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She stared in wonder.
Water from the fraggle pond splashed into the air and a certain tall fraggle watched as the droplets landed on her canvas, causing the paint to bead and swirl. Mokey nodded with agreement as though the water had offered an idea and picked up the canvas, seemingly satisfied with the result.
Red scrambled out of the pond and shook her head back and forth so that the pond water in her hair showered nearby fraggles. "Mokey! Did you see that one?!"
"Yes, of course!" Mokey didn't look away from the canvas, "It was a magnificent splash!"
As Red began to approach the other fraggle, she found herself almost slipping on some damp moss that grew near the pond. She caught herself quickly and began to act as though it had never happened; pulling up the sleeves of her red shirt to her elbows and fixing a ribbon in her saturated hair.
She glanced at Mokey to see if she had noticed her stumble and instead caught her staring. Mokey held the canvas low and loosely in her paws as she watched the other fraggle curiously.
Red glanced around nervously, "What?"
"Could I paint you?" Mokey clutched the canvas in her paws a bit tighter as she anticipated Reds answer.
"Nah, you'd much rather paint this moss. Or something." Red kicked at the moss on the ground with a hint of revenge.
"Oh, but Red!" Mokey set aside the canvas, leaning it against a stalagmite, "I want nothing more than to paint you today! And tomorrow! Maybe even the day after, too!"
Red hesitated, trying to ignore the strange feeling that would occur whenever Mokey said something like that: something so sweet and personal. Was it personal? Red wished she didn't hope for it to be so personal because then it wouldn't hurt so bad if it turned out it was never personal at all.
Red shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, "Well, then, sure!"
"You will?"
"I said 'sure', didn't I?" Red came closer to Mokey, eyeing the canvas.
"Oh, you will!" Mokey brought a paw to her cheek with delight, "Red, this will be so much fun! I promise it won't take too long at all! Oh!" Mokey hummed to herself with thought, "Now, how about the scenery…"
"scenery?"
"For the background, silly!" Mokey clasped her paws together, "Oh, I can just imagine a portrait of you surrounded by wildflowers and wonders!"
Red rolled her eyes and grumbled, "you better not say the garden-"
"The garden!" Mokey spoke with great enthusiasm.
A fraggle holding a fresh laundry basket stopped in his tracks as he was passing by, overhearing. Boober looked from Mokey to Red then from Red to Mokey, "You two are heading for the garden? When you have no good reason to? What if you get thumped by a Gorg?!"
Red sighed dramatically as Boober began to go on and on and on about the perilous dangerous of the garden.
"We're not leaving until later today, Boober." Mokey intervened.
"That's worse!" Boober held onto the hat on his head, exasperated. "I guess if there's no stopping you, you should take my lucky-" He placed the basket on the cave floor and began searching through it, "Now, where did I put it…"
Then, another familiar voice sounded through the great hall; calling for Boober. Wembley came into view running as fast as his little green legs could take him, clutching what appeared to be some material in his paw. "You must have dropped it, Boober! Gosh, it's lucky I was coming to see you and found it on the way!"
Boober cleared his throat "Oh, uh, yes! Thank you, Wembley." He reached for what now looked to be a scarf in Wembleys paws as the green fraggle handed it over to him.
The scarf was similar to Boobers but a strange off-white instead. It appeared as though it had never been worn, at least not by Boober; but considering it came from the trash heap it had likely been worn by a stranger a long time ago. Nevertheless, it had been deeply washed and cleansed and cared for so none of that mattered to Boober.
He handed the lucky scarf to Mokey.
Many hours had passed since that moment and our two fraggles found themselves in their shared cave. They prepared for their small endeavour as the golden hour drew closer- not that either of them knew of the golden hour, of course.
Mokey gathered many of her paints and paintbrushes into a little bag that she had made herself, embroidered flutterflies and all. She then hung the bag from her shoulder and glanced at Red, noticing how she fussed over one of the ribbons in her hair.
Quickly, Mokey picked out a decently sized canvas and left it by the cave entrance before approaching the other fraggle.
Red sighed harshly, letting her paws fall from the ribbon in her hair which remained askew.
"May I?" Mokey gestured to the ribbon, almost startling Red.
Red nodded silently.
She let her shoulders relax as Mokey undid the ribbon, letting her hair fall. The artist ran her paw through the strands of Reds hair and Red couldn't help but shiver at the contact; causing the other fraggle to smile with endearment. Red waited patiently as Mokey gathered her hair in a bunch and tied it neatly with the same bow from before; only this time it sat perfect.
"There we are!" Mokey announced as she finished with Reds hair.
Red turned to watch Mokey stroll back to the cave entrance, humming a sweet tune as she picked up the canvas to carry it under her arm. Red became flustered at her own thoughts and shook her head, ignoring the warmth in her cheeks. "Oh, boy."
"C'mon!" Red began trying to play it off as she bounced out of their cave, "let's get going already!"
"I'm coming!" Mokey couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She ran into the cave to grab the lucky scarf that Boober had given them a lend of earlier and threw it over her shoulder opposite of the bag.
They walked through the caves of Fraggle Rock side by side. Sounds from the great hall bounced off of the cave walls around them as they strolled together.
Then, Reds baloobius had accidentally brushed against Mokeys. Under any regular circumstance, this would have been a normal thing to have happened; but this wasn't a regular circumstance. Reds odd feelings and thoughts that occurred around Mokey made the simple action far more significant.
The shorter fraggle looked to the other with unsure eyes. She had hoped that maybe Mokey smiled. Maybe Mokey would have liked the sudden contact. Maybe, even, would reciprocate. But she didn't. Mokey stared straight ahead, thoughts full of the garden and poems.
She hadn't even noticed.
Red let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding.
She convinced herself that maybe it was a good thing she hadn't noticed. She thought that, after all, the contact was accidental.
Red looked at the ground as she walked.
Minutes had passed since that moment. Then, there was a tiny bright light at the end of the cave.
"Here we are!" Mokey pointed to the light, "the entrance to the garden!"
Red was drawn out of her thoughts by Mokeys words as she looked to the end of the cave. "Oh! Last one there is a rock clinger!" Red ran ahead of Mokey, as fast as her legs could take her. The tiny bright light got bigger and bigger as she approached the opening, then, she stuck her head out of the burrow-like hole.
Mokey followed behind her at a quickened pace, finally reaching the other fraggle. She mirrored Reds actions, leaning on her for support as she strained to see outside.
There was not a single gorg to be seen or heard.
"Look!" Red gazed into the garden before looking at Mokey with excitement, "No gorgs!"
Mokeys eyes widened as she found what Red was saying to be true, "No gorgs! They must have some kind of important errand to attend to. Oh, Red!" She gave Reds shoulder a squeeze. "Isn't this exciting?"
Reds tail wagged wildly, "I'll race ya!"
Before Mokey could respond 'again?', Red was already climbing out of the rock and onto the outside pathway.
"Red!" Mokey called as she followed Reds actions, climbing out of the rock, "Wait for me!"
They ran together carelessly. So carelessly, in fact, that they had failed to see one of the gorgs premade traps: a trip rope with a fraggle-sized cage hanging above it.
All at once, Red tripped on the hidden rope and the gorgs fraggle trap was set into motion. Fortunately, the cage fell fast but Mokey was faster; she dropped the canvas, dashing beneath the cage and scooping up Red in her arms before evading the trap.
The cage had fallen hard with no one inside.
"Oh!" Red clinged onto Mokey, "Mokey, you saved me!"
"Well, I couldn't just let you get caught, now, could I?" Mokey began to set Red back down so that Red could stand- but Red wasn't over the moment.
The shorter fraggle firmly hugged the taller one, closing her eyes tightly.
Without hesitation, Mokey embraced her. Her arms wrapped around Red with warmth and protection as the yellow fraggle hummed with contentment.
Reluctantly, Red pulled away from Mokey; who smiled sadly as the hug ended. Red looked down with concern before lifting up her knee as if to show off the fresh injury that stained her fuzz.
"Red!" Mokey said her name with urgency, her eyes widening.
"It's okay!" Red put her knee back down, "I dunno how it even happened, I didn't feel a thing!"
"Well," Mokey took hold of Reds paw with worry, "It must of been that awful gorg trap. Oh, Red, it looks terrible!"
With haste, Mokey pulled her flutterfly bag higher on her shoulder and made sure the scarf wasn't going anywhere.
"Woah!" Red hadn't expected Mokey to lift her off of her paws again yet here she was. Mokey held her tightly to her chest as she looked around for somewhere somewhat soft for Red to rest on. "Mokey, it's okay, I promise!" but Reds words went ignored.
That's when Mokeys eyes fell on some nearby wildflowers just beyond the gorgs garden. Mokey carried Red to the bed of flowers that bloomed and sat her down amongst them, then let her bag fall from her shoulder. Immediately, she began to inspect the injury.
"You really don't have to do all this." Red tried again, straightening out the leg with the wounded knee.
"I want to, Red." Mokey looked from the knee to Red, "I want to."
Red hesitated as she stared at Mokey. She slowly nodded.
Mokey began to inspect the deep graze again. She hummed with thought, "That's no good. Red, I'll be right back in a moment!" She left Red sitting amongst the flowers as she ran towards where the gorgs castle would be; knowing there would be no gorgs there today.
Within moments, Red could hear the sound of sloshing water as Mokey returned. She held what appeared to be an oversized bottle cap filled with crystal clean water along with a clean tablecloth.
"Mokey, what's all this?" Red questioned as Mokey kneeled by her injured leg.
"It needs to be cleaned, doesn't it?"
"Oh. I guess so-"
"Now, hold still. I'm sorry in advance if this hurts."
Red placed a paw over her mouth in a failed attempt to stop herself from whimpering as Mokey cleansed the wound with the clean water. She used the tablecloth to wipe away the dried blood that unfortunately stained the fuzz on her knee, trying her best to be as gentle as physically possible.
After cleaning the injury, Mokey sat back and sighed. Red let her paw fall from her face before watching Mokey take the lucky scarf from her shoulder.
Tilting her head, Red questioned yet again, "What's with the scarf?"
"You're still-" Mokey leaned over the shorter fraggle again with the scarf in her paw, "Bleeding a little. Oh, Red, I'm so sorry this all happened. I should have never suggested the gorgs garden." She stretched out the scarf beneath Reds knee, "How foolish of me." She began to bandage Reds wound using the lucky scarf.
"Wh- Mokey!" Red huffed, "You weren't the one who set up a fraggle trap! This is all the gorgs fault." She looked around for a small rock to throw but found none as she sat completely surrounded by those same wildflowers. Her voice fell quiet, "Sorry about your scarf, Boober."
In silence, Mokey finished bandaging Reds knee with the off-white scarf. Though, she didn't pull away yet and remained leaning over the other fraggle, 'just to make sure she's okay all over', she thought, 'just a little longer to be sure'.
Red stared at the flowers. The scent. The warm breeze. She didn't notice how close Mokey had gotten.
Then, they took notice of how everything was cast in a golden hue. The golden hour, the last hour before the sun sets.
The shorter fraggle looked around them; at how beautiful the scenery was. Mokey, however, wasn't interested in how beautiful the scenery around them was. No, she was much more entranced by how Red looked in the warm glow.
She watched as Red stared at the wildflowers. The yellow fraggle reached a paw out and picked one. A pink Chrysanthemum- or was it a red Chrysanthemum? Not that Red would know the name of such a flower, of course.
Mokey continued to stare, unbeknownst to herself.
"Pretty." The artist whispered to herself.
"I know." Red stared at the flower in her paw.
Reds tail began to wave rhythmically from side to side; it's movement bringing Mokey out of her trance. She shook her head and paused before leaning away from Red.
She reached into her discarded bag and took hold of one of her recently cleaned and dried paintbrushes and sighed longingly.
"You could still paint me, y'know." Red twirled the flower in her paws.
"There's always tomorrow." Mokey lightly brushed the clean paintbrush against Reds cheek as if pretending to paint her, causing Red to scrunch her nose and smile softly.
Then, Red reached a paw up to place the Chrysanthemum in Mokeys messy hair. The taller fraggle smiled as she moved with ease to sit closely beside Red, who decided to reciprocate the gesture by resting her head on the artists shoulder.
Mokey blew at Reds pigtails that were unintentionally in her face, sighing at her failed attempt of trying to move them out of the way. Then, she decided to use her paw to flatten her hair.
Red lifted her head just enough from Mokeys shoulder to look up at her, her fiery orange and red pigtails bouncing back into place as Mokey moved her paw from her hair to the back of her neck.
Just then did it occur to them how close they were. How they could almost… Mokey found herself wanting to place a kiss on Reds cheek. Then, she found herself wanting to kiss Red all over. She wanted to, but didn't act upon it.
The way that Red stared at her with eyes full of wonder. Oh, how could she not want to?
The yellow fraggle began to inch closer with curiosity- but Mokey turned away timidly and let her paw fall away from Red.
"Mokey?" Red tilted her head, her pigtails falling to the side. Mokey continued to look away. "Mokey!"
"Yes, Red?" There was that elegant voice.
Red titled her head in the other direction as she questioned, "What is it?"
"Hm?"
"What's on your mind, Mokey? Why aren't you looking at me?"
There was a long pause before Mokey spoke up again,
"Well, you see, Red," she thought over her words carefully, "I'm… I'm afraid."
Red scrunched her nose, "Afraid? What do you have to be afraid of? There's no gorgs!" She looked around to be absolutely sure, "Yup, no gorgs."
"I'm not afraid of the gorgs, silly!" Mokey smiled to herself sadly, "When I look at you, I-" She continued to avoid eye contact, "When I look at you, I…"
Red waited for her to finish her sentence patiently, but then-
"Oh, Red, I don't know what to do!"
"It's okay, Mokey!"
But Reds reassurance went unnoticed as Mokey finally turned to hug Red tightly, hiding her bashful face in those pigtails.
"When I look at you I want to kiss you and I'm- and I'm afraid of what you'll think of- of- oh, Red, I'm so sorry." Mokey closed her eyes tightly, hiding her face further.
Oh. Red opened her mouth as if to speak but no words came. She had never considered that maybe, just maybe, Mokey might have felt the same way.
She froze. She didn't know what to do or what to say. What could she say? What was the right way to tell her that she wanted to kiss her, too?
It had all happened so fast. Red wasn't even fully thinking; she placed both paws on Mokeys shoulders and as Mokey pulled away from the hug-
Red kissed her.
Mokeys eyes opened wide with surprise before quickly becoming half lidded with realisation, then slowly closing.
With a nervous shake, Reds paws shifted from her shoulders to her neck and finally to her cheeks. They warmed her palms and the feeling offered a sense of comfort. Her tail began to move back and forth and her baloobius made contact with Mokeys, just like before.
However, this time was different:
Mokey responded to the gesture by loosely linking their tails together.
Nervously, Mokeys paw ghosted along Reds back, unsure if she should touch; but she soon found confidence as Red hummed into the kiss. She carefully rested one paw on Reds shoulder blade, the other paw on her hip- although, Red didn't take notice because of how light and gentle Mokeys movements were.
Then, Red began to lean in even more-
"Yee-owch!!" She pulled away from Mokey, looking down at the bandaged injury she had just put weight on.
Mokey blinked. She blinked multiple times.
"Awh, I'm sorry, Mokey! Stupid knee." Red huffed as she sat back, resting her head in the palm of her paw.
She pretended as though her heart wasn't racing, as though the kiss wasn't thrilling. But her heart was racing so fast she knew Mokey could tell by how her paws shook- and the kiss was so undeniably thrilling that she knew Mokey could tell by the way her tail swayed.
"I-" Mokey struggled to find the words, "Red!"
"Yeah?"
Mokey fell silent for a few moments. She looked at the flowers. "Thank you."
The yellow fraggle smiled softly, then, they both sat in silence.
There was an unspoken agreement between the two at that moment; that they both knew of each others feelings. Recognised it, accepted it, reciprocated it.
Minutes went by.
The warm hue that blanketed the garden began to darken as the sun set. The two fraggles knew they had to journey back to their cave before it got too dark.
Mokey stood with a stretch, her tail straightened out behind her. Red attempted to imitate her but whimpered as soon as she put weight on her injured leg. Mokey swung her bag on her shoulder and hoisted Red up into her arms.
The two made their way across the garden with no trouble and nothing to bother them. Neither of them spoke of the kiss.
The two had completely forgotten about the canvas that had been discarded when the gorg trap fell; seemingly too distracted with each other. Mokey let Red down for a moment so that she could enter the Rock first. Then, Mokey followed.
As soon as both of them stood once again in Fraggle Rock, Red wrapped an arm across one of Mokeys shoulders, hinting at wanting to be picked up again. With a smile, Mokey lifted her with ease.
The dimmed light of the ditzies let the creatures of the Rock know that it was late. The caves were surprisingly calm. There were no fraggles that yelled and skipped and twirled. No cheering echoed from the Great Hall. In the distance there was the call of a boulder bat.
Everyone must have burrowed in and gone to sleep.
Within minutes, they began to approach their cave.
Just as they rounded the corner, Red locked eyes on Gobo, Wembley and Boober as they waited just outside of their room. "Oh." She rolled her eyes and quickly scrambled out of Mokeys arms just in time for the other three to spot them.
"Oh, Gobo!" Mokey greeted, "Wembley, Boober!" She waved to the other fraggles, letting Red lean against her arm for support.
As the other three approached, Gobo spoke up, "These two were worrying their baloobiuses off because you were out in the garden so late." He gestured to Wembley and Boober as Wembley repeated the phrase 'worrying our baloobiuses off' to himself. "They couldn't sleep and dragged me along to wait for you."
Mokey brought her paws up to her cheeks, "That's so sweet of you!"
"More like annoying if you ask me." Red grumbled as Mokey gave her a look. "I'm just saying, there's nothing I'd like more right now than to sleep."
"Well, we've seen you and we know you're okay so we should all head home then, ey?" Gobo put his paws on his hips. He looked at Wembley who stared at Reds knee. Then, Gobo began to stare at Reds knee, too.
Wembley whined worriedly before giving in and asking about the injury, "What happened?!" He pointed to her knee.
Boober crossed his arms as he observed, recognising his scarf.
"Uhm." Red looked down at the blood stained scarf wrapped around her knee. "It's nothing."
Looking at Red with surprise, Mokey huffed, "It's not 'nothing', we almost got caught by that nasty gorg trap!"
Gasping, Boober unfolded his arms, "Caught?! Oh no, I knew I should have tried harder to stop you from going out there at such a terrible time!" He sighed heavily as he shook his head.
"Gee," Gobo interrupted, "I guess the most important thing is that you didn't get caught, isn't that right?"
Red nodded fast as Mokey was suddenly reminded of something, "Oh! My canvas! It's still in the garden!"
"Don't worry about that, Mokey." The adventurer reassured, "I'll retrieve it before I go home."
Boober let out a whimper at the thought of being out there at a time like this. Wouldn't it be dark now? Wembley affectionately gave him a gentle pat on the back.
"And- and don't worry about the scarf!" Boober remembered, "Though, you should change it for a real bandage before you sleep."
Mokey was about to agree but was interrupted by Reds obnoxious yawn, signalling to the others that she needs sleep and she needs it now.
"Oh, I can definitely sleep now knowing you two are alright!" Wembley smiled wide.
"And I can sleep now knowing these two won't keep me awake worrying about you." Gobo nodded, "You know, this reminds me of a postcard-"
"spare me." Red sighed.
With that, the group parted ways and our two fraggles entered their own cave as Gobos voice became distant while he read a postcard to Wembley and Boober.
The cave was just as somewhat silent as the rest of the rock- besides Lanfords quiet snoring.
Mokey aided Red in removing the scarf and replacing it with a new, actual bandage. Then, they both prepared for bed as they donned their nightwear.
"Do you think we'll ever do that again?" Red asked as she climbed into her hammock.
"Do what again?" Mokey questioned back.
"You know!" Red gestured towards the other fraggle and then to herself, "The kiss?!"
"Oh!" Mokey gasped with realisation, "Would you like it to happen again?"
Red pretended to think about it for a moment. "I do if you do, too."
The tall fraggle hummed in response, "I do."
Red held her breath as Mokey placed a kiss on her cheek before climbing into her own bed across from her.
She stared in wonder.