, and he stutters while answering. Maybe he should’ve brought a hat and scarf.

After a few indications from the fridge, Bad Kaeloo finds Olaf in his lab, and he’s surprised to see that Quack-Quack is here too. The lab is located on the right side of the village, and is filled with instruments Bad Kaeloo can’t name. Mini-robots are running around everywhere to help, while Sergei seems to be recharging in front of the back wall. Olaf is working on a robot-thing, and Quack-Quack is carefully welding two pieces together.

"Monkey wrench please…" asks Olaf. One of his mini-robots grabs the tool and bring it to its master. Nobody noticed Bad Kaeloo yet.
"Hello friends!" he says. Olaf, Quack-Quack and all of the mini-robots jump in surprise.
"Quack!" Quack-Quack is happy to see him.
"You almost made me drop my tools!"
"Sorry…" says the toad sheepishly.
"Quack quack?" the duck wonders why he’s here.
"I have question."

Olaf is still working on his contraption as Quack-Quack removes his goggles and begins to walk toward his tall friend.

"Duck, I need your help now." Olaf said firmly. "You promised you’ll be my employee today, remember? You’ll have plenty of time during your fifteen minutes lunch break. Now come and help."
"Quack?"
"No, it’s not twelve yet, it’s eleven forty. You know I don’t make any exceptions."
"Quack…"
"You, the giant." the penguin says.

Olaf’s gaze finally moves from his creation to Bad Kaeloo. He’s really intimidating for someone’s that small. He’s what, two times the size of a flower? The toad is sure he could lift him using only his little finger.

"My sweet Olga is really bored these days, since I work hard day and night… You go talk to her."

Bad Kaeloo frowns. What’s the use of talking to an ice cube? He considers waiting outside for the next twenty minutes. What he didn’t understand was that Olaf words were not a mere suggestion. It was an order. Once Bad Kaeloo realizes that, speaking with an ice cube seems like a wonderful idea. The best idea in the world, really.

A mini-fridge pinches his thigh to make him leave. Bad Kaeloo is taken aback and screams so loud it makes the entire lab shake. As a result, some of the two scientists’ tools fall on the ground with a huge "clank!".

"Go now!" screams Olaf.

Bad Kaeloo is escorted outside.

Olga is placed on a lovely red cushion in a throne made of ice, at the center of the biggest igloo of the village. After the mini-fridge got Bad Kaeloo inside, he quickly retreats back to the lab. The igloo is really bigger on the inside. The room he’s in is gigantic and there are four doors on the round wall leading to, he thinks, huge rooms as well. He feels like standing in a throne room, which doesn’t surprise him given how Olaf considers himself ruler of Smileyland. There are dozens of pillars in front of the wall, four golden statues, two fountains, and a red carpet leading to the throne Olga is standing in.

Bad Kaeloo remembers why he’s here, and figures that he could keep Olga company for a while. It’s ridiculous but it will surely make Olaf happy. The red carpet feels warm under his feet as he walks towards the throne, and soon he reaches the… queen? Honestly she’s looking like one right now.

"Hello Olga!"

She doesn’t move. It’s nice given all of his friends’ souls almost got out of their bodies when he greeted them earlier. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Bad Kaeloo clears his throat softly.

"I have problem." he starts.

After a few considerations, he decides to sit down instead of staying up. Maybe it’s not proper etiquette, but Olaf isn’t here to see it right now. And Olga seems like the kind of ice cube that’ll allow it, he thinks.

"Olaf gift you flower sometimes? I think it is love thing, but not for me." his voice is a bit hesitant. "Flowers for me, are here to decorate the house I guess. Maybe the meeting is for a class to know how to take care of flowers. Yes it is most likely."

Olga listens in complete silence. Bad Kaeloo adjusts himself on the carpet, his face looking to the ground.

"Or maybe they are for making perfume I don’t know. Or to make pink dye. It is possible to make dye with red and white roses?"

Now he’s looking to his left, at one of the huge fountains. The water running down is really nice and soothing. Maybe they’re the secret behind Olga’s soft composure.

"I feel like in a trap and I don’t know what I should do."

After a few seconds saying nothing, Bad Kaeloo finally looks up toward Olga. Her presence is reassuring somehow. The ice cube hides a thousand questions under her silence. She knows everything. She knows nothing.

"Your favorite color red because it mean love?" he asks timidly. His cheeks are getting warmer. Fearing it will melt her, he stops it. "I am in a trap Olga, it is difficult but I know you know."

Olga nods.

"This is ridiculous." Bad Kaeloo says after a sigh. He admires the cloud it makes before he continues. "I don’t care of the flowers, I don’t care of the card. They are stupid and I think of them all morning for nothing. I hate that not gift."

Olga agrees.

"I will tear them apart and I will not thing of them again. Ever."

Olga agrees again.

Bad Kaeloo knows that an ice cube like Olga can’t nod or shows that she agrees, but he really needs to feel some kind of approval from someone. Hopefully she won’t mind having her thoughts be ignored and replaced by lies.

The toad gets up, give a last look at the fountains and leaves in silence. His steps are slow and heavy, he’s dragging his feet on the carpet. It’s past twelve now but he doesn’t have anything to say to Quack-Quack or Olaf anymore.

The sun is up in the sky and bears its usual smile. Bad Kaeloo feels like its mocking him from up there. We’ll see who’ll be laughing tonight when the moon is going to replace you, stupid star. He needs to find a way to destroy the roses, and right after he’ll transform and it will be like nothing ever happened. Bad Kaeloo remembers that a distant cousin makes delicious dandelion salad. Dandelion, roses, those are all flowers. His stomach is grumbling just thinking about the meal he’s going to prepare for himself.

On the way home, he sees Eugly standing under a tree. Upon seeing him, the bunny waves her hand and hums happily. The meal can wait, he thinks. Also, it’s important to be polite to your friends.

"Hello Eugly!" he says while walking towards her.

She is a bit startled by the loudness of his voice for a few seconds, which is a thing the toad is used to by now. Eugly greets him back and makes a questioning sound, asking why he’s here. It’s normal that his friends are surprised to see Bad Kaeloo. He tends to only show up when someone does something dumb. Luckily for them, Kaeloo is coming back as soon as possible.

"I not know…"

Eugly smiles at him and hums gently, and the toad understands that she’s happy to see him. She thinks he looks like he’s searching someone. Why would she think that? He’s going home to get rid of the flowers. There’s no one he’s looking for. Eugly pats his shoulder and sits down. She asks with a soft sound if he has a minute. Bad Kaeloo nods and joins her on the ground.

It’s nice sitting here with Eugly in silence, so nice he forgets about where he was heading and why. The wind is quite fast today, it hums a distant melody Bad Kaeloo listens to. Some leaves fall on his nose, and he doesn’t try to remove them. Unfortunately, the pink daisies on the ground next to him makes him remembers what’s troubling him. He frowns, and Eugly immediately sees it. She asks him:

"Are you having a heart problem?"

What does she mean by that. Bad Kaeloo has the biggest and stronger heart around, and it beats at the perfect pace. Sure, it may be going a bit faster now because of Eugly’s question but that’s nothing to be worried about.

"Of course no. My heart is in good health."

Eugly tilts her head and makes a confused sound. Bad Kaeloo figures that maybe it’s because he answered something off track on purpose. Maybe.

She asks him about his heart as in love and not the actual organ. Now Bad Kaeloo’s heart is beating so fast he could practically hear it. Maybe he has a heart-as-in-the-actual-organ problem now! He should check that with a doctor immediately.

"You shouldn’t worry." Eugly reassures him with a soft sound. "Follow your heart and maybe you won’t look so lost."

Bad Kaeloo had no idea he was looking "lost". He knows where his home is. And what kind of advice was that, "follow your heart"? The only thing his foolish heart had been yelling all morning was… Was to go see someone, but he couldn’t possibly do that. Eugly was really good at reading people, he thinks.

"It must is easy for you to follow your heart, it know it like another heart that also like it."
"I didn’t knew that right away." Eugly says in a soft sigh.
"I not want to follow it and feeling hurt after."

Great, now he’s thinking sad things. That’s surely not what Eugly wanted to do, but he feels so small, smaller than the daisies on the ground around him. Maybe even smaller. The bunny looks like she wants to say something.

"It is alright. I go home now, I need eat."

Bad Kaeloo gets up. Eugly offers to talk for a bit but he’s not in the mood, he doesn’t want to think about his heart and where it wants to go now. As he leaves, Eugly wishes him good luck. He gladly takes this luck, thinking he may need it later.

Instead of his heart, he follows his grumbling stomach and runs towards home.

Bad Kaeloo is running so fast everything is blurred around him. He feels like he’s in a dream, or in a parallel universe. Running this fast is his way of dealing with negative thoughts.

Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice that makes him turn his head. If only he had kept his eyes in front of him, the huge bush in his way would’ve been avoided. But heh, what’s the fun in that.

Bam! Bad Kaeloo meets branches and leaves. Because of the speed at which he was running, pain fills his body instantly. Was all the flora of Smileyland plotting against him to make him suffer today?

The voice that distracted him is a bit more difficult to hear now. Despite the pain, despite the distance, Bad Kaeloo knows -of course he knows- whom it belongs to.

"-did they do? I can’t believe they really did that!"

Mr Cat. Of all people, it had to be him. But, would our toad have turned his head if the voice he heard had belonged to anyone else? Bad Kaeloo has no intention to answer that.

Instead of getting up and keep on running like anyone with common sense would do in his situation, Bad Kaeloo hides in the deadly bush that probably tried to kill him a minute ago like a stupid, stupid idiot. He knows he shouldn’t be eves-dropping but he isn’t. This bush is so difficult to get out of, you should’ve seen it! Satisfied with his lame excuse, Bad Kaeloo watches the cat with some kind of resentment. He doesn’t know where’s that coming from.

Mr Cat is sitting in his trademark blue deckchair and is talking to someone on the phone, probably one of his alley cat friend. Black sunglasses hides his eyes, and while his right hand holds his phone he uses the other hand to carry a green soda can. His orange and brown fur is a bit ruffled on his stomach and on the top of his head, meaning he probably got up not so long ago. The cat was smiling and laughing, a rare sight that is oh so nice to see, and… And wait. Bad Kaeloo was not in this bush to swoon at the casual sight of his friend. He has to get up and leave, now.

"Nah I can’t come, I have something planed tonight."

What a strange coincidence, said a very hopeful voice in his head. He shushes it immediately.

Bad Kaeloo hates flowers and cards so much, he hates feeling like he does, he hates having hope because hope doesn’t lead to anything. No one wants good things for him so he never, never should hope. His body leaves the bush in an instant, hurting his sides a little on the pointy twigs and he notices something on the other side of the bush. There on the floor, he sees red and white…

"Flowers! You don’t happen to know who put that here, do you handsome?" asks a teasing voice in front of him.

Looking up, Bad Kaeloo sees Mr Cat standing here, arms crossed. His sunglasses are on his head, so the toad can see his deep red eyes. Knowing from experience that he shouldn’t linger on these, he looks back down at the flowers and notices one of Mr Cat’s cat flaps on the side of the bush. What were the odds?

"Hello Mr Cat." he says after he completely got out of the bush.
"I am so happy to see you! It’s so rare, I should savor it."

Oh no, Bad Kaeloo thinks. They’re coming back. They’re coming back full force.

For you see, just like everyone noticed today, Bad Kaeloo isn’t here very often. He shares a brain with Kaeloo, a sweet little frog that everyone loves, and is allowed to show up very sporadically, mostly when she’s mad. As time went by, he got to be out more often but it was still rare, and usually didn’t last this long.

Most of the time he comes out in the middle of a game to beat someone up, not for an unknown reason that leads him to walk around worrying. And well, he’s usually the one to savor those moments, because it means…

It means that Mr Cat will rush towards him in a way or another because he spent an entire game trying to anger Kaeloo so he’ll come, it means he’ll look at him with a huge grin, happy he succeeded, it means occasionally that he’ll blatantly flirts with him, it means those damn feelings are coming and it’s not good!

"It’s a shame I’m not the reason you’re here this time…" Mr Cat pauses dramatically. "Or is it?"

The cat leans his back on Bad Kaeloo’s left arm and tries to grab his hand. The toad takes a step to the side, making the other fall down next to the flowers.

"Oh my, I’m literally falling for you."

Is there a way to make him stop for at least a second? It’s really hard to concentrate on what to do and what to say when he’s like this. Thankfully, years of experience made it easier to hide what he’s really feeling in front of the cat.

"You have flowers?" Bad Kaeloo asks.
"Yep. As a gift I suppose."
"I hate flowers."

Bad Kaeloo’s tone is extremely serious. He can’t make sense of the flowers on the ground, that are exactly the same as the one in his hallway. Who sent those and why?

Mr Cat looks kinda sad, maybe even a bit disappointed. It feels like looking in a mirror for Bad Kaeloo, somehow.

"Me too!" the cat says cheerfully afterwards, completely changing the mood of this interaction in a second. "They’re so cheesy."
"They do not smell so good as people say."
"They don’t last long."
"And they cost a lot money!"

They’re both sitting on the ground now, a thing Bad Kaeloo realizes with stupefaction. What kind of ancient magic did the cat use to do that? Did he do something to make him feel more comfortable too?

"So, did Kaeloo sent you because I did something bad? I swear I’m not the one who replaced all of your light bulbs with burned out ones."

That explained why he had to freshen up in complete darkness this morning. The idea of Kaeloo transforming just for that makes him laugh a little. Mr Cat looks surprised and when his eyes meets the toad’s he immediately looks in the opposite direction.

They chat for a little while, speaking of mundane thing instead of fighting each other, and all the while Bad Kaeloo has to fight the urge to run away, and most importantly the urge to say that thing he’ll regret. The flower mystery is not an issue at all anymore, why were they a problem again? He hates flowers, Mr Cat hates flowers. Everything is perfect.

A really loud noise forces Bad Kaeloo to open his eyes, and he realizes he’s been asleep. When did he fall asleep? The last thing he remembers is talking with Mr Cat. A fluffy weight leaning on his arm starts to move.

"That’s what I call napping!" says Mr Cat after a long sleepy -and quite adorable- yawn.

Bad Kaeloo gets up in a second, making the cat fall on the ground much like he did earlier. Mr Cat grunts and stretches out, then looks at the pile of flowers next to him.

"Guess I’ve got to get ready for that meeting." he says.

The meeting. The flower arrangement, dye-making meeting. Bad Kaeloo had completely forgotten about it, and now he wonders again why both he and Mr Cat were invited. The latter gets up, takes his sunglasses from the floor and put them back on his head.

"Hope it’s not a trap!" Mr Cat says with the fakest concerned face Bad Kaeloo has ever seen. "I would feel so reassured if someone strong and mighty were there to protect me just in case…"

There is something really fishy about those flowers, this meeting and everything. Who sent the flowers and why? Who planned this meeting? Much like Mr Cat, he is starting to thing that yeah, it really might be a trap.

"I need leaving." Bad Kaeloo says.
"Already? You did get that I was talking about you, right?"

Of course he did, Mr Cat only makes those ridiculous over the top advances to him. Bad Kaeloo decides to quickly focus on something else, because his brain has this habit of replaying every flirty thing Mr Cat ever said to him in moments like that and he can’t handle it now.

The meeting. Earlier he said he won’t go because it was dumb, but now that Mr Cat is involved he feels like he has to do something to make sure he’ll be alright. That’s what friends are for, right?

So yes, he will technically follow Mr Cat’s suggestion.

That’s just not how he phrases it in his head.

Mr Cat feels so well-rested after this amazing nap he just had that it could on its own explain the sheer bliss he’s feeling right now. But there was another thing. No, scratch that, there was so many things that could explain his excitement that he couldn’t possibly count them.

Not only did he receive what looked like an invitation to a "meeting" where he’ll surely get to be trapped, meaning a chance to be rescued in someone’s strong arms, but he also napped with Bad Kaeloo, nested on those very arms. He hadn’t even noticed that he felt asleep, surprising him all the more when he woke up.

But also! Mr Cat had the honor to personally make Bad Kaeloo laugh! A laugh from the most awesome and amazing being on the planet, and all because he said something immensely funny! This was so much better than the trap thing that was already pretty high on the scale!

Mr Cat is now sweeping the floor to get rid of the pesky little flowers he absolutely loves hating, replaying Bad Kaeloo’s laughter in his head over and over again. Once he’s done he enters his cat flap and dresses up. What should he wear? A suit for sure, kidnapped people in movies always look fine, hm? Take Ann Darrow from King Kong, for example. Yeah, he had to wear something nice, this makes perfect sense.

Still, this whole abduction thing was a bit weird. Is it part of some game? Oh my god, is Bad Kaeloo the one who’s going to kidnap him? Oh, he can barely contains his excitement now. Whoever thought of this game was a pure genius. He’s just a bit disappointed in himself, he should’ve thought of such a scenario much sooner.

The suit he chooses is the purple one, his favorite. As usual he puts a black shirt underneath, and a green tie. He wonders if he should also put on the hat that complete the outfit. After some thinking he decides to just put the suit, and attaches a small golden pin on it.

It’s now a quarter to seven, if he leaves now he should be at the clearing of the adorable woods in time. A very cute name, used as a ploy to make him lower his guard. Foolish mistake, Mr Cat always stays alert. Yes, even earlier when he felt asleep like a kitten, he was on the lookout for anything dangerous.

Instead of taking a car he decides to walk. He checks his pockets only after a few minutes. Bazooka, chainsaw, missiles, knives and… Where was his golf club? Mr Cat stops and considers turning back. A hand touches his right shoulder.

"What’s that?" he shouts while turning around, one of his knives in hand.
"Don’t hurt me Mr Cat it’s me!"

Stumpy stands behind him with his hands in the air. Instead of putting the knife back, Mr Cat gets another one and he starts to rub them together.

"You have two seconds to tell me why you ambushed me, nutcracker."
"What? I didn’t ambush you, I wanted to say hi!"
"Never do that again."

Mr Cat finally put his knives back in his pockets and resumes walking. He decides to not get his golf club.

"You’re all dressed up! Where are you going?" asks Stumpy knowingly. What’s up with the weird intonation? Is he apart of tonight’s game?
"Why do you ask? Stop following me."
"I don’t know, people don’t usually dress up all nice for nothing. Is that a pin on your suit?"
"Alright squirrel." Mr Cat says after he stopped walking once more. He brings his face close to Stumpy’s to intimidate him. "Go straight to the point or I’ll try some of the things I wanted to experiment on duckface on you instead."
"Eeek! Sheesh, you don’t have to be so defensive. I’m just saying, you look like you’re going on a date! Which makes me curious to know who you’re going with!"
"A date?"

A date? He said again, in his head this time. What was he talking about? Mr Cat doesn’t go on "dates". At least not for now. He continued walking and Stumpy followed.

"Yeah! You smell good, you’re dressed well… What’s that scent anyway, rose?"
"That’s unwanted, I just had a pile of them in front of my den."
"Oooh, this is so romantic! I send flowers to Ursula once a week! Not roses though but don’t tell Kaeloo. I pick daisies from the ground, hehehe." Stumpy laughs extremely loudly after that, irritating Mr Cat even more.
"Shush!"

But Stumpy has no intention of shushing.

"I never knew you were so sappy! I’m sure they invited you somewhere cute, you’ll have to tell me everything!"
"There is nothing special about flowers or meetings, nutcracker. Calm down or I’ll turn you into a nut salad that’ll go splendidly with the grass below."
"Try intimidating me all you want, it won’t work!"

Stumpy suddenly screams, as if something just hit him, and looks left. Mr Cat doesn’t bother looking too, thinking that the distraction is perfect for him to escape. The squirrel pats the cat on the back, earning a hiss, and run left without a goodbye.

What has gotten into him? And why oh why did he kept on insisting that this was some romantic date or whatever? What was happening was the farthest thing from romance ever. He was just walking towards a clearing in one of the nicest forests in Smileyland, dressed up nicely and smelling like roses. Romance, huh. Stumpy didn’t know what he was talking about.

There was a trap awaiting him in this clearing, that he was certain. Because if there weren’t, it meant that the invitation was indeed romantic, and he knew it didn’t come from the flower-hating toad, so you know… it would be kinda bad.

But it was definitely a trap.

Mr Cat arrives at the clearing in the center of the adorable woods right on time, something very unusual for him. For some reason he’s feeling a bit anxious, but he has no intention of showing it. There is no one here, he notices. However it could be because he’s very punctual. He sees a light in front of him and walks towards it.

At the center of the clearing, he sees a wooden table covered in a checked pink tablecloth. Two plates are placed on it, along with forks and knives. A green glass bottle filled with a lit match lights up the rather dark exterior, now that the sun is setting. There are roses scattered all around the table.

This doesn’t look like a kidnapping game at all.

Mr Cat hears rustling and giggles in bushes nearby, and turns around to see what’s making the noise, heart filled with hope. The only thing he sees are pink ears and yellow feathers. What is happe-

An imposing figure suddenly comes out of the forest, right next to where he was watching. His heart skips a beat.

Bad Kaeloo is here, and he looks extremely uncomfortable. Which is a thing Mr Cat doesn’t see right away because he’s too busy… he’s to busy falling in love again.

The cat should really be used to that emotion he’s feeling right now, because it comes every time he gets to see Bad Kaeloo even for a second, and even -especially- when he comes out just to beat him. But every time it’s so much, it’s so many butterflies in his stomach, so many happy songs in his hears, so many warm flames dancing in his entire body, it’s so much everything that he can’t just get used to it. He fears that one day all of that will go away so he makes sure to enjoy it while it’s here.

Tonight Bad Kaeloo wears a brown suit with a white shirt underneath, and the sleeves of both are rolled up to the bottom of his forearm. There is a purple handkerchief in the left pocket of the suit jacket. Maybe there wasn’t any kidnapping planned after all, but someone was definitely trying to steal his heart. After he mentally gave himself a high five for that one he snapped out of his daydreaming and came back to reality. Bad Kaeloo is way closer now.

"You listen to me." the toad whispers. His eyes are looking all around the place, as if he doesn’t want anyone to hear what he wants to say.
"Yes, always, what?"

Mr Cat’s answer is strange but he couldn’t help it. For his defense, someone is making it very hard to concentrate. Given Bad Kaeloo’s attitude and the muffled voices he can still hear around them, Mr Cat figures that maybe all of this was some kind of date their friends organized. Which is a. super strange and b. a genius idea. The only issue he has with all of this is that neither he nor Bad Kaeloo expressed a want for this, and that he didn’t get to invite the toad in the most obnoxious way he could imagine.

"This a plan from friends." Bad Kaeloo explains, still whispering. "What we do?"
"We run away together."

The last sentence got out of Mr Cat’s mouth without him meaning to. He shakes his head then clears his throat.

"Yes." said Bad Kaeloo before the cat could say anything.
"I mean…" started Mr Cat. "What, you agree?"
"Yes, we go now."
"Wait wait!"

All the while they’ve been speaking their heads got very close because of the whispering, making Mr Cat feel a bit light-headed. A genius idea crosses his mind, making him smile from ear to ear.

"I came here thinking I was getting kidnapped."
"Yeah, that was stupid."
"What? As if you knew the plan all along!"
"Maybe I did. You have not proof."

Now is not the time for some charming and flirty banter, Mr Cat thinks as the sounds from the bushes are getting louder. He’s pretty sure he just heard a yelp from Stumpy. Bad Kaeloo rolls his eyes and places one arm behind the cat’s knees and another one on his back.

A quick motion and he’s now three feet off the ground, carried in Bad Kaeloo’s arms. This isn’t the first time that happened, and just like the first time Mr Cat is so happy with himself he’s smiling like an idiot. Bad Kaeloo is looking quite happy too.

The toad shakes his head.

"Hold tight, I have speed."
"I am never letting go, you’re trapped with me forever."
"What I have do to deserve this." Bad Kaeloo says while trying to suppress a smile.

And off they go.

Bad Kaeloo and Mr Cat are now sitting on the edge of a cliff. They’re watching the sunset, which is such a romantic cliché it feels ironic given the events of today. Their friends didn’t plan that though, the toad just happened to bring them here.

Bad Kaeloo was so surprised when he saw his friends in the bushes earlier, because that’s where he had planned to hide during the weird meeting thing, to see if anything could hurt Mr Cat.

He explained why he was in the bushes to his friends, and Pretty was so astonished because who could ever think that a pile of roses and a card could mean anything other than a romantic date. She underestimated those two, Stumpy had said before pushing Bad Kaeloo out of the bush and in the clearing.

"We have some strange friends, haven’t we?" Mr Cat says, breaking the silence.
"Yes. They nice too. But most of the time they be weird."

Mr Cat looks at Bad Kaeloo right in the eyes, which makes the toad a bit uncomfortable.

"Why you watch."
"What?" Mr Cat scoffs. "Look at you, you are so handsome tonight! Did you own that outfit all these years?"
"You say that often."
"What?"
"Handsome."
"I have every right to. But you’re right, maybe I should use something else. You look… beautiful! Lovely. So stylish and well-dressed. Also you’re-"

Mr Cat has to stop, because now Bad Kaeloo’s hand his on his mouth. He’s looking away to hide his flaming cheeks. This dumb cat and his dumb words, does he ever stop? A part of him hopes he never does.

"What, but I just started!" says Mr Cat with a pout after he removed Bad Kaeloo’s hand with his own. He tries to place his fingers between the toad’s, sadly knowing that the other will just get it out in an instant.

Bad Kaeloo is so overwhelmed with unwanted feelings right now, and the fact that he was in this state for the entire day doesn’t help. He had been on such a roller coaster of emotions all day long! He had felt hopeful. Sad. Confused. Hopeful again.

After some thought he grabs Mr Cat’s hand, but still refuses to look at him.

"So… Do you have plans for tonight?" the cat asks. So much for the obnoxious well thought-invitation.
"I had plans for this night but they canceled now." the toad answer, acting oblivious.

Bad Kaeloo’s hand is squeezed affectionately by the cat, and for some reason this is what makes his head turn around. He is met with a blushing Mr Cat whose smile easily outshines the sun.

"Do you have time for a date?" he asks. "I promise you there won’t be any flowers involved."

At this exact moment, Bad Kaeloo realizes something he should've understood way sooner. He always knew he liked Mr Cat differently than the rest of his friends.

Finally he knows that Mr Cat likes him the exact same way.