It was Monday which meant that Honey’s morning was filled with her advanced classes but after lunch she was in the classes with her friends. It was a lot of work to get all the hard work done in the morning while she was still waking up but it was the only way that she could see her friends during the afternoon. Currently they had just gotten back from eating lunch and the teacher was starting to drone on about some kind of math problem that Honey was pretty far ahead of. She was seated at a table with three of her other friends, to her left was Chloe the Dalmatian that was honestly really fun to hang out with when she wasn’t upset with her dad about something they should talk to each other about; Across from her sat their mutual friend Pretzel, he was a bit of a side friend in their early lives but after they got out of primary school he became a lot more popular but he always hung out with the girls over the boys which caused a few of the other guys to call him gay; Then the girl that sat across from Honey the object, or more so dog, that held her attraction for almost a whole year, Bluey Heeler. Honey had had crushes on both girls and boys before but those at most lasted a few weeks but with Bluey it was different, the attraction that she felt towards her had stayed for so long and only grew with each time that they hung out, be it alone or with their other friends.

	Honey had been looking at her notes but glanced up to the board in case she was asked to answer the question but after a moment she lost interest and looked to Bluey who was quickly writing down notes then looking back at the board for more. She gave a soft smile as she thought about a few things that she’d like to do to her that would be considered taboo if they did them at school. A soft blush spread across her face as her mind drifted and wandered causing her to lose her grip on reality. It wasn’t anything particularly naughty but she did imagine that they were somewhere away from the boring confining walls of their school and out in an open field where they could skip around, frolic, and even lay and look at the clouds together all with their paws intertwined to prove their love was mutual and not one sided. She was brought from her day dream after she thought about that. What if her feelings were one sided and Bluey only liked guys? She had shown quite a lot of interest in the Border Collie that was in their class and friend group but honestly who hadn’t? He was quite the looker.

	Bluey was doing her best to concentrate on the current lecture, but she’d be lying if she said she was enthusiastic about it. The Blue Heeler wasn’t a slacker; in fact, she did pretty well for herself in school, though she was far from being a wiz-kid. But math was easily one of her worst subjects. It wasn’t so bad at first, but as her schooling years went on and the difficulty level naturally advanced, the more she found that she had to work at understanding the material. And while she wasn’t the type to go so far as to bemoan something like, ‘When am I ever going to use numbers in my life?’ she would often risk losing total focus on her work because she’d start daydreaming.

	The Blue Heeler still wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do once she was done with secondary school, but she had recently been considering becoming a writer. Even as she had entered her teenage years, her imagination never ceased, nor did she ever feel like it was getting boring making up stories. It was just as fun as ever, and she sometimes wondered if she owed that to Calypso. She sighed a little, reminiscing about her days at the Glasshouse Primary School. Calypso had been such a spectacular teacher—not just to her, but to everyone else that had been in her class. The Australian Shepherd had, without a doubt, been the best teacher they’ve had. It seemed funny in hindsight, thinking about the time that Calypso had hid a typewriter from her to gently remind her that the most important thing was her imagination. But it had worked, Bluey thought. And now that her imagination was showing zero signs of fading, she had a laptop to write stories with—a modern typewriter, she liked to think of it as.

	She had been wanting to start on a new project, something bigger this time. She had mostly written short stories and vignettes up to this point, even toying with a sort of slice-of-life series that was based upon her own childhood, playing games with her parents and her younger sister. But she wanted to experiment with a longer-form story. At least a novella. But there were so many possibilities about what to make the story about. In most areas of her life, Bluey usually could take charge and make up her mind rather easily, but that was because she could fit all of the pieces around her together like a jigsaw puzzle, and everything would fall into place. But with a story? She had to make up all of the characters and everything first before she could piece everything together! It seemed that it wasn’t quite as quick and easy when you didn’t have a bunch of family or friends that were all playing along with you . . .

	Maybe she could write a romantic story? That’d be pretty new territory, on a number of levels, she thought. She had never written a romance out beyond classic fairytale fashion; star-crossed lovers, the prince rescuing the princess from the stinky, fire-breathing dragon, like how she still enjoyed imagining her Uncle Radley and Aunt Frisky. And if Bluey were to be totally honest, she was brand-new to crushes. She hadn’t had much experience with them thus far, and it was still a bit strange to her whenever she felt it. She had admittedly been wondering about Mackenzie though. Out of all of her old primary school classmates, he was the one out of the boys that she still hung out with frequently. Rusty and Jack were awesome, and she was friendly with the Terrier triplets. But Mackenzie had always been someone that she still really enjoyed having around, from the time she was a little girl to now.

	She felt a light blush form on her cheeks, and the burning soon worsened, though not because her mind had wandered to more personal thoughts about the Border Collie, but because she caught herself going there in the first place. If she didn’t pay attention to this lecture, there was no way she was gonna be able to do her homework—

	She looked towards the teacher and tuned back into his lecture. She listened to it for a few seconds before she sighed and hung her head. Nah. She was already lost. Damn it. Why was she like this? She’d have to pray she was able to intuit everything from the textbook.

	She looked back up and glanced across from her at Honey. She noticed that the Beagle seemed to be staring at her. Tilting her head quizzically, she asked plainly, “Hey, everything okay, Honey?”

	Bluey’s voice rang in Honey’s ears but it didn’t bring her from her daydream at first. They were sitting against a tree now looking out over a flowing meadow when Honey’s mind caused Bluey to ask her a question which caused the daydream to slowly fade out. Her eyes looked around for a few seconds to get her bearings as she had been completely lost. Bluey was looking at her and she felt like maybe Bluey was trying to peer right into the dream to see what was going on inside her head. She averted her eyes quickly to her notebook as she felt her cheeks burning as well as if a thousand eyes were on her. 

	She was beginning to feel slightly anxious about the fact that she had brought so much attention to herself by accidentally staring at Bluey while she daydreamed about her. She took a deep breath in and then let it out slowly which helped calm her slowly. She needed to get a grip so that she could avoid too much awkwardness between them. She looked back up with a fading flush and gave a nod before whispering. “Yeah everything is… just great.” Maybe coming to this class was a mistake, but then she wouldn’t really see Bluey aside from outside of class. 

	Honey’s paw gently fiddled with the blank papers that were meant for the notes that she was supposed to be taking but she had several notebooks full of information pertaining to this so she didn’t need to. She looked to the teached and then back to Bluey before looking down at her current blank page and scribbled a note to Bluey. She knew that she could text her later but this way she could lock it in. “Would you like to hang out after school? I can help you learn the lesson if you need me to.” 

	She pulled the piece of paper out as quietly as possible before sliding it over the table to her. Her mind was filled with hope that she would agree and that she didn’t have any plans already. Damn it she should have thought about that beforehand, now she might look stupid if she was upset because she couldn’t have her way. It was too late now as the paper was already on Bluey’s side of the table and she might look really weird if she snatched it back before she could read it all. 

	Bluey eyed the piece of paper with curiosity, her ears perking up as she pulled it fully towards her and read it. She blinked once. Twice. And she then took her pencil and scribbled down a response before passing it back towards Honey, giving her a smile. “Sure, I’d love to! Honestly, I could actually use that help . . . this lesson is confusing me.”

	Honey read the paper but gave no reaction as she was thinking of what she should respond on the paper with. After a few minutes of thinking and also a few minutes close towards the end of class she replied on the paper. “Alright cool. Would you like to meet at your house or at mine? I don’t think my parents will be home so they shouldn’t interrupt too much. Math is harder to learn with distractions.” She smiled to Bluey as she passed the paper back while trying to hold in a snicker since she didn’t want trouble from the teacher. Getting kicked from this class would mean that she wouldn’t be able to hang out with Bluey except for at lunch and outside of school. 

	Bluey read the new message and considered her answer before passing back her decision with another smile. “If your place is gonna be quiet, that’d be great! My mum and my Aunt Trixie are probably going to be hanging out after playing hockey together and they usually invite a friend or two over as well, and they all have drinks.”

Honey took the note and stuck it into one of the areas she kept papers that had fallen out and couldn't be put back in. She turned her attention back to the teacher as he was droning on about the final bit of the lesson he had been teaching. Honey didn't care about what he was saying as her mind was only on Bluey and hanging out with her. 

	She was so focused on what she would do with Bluey when she got done tutoring her that she didn’t hear the bell ring or the scraping of chairs being pushed back and pawsteps receding from the room until Bluey gently shook her arm. Honey was brought back to reality with the teacher waiting at the door ready to close it and Bluey next to her helping her out of her day dream. She collected her things in an embarrassed rush before heading out of the door leaving Bluey behind so that she could get home and try to fix herself before Bluey came over.

	Honey drove home quite quickly compared to what she normally did, arriving home in 8 minutes to the normal 15. She rushed inside her empty house and shivered as she always felt strange when she was in her house alone but this time she was more focused on getting everything set up to help Bluey when she came over… if she came over, she had left Bluey in the classroom when she rushed out so maybe she thought that the plans were off. She decided that she’d send her a quick text to check. “Hey sorry about earlier. Had a lot on my mind. Did you still wanna come over?”

	A minute later, Honey got a text back. “Oh, yeah! I’m totally still up for hanging out and studying! I was gonna text you soon to confirm that. I just need to drive Bingo home and drop her off, then I’ll be over. See you in . . . 30, 45 minutes?”

	Honey was relieved to see that she still wished to hang out. She rushed into her room and cleared some of the rubbish away that she had yet to do. She wasn’t always messy but something about the last couple of days was causing her trouble to do what she needed. After she was satisfied with that she scanned through all her notebooks until she came to the math of what Bluey and the rest of their friends were doing. 

	She pulled it from her shelf, creating some slack for the other notebooks, and opened it to the lesson that the teacher had been talking about. Honey’s handwriting was beautiful and cursive with easy flows between words, she hoped that Bluey could read it. The way that Honey learned was by putting little notes in the columns of the papers so there were plenty of extra little things that would hopefully make it easier for Bluey.

	About 15 minutes later, Bluey sent a text saying that she dropped Bingo off at their home and that she was now on her way. Another 25 minutes later, there was a knock on the front door and Honey opened it to find the familiar blue Heeler on her doorstep.

“Hey, Honey!” Bluey said with a grin. “Thanks for having me over, it’s been a while since we’ve really gotten to hang out!” 

Honey was quick to answer the door and once Bluey greeted her Honey greeted back. “Hey, Bluey! It really has been awhile but we’re really only hanging out to get you to learn math. I hope it isn’t too boring.” Honey grabbed her paw and pulled her inside before shutting the door and leading her towards her room.

Honey’s room was quite barren when it came to toys and such but she did have quite a lot of books on her shelves and notebooks around where she could put them. She organized them by color for each different subject then they also had a label in the center of the spine for each different grade of each subject. “Ok please don’t think I’m crazy for it but this is how I sort all of my material. The one you’ll need I already pulled out and sat on the bed.”

Bluey took a few moments to admire Honey’s impressive collection of books and notebooks. “Wow, I had no idea you had this many books . . .” She grinned. “That’s definitely on-brand for you though, Honey, this is amazing! You’re so smart, I’m bound to learn something . . . hopefully, haha.”

“Well I would hope that you would learn something otherwise I wouldn’t make a very good teacher.” Honey didn’t really reveal what her plans for the future were because she had a few different ideas that she couldn’t pick through just yet but with college approaching quickly she felt she needed to figure it out rather quickly. 

	“So the notebook has a few notes in the margins that should help you figure out what it is you’re trying to learn.” Honey flipped open the notebook for her to the section that she had looked at before to make sure she had the notes still. Honey felt a bit excited at the fact that she would be able to practice teaching to see if she liked it.

Bluey went and sat down on the bed and started looking over Honey’s notes, scanning over the footnotes in the margins to see if she could understand what was being taught.

“Okay, see, this I managed to gather,” she said after a minute of looking, pointing to a particular bullet point. “But what I don’t get is how you get from here to here. Could you explain that to me?”

“I can give it my best shot.” She started out slowly explaining the basics of the lesson before going slightly more in depth to explain a bit more. She didn’t want to go too fast so she focused on one bit at a time so that she could grasp it. 

As Honey was speaking, Bluey took out their homework from her book bag and tried doing the first problem on it as they went. Her face scrunched up a bit in concentration as she looked back and forth between Honey’s notes and her homework, while trying to listen to Honey verbally explain how to do the method to get the answer. Her tongue poked out of the side of her mouth a little—a sign that she was really thinking.

Eventually, she handed her homework sheet to Honey. “I think I did the first problem? Is this right?”

	Honey’s tail wagged while she looked over the answer, Bluey looked as if she was starting to understand the problem though the first ones were always the easier, a warm up per say. She passed the page back to Bluey with a nod. “Yes, that was done perfectly, Bluey. Do you think you need to be taught again or are you starting to grasp the first concept?”

Bluey perked up at hearing that she had done things correctly. “Really? Oh thank goodness, I was worried I had gotten it wrong. You’re being such a great help, Honey, thank you! Do you . . . think you could keep going over things with me though? I just want to make sure I’m actually understanding this stuff . . .”

	“Yeah Bluey of course I can keep going over it with you. I asked you over mainly to help you learn the lesson. You’ve always been really good at math, you just didn’t know it. Honestly if you’d like to, you can borrow that notebook there and any others you might need. I just need you to make sure you keep them safe if you do.”

“I might take you up on that offer, thanks, Honey. And I’d promise to keep all of your notebooks very safe. They’re like gold, because I actually understand them, haha.”

Bluey continued to slowly go over her homework questions as she referenced the notes. “I appreciate the vote of confidence with the math, but I mean, c’mon, you’ve always been the smartest out of us. Just look at all of the notebooks you have! I’ve never met someone with a collection this impressive. Sometimes I wonder why you even bother coming to class, you know all of the material already.”

Honey laughed as Bluey called her notes gold. She took pride in it since she wanted to teach kids but she also wanted to be an archaeologist. As she listened to how she was talking about her Honey blushed then blushed even harder once she mentioned that she came to her class. She wanted to hold off on telling Bluey honestly she wanted to keep it to herself forever to avoid the awkwardness it might cause them.

	“H-haha yeah. Would you um like some water?” Honey was starting to feel nervous. She was not a great liar by any means and if Bluey figured out she was nervous she doubted that she could avoid telling her what it was.

Perhaps to her relief, the Heeler didn’t seem to notice just yet as she was still trying to focus on her math assignment. “Water would be great, thanks!” she chirped.

	Honey walked out of the room and into the kitchen. They always had water bottles so Honey didn’t have to worry about dropping and breaking a glass in her nerve wracked state. It was much harder to be around Bluey when they were alone but Honey couldn’t act weird. She grabbed two bottles and walked back into her room and handed over one of the bottles to Bluey. “Here you go, right from the fridge. How is your work coming?”

“I’m making good progress thanks to you!” Bluey replied, smiling at her. She accepted the bottle and took a big swig from it. “Ah, I needed that, thank you!”

She chuckled. “Man, a great teacher, and a great host. Can you even get any better?”

	Honey couldn’t think of what to say. It was as if her mind was taking everything that Bluey said as a flirt and it was gonna make Honey explode with embarrassment. “Hey um Bluey have you ever had a crush on someone?” She felt naive asking it cause everyone figured that she and Mackenzie liked each other but it wasn’t really ever confirmed.

Bluey blinked. That question had caught her a little off-guard, and one of her ears sort of tick-tocked back and forth as she debated how to answer the question. She absentmindedly tapped her pencil on her sheet of homework.

“I’m . . . pretty new to that, to be honest,” she replied slowly. There were hints of uncertainty and embarrassment in her tone. “It hasn’t happened very often, and I don’t know how to feel about them . . . like, I think two years ago was my first real one, when I ran into Jean-Luc again after we first met as kids, and found out his family had returned to Australia. But, after spending quite some time hanging out with him and really thinking about my feelings, I grew to feel like we were better as friends, and we’re now just really good friends.”

She sighed, her hand continuing to tap her pencil. “I think I‘ve grown a crush on Mackenzie, but I haven’t talked to him about it at all yet . . . I’m not sure how he’d react . . . we’ve been friends for so long, we’ve known each other since we were babies because our parents were all close friends.”

Honey listened intently to everything that Bluey had to say about her crushes. She had no real idea who Jean-Luc was but she did know all about Mackenzie. Honey gave a soft smile and giggled. It was true then that they were more likely to end up together than her and Bluey being together. 

She took a sip from her water and opened up the window to allow the soft breeze to flow in which gently blew her fur backwards towards Bluey and also dried the few tears that had formed in her eyes. "You know what's funny Bluey, it seems like almost every girl in our class likes Mackenzie. If you're going to talk to him about it you should probably do it sooner rather than later."

Honey didn't know why she felt the need to push Bluey towards Mackenzie but she felt in her heart it was the right thing to help her crush along even if it meant that she'd lose out on her.

Bluey seemed a bit taken aback by those words. “You . . . you really think so, Honey?” she asked slowly. As much confidence as the blue Heeler projected in most areas of her life, here, she seemed genuinely unsure. “I mean . . . yeah . . . everyone seems like they’re crushing on Mackenzie. That’s part of what makes it feel so weird, I guess . . . trying to compete with all the other girls. Mackenzie is one of my best and oldest friends . . . that feels so weird. Or like . . . is it? How do you feel about falling in love with long-time friends?”

Honey gave a groan before sipping from her water to give her a moment. She wondered if she should make a coy remark but instead she sat with Bluey as she looked over her notes. “It really sucks, all the things you said apply to it for me too. The dog I like has plenty of potential suitors. I would like to tell them but if our friendship crumbled because of it I’d be devastated.” She took another sip to calm her nerves slightly. She felt like it was about time she stopped beating around the bush.

The tapping of Bluey’s pencil on her homework kept its steady rhythm, almost like the ticking of a clock. “See . . . that’s what I’m worried about . . . I want to say something, but I’m nervous . . . I’ve never done this before. It’s hard to describe what I’m even feeling . . .”

Bluey looked at Honey, her eyes scanning her, searching, as if looking for yet another answer. Honey had always been such a great, knowledgeable friend. “I feel bad. For you, I mean . . . I didn’t know you were crushing on a friend, too.”

	“Crushing on a friend, crushing on a friend.” Honey wanted to cry as she felt like if she revealed her secret now she’d lose Bluey but the way that she was talking a moment ago caused a ray of hope inside her. She could tell her and Bluey would most likely still want to be her friend. She would have to face it sooner or later and now she was leaning towards sooner. 

	“Bluey I feel like I have to tell you a secret. I dunno how you’ll feel about it though.” She looked at Bluey, locking eyes with her, and let her words fall from her mouth in a quick jumble. “You’retheoneI’mcrushingon.” Honey felt a bit relieved even if she had jumbled it all together and it made her feel like if she was asked to repeat herself she’d probably be able to.

The tapping stopped. Bluey blinked once and her eyes then widened a little, her head moving back in surprise, her ears perked up and alert. She could feel a heat coming from her cheeks and she was pretty sure the blush that was forming would become visible through her fur. 

It was only a few seconds of silence, but it likely felt much, much longer than that. After what seemed like an eternity though, Bluey managed to find her voice and asked in a quiet and hushed tone, “You . . . it’s me? I’m the one you’re crushing on, Honey?”

Honey had hoped that she hadn't heard her and she could repeat it again to calm her a bit more but now the cat was out of the bag. Her cheeks flushed crimson showing clearly through her white fur as she nodded finally having revealed her crush it was time to deal with the consequences; Be it losing her friend, making their friendship a little awkward, or possibly dating.

Honey's heart fluttered as she turned away and backed up a little to the wall where she brought her legs to her chest as she did when she was a kid and wanted to not be in an embarrassing or sad situation. "I-I have for about a year now…" Honey knew exactly how long she had the crush because she remembered the first time that she felt the flutter in her heart when Bluey helped her out when she was freaking out over a hard test she was afraid she'd failed. "I understand if you wanna leave now." 

Honey's eyes felt a little heavy like a dam holding back water that was about to overflow but she held back the tears not wanting to waver how bluey felt in the slightest. She was ready to deal with the consequences.

Bluey could feel her heart start to beat a little faster. Her voice seemed to catch in her throat for a moment because she wasn’t sure what she ought to say. This had caught her by total surprise . . . she had no idea that Honey had felt this way about her. For a whole year? Surely there was no way . . . right? That long? Truth be told, she really didn’t know how to respond to Honey’s words, because she wasn’t used to anybody telling her that they liked her as more than a friend.

However, Bluey could at least tell that Honey was now feeling apprehensive over having finally told her how she felt, and it was then that Honey’s last words registered in her head.

“I don’t want to leave, Honey,” Bluey said. Her ears dipped down momentarily as she tapped her pencil once, a beat to give her more forward momentum. “I’m just . . . surprised . . . I guess. I had no idea . . . you were crushing on me for that long?”

“I worked hard to hide it. I didn’t want you repulsed by your friend being gay and gay for you on top of it. It was why I preferred hanging out with you so much and it’s also the reason that I’m still in that math class with you. Truth be told I probably would still have wanted to hang out with you but I would have been more sociable.” She smiled at Bluey softly as she was beginning to calm down as she wasn’t repulsed by the idea of having a gay friend. “You can uh… You can take some time to get used to the information. I get that it’s strange.”

	Honey took a chance and looked over Bluey's work, surprised at how much her notes had really helped her. “Whoa… If you need any more of my notes you can borrow them too. If they’re this helpful I wouldn’t wanna keep 'em to myself…” It was clear that she was trying to clear the air so that maybe it wouldn’t end up awkward.

Bluey put her hand on top of Honey’s that was holding on to her homework. “Thank you, Honey. But you don’t have to feel like you’ve made this too awkward.” She gave her a small, warm smile. “I could never hate you. I don’t have any problems with you being gay, not one. You’re my friend and I care about you, and you’ve always been super helpful–and smart, too! I’m . . . if anything, I’m flattered that you held yourself back while still attending all of those classes when you didn’t have to, just to spend more time with me . . . I don’t know what to say.”

“Y-You don’t have to say anything right now…” Honey quite enjoyed the feeling of Bluey’s paw on her own, it made her heart flutter and her mind get a little wonky. “It was easy not telling you really since I felt that if anything we’d always be really close friends. The hard part was just then when I gave you my secret.” For a moment Honey went silent before staring right into her eyes and speaking. “If you wanna try pursuing Mackenzie still first then I’m all for you and I’ll stand behind you by that decision. It might be a big crush but if I have to get over it I will.” Honey felt suddenly as if the whole weight of the secret had been lifted from her shoulders and honestly she felt free from it. If Bluey liked her back then great, if she didn’t then she’d get over it and move on even if it took her a year like the crush she had.

Bluey felt conflicted. It was true that she had feelings for Mackenzie, and it was also true that she hadn’t considered Honey as more than a friend before. But Honey had always been a kind and supportive friend, just like all of her close friends from primary school. A part of her felt pressure to give her friend a chance, but she also felt that Honey wouldn’t approve of her trying to force something for her sake, especially if it seemed like she was going to try dating her just because of their history of being good friends. This was perhaps the only awkward part. And it sucked, because she just lacked any amount of experience in this area. Which wouldn’t be much of a problem for someone like her except that the happiness of her friends was being affected by it, and that was something that she really didn’t enjoy.

After wrestling with herself for a bit longer, the blue Heeler felt that she at least ought to do something, because at the end of the day, Honey was important to her and she deserved to know that no matter what, there was going to be absolutely no hard feelings from her. She pulled Honey into a very tight hug and held her close. “Thank you, Honey. I’m really, really glad that I have you. I admit . . . I admit that I’m surprised . . . and I’m not sure what to say . . . but I’m really happy that you told me.”

Honey gave a soft squeak as she was suddenly pulled into a hug though after a second she hugged back. Bluey was warm and it caused her to blush slightly more but she just focused on the moment. It was sweet of Bluey to do it. “It’s really no big deal, Bluey. It really had to come out sooner or later and since we were on the topic of crushes it came up.” She gave a shrug as she pulled from the hug and sat looking at her friend. “You go ahead and finish your homework Bluey I need another bottle of water.” She held up her almost finished one as she stood. “Would you like another as well?”

Bluey gave a grateful smile and a simple nod. “Yeah, that would be great, Honey, thanks. I really appreciate it.”

	Honey walked from the room and into the kitchen. She felt calm for some reason that was until she wondered what would honestly happen and then she looked out the window. The weather was beginning to turn sour. “Hey Bluey I don’t mind having you over but unless you wanna stay the night I think that it’s about time you went home. It’s about to begin storming.” Honey grabbed another two water bottles from her fridge as she walked towards her room to give Bluey her water bottle.

As Honey came back into the room, Bluey was seen on her phone, checking her weather app. She frowned, her ears dropping a little. “Aww, I was hoping that the rain wouldn’t start for another few hours . . .” She looked at Honey. “I was having a really great time. I’m almost done with my math homework already, all thanks to your really good notes.”

	Honey’s tail wagged a bit behind her as she felt prideful of the help she’d given but she tried playing it off while fiddling with her fingers. “It’s no problem at Bluey. I would rather you took the notes with you so that you’re not forced to stay here since I don’t have much to do besides watch tv.” Honey held out the bottle of water to Bluey. “It was fun hanging out with you too, Bluey.”

Bluey accepted the new water bottle from her and took a sip, looking from her homework, to the notes, to Honey. After thinking in silence for a bit, she asked with perhaps a touch of hesitation, “Well . . . if you weren’t planning on doing much . . . would you . . . want me to stay the night?” She then added more quickly, “Like, only if it’d be okay with your parents–and you, of course!”

Honey’s heart fluttered and a blush spread over her cheeks as she looked at Bluey. Was this all because she now knew that Honey liked her or was it because she really wanted to stay over. She put her paw on her arm and looked at her bed that was decent sized but she was used to taking up the whole thing. “I-I wouldn’t mind Bluey… Are you really sure that you’d wanna? I don’t want you to be bored to death.” 

	Honey pulled her phone from her pocket and sent a text to her mother, if it all worked out she would love to have Bluey stay the night and she figured that she could allow her to take the bed and honey would sleep on the couch. “I asked my mum so…” Honey then walked into her room and stood in front of the open window feeling the breeze turn into a weak wind that swept her fur backwards. “You should ask your parents if it’s ok as well.”

“R-Right,” Bluey replied, quickly shooting her mum a text asking if she could spend the night at Honey’s. A minute later, her mum replied, and Bluey smiled. “Yeah. Mum says it’s okay with her . . . she even says that she has a shift tomorrow morning at the airport, so she’ll drop Bingo off at school so I don’t have to get up extra early to go and fetch her.”

The blue Heeler would be lying if she wasn’t the slightest bit nervous in doing this, but it had been a combination of several things. Firstly, honestly, she felt bad that Honey always seemed to regard herself as boring or uninteresting, because that just wasn’t true, not to Bluey, anyway. She might not be nearly as academic and brainy as Honey was, but that was actually what Bluey appreciated about her. It was nice to have a good friend who could understand all of the school work and would help out whenever needed. And because of her studious nature, Honey was also naturally a very curious person, which Bluey could readily identify with, being a very curious person in her own right. And that desire to explore and learn about the world around her was a quality that Bluey admired.

Secondly, why yes, Bluey was genuinely thinking about what Honey had said, about how she had been crushing on her for almost a year. Bluey had just . . . not noticed. Which, if she were being entirely honest, she was a bit disappointed in herself for not catching. She may not be quite as emotionally-sensitive as her sister Bingo, for example, but Bluey was usually very aware of the world around her and she would’ve liked to have thought that she’d be aware enough to know if someone was having a crush on her. Then again . . . maybe it was because she had only really recently started developing them herself. Would she be considered a late-bloomer in that regard? She wasn’t sure. It sure felt like she was, given most of her friends started talking about crushes years ago, some even before they had finished primary school. Maybe her lack of personal experience made her blind to the signs? Ugh . . . great. Now she was starting to overthink things, that was no good . . .

	Bluey shook her head once to try and clear it and tried to latch onto something different that wasn’t trying to self-analyze the history of development of her sense of romance. “Did your mum say it was okay for me to spend the night, Honey?”

Honey checked her phone and nodded before the first few droplets of rain fell onto her phone. She sighed and sat against the wall while looking at her friend sitting across the room with her notebook and homework sitting before her mostly filled out. Honey felt bad that Bluey hadn’t gone home because she had no real idea what she would do to entertain her. Her mind went over everything that was possible for them to do. She had tons of books and tv but besides that there were very few toys that Honey had. A doll here or a puzzle cube there and then she thought about it.

	She opened her phone and searched something up before looking up at Bluey with a little bit of a cheeky smile. She had a game and she had a partner to play it with so she figured that this would be a great way to break the ice between them that was mostly caused by Honey worrying so much. “Alright Bluey, I think we should play truth or dare. Just to pass the time until we get bored. Oh also um I think you can sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

	Bluey’s ears perked up at catching words about playing a game and she grinned, before quickly reverting back to a frown as she heard the rest of Honey’s sentence. She cocked her head a little to the side. “Wait. You want me to sleep in your bed? How’s that fair? It’s your room and your house, Honey . . . that doesn’t feel right to me . . .”

"I-I… I didn't wanna have you sleep on the couch and since I just confessed that I've been crushing on you I thought it'd be awkward if I offered for you to sleep up there with me…" Honey was starting to feel her nervousness bubbling up but she was doing everything she could to not lock up. 

Bluey rubbed the back of her neck. “I guess I understand what you’re saying . . . but I’d still feel bad taking your bed.” Her voice trailed off at the end as she tried to think of an alternative solution, or a compromise. 

A laugh escaped her as a silly thought entered her head, and she said it aloud as a half-joke, “We could both be on the bed with a line of pillows between us.”

	Honey gave a soft smile at what she assumed to just be a joke. She gave a sigh and shrugged at it. She wanted so badly to be nuzzled up to Bluey, her head nuzzled against her neck fur and their arms around each other. Honey felt her mind begin to drift to more risque ideas but she stopped that after she felt her cheeks warm again. 

	“A small wall of pillows wouldn’t be that bad. Yeah ok we can do that.” The raid outside had picked up which made Honey sigh softly as she stood up and closed her window, now deciding to look out the window while sitting on the window seal. Honey fell into a thought of the future that wasn’t so abnormal but what wasn’t normal for her was trying to think of the future with someone else beside her.

	Thoughts of what kind of house the heeler and beagle might get, would they adopt or possibly try another way for a kid… Honey let out a loud yelp as she heard a boom from outside. She jumped up with all her fur standing up while she slightly shook and her eyes went wide. She was filled with dread as one of her biggest fears came to sight as the sky outside flashed with brilliant lightning and then another boom which caused a whimper to escape from Honey’s mouth.

	A few seconds later, she felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her and a warm form against her back. Bluey hugged her from behind. She recalled the first time she learned how stressed Honey got during storms. It had been back in primary school, in Calypso’s class, and a massive thunderstorm had come rolling in. Honey had gone to hide inside of a blanket fort that several of the students had built, and Bluey had climbed in after her. That had also influenced her decision to ask if she could spend the night.

	“I remember how you get during storms,” Bluey said softly to her.

Honey felt less worried with Bluey's arms around her but it was still very frightening. She gulped and turned around to give her friend a hug before pulling back. "I-I think I'm just going to lay down… is that ok?" 

She wanted Bluey to stay and honestly she kinda needed it knowing it'd be more difficult with the storm going on. 

	“Of course, Honey,” Bluey replied immediately, going over with her to the bed and sitting down together. She wanted to try and keep Honey’s mind preoccupied so she wouldn’t think too much about the storm. After some quick thinking she opened her bookbag and took out some more of her homework.

	“Hey . . . uh, I was wondering if you might be able to give me some tips to help me with some of the other assignments I need to get done today. I felt like I was doing good in Science until the last part of the lecture and now I’m not so sure . . .”

She was about to respond to the question about homework but was cut off by another loud boom bringing her back to the storm. She clung to Bluey holding tightly as if to not let the loud sounds take her. At this rate she'd be up all night whimpering and that would cause her a few problems. 

	Bluey didn’t hesitate in hugging Honey back and holding her closely, gently stroking her back. It brought back a lot of memories of when they had been in that blanket fort as kids, honestly. Bluey recalled doing much the same thing.

	“You’re okay, Honey,” she said gently, her tone soft and soothing, trying to embody the sweet and calming nature of Calypso. “You’re not alone.”

	Bluey hugging her and speaking softly helped her. She breathed softly before pulling away from Bluey. “I’m sorry I have a little kids fear Bluey… Could you please stay with me for the night? I know it might be strange but it would help immensely if you held me while we slept.” 

	Honey felt a bit bad asking something from her like that but honestly what else was she to do? Her sleeping pills would cause her to stay asleep well into her first class and she couldn’t afford something like that this close to the end of her senior year.

	Bluey could feel her heart start to beat a little faster as she registered what Honey was asking of her. Okay, okay . . . yes, she had wanted to spend more time with Honey to try and understand more about her crush on her. Yes, she wanted to help comfort Honey about the storm, and she was comfortable with giving her a hug and telling her everything was going to be okay. But lying in a bed together and holding onto each other throughout the night . . . mmm. This might have been more than she bargained for.

	Obviously, this situation was entirely alien to her. Boy or girl, she had never gotten this close to them, to be with them on a bed, holding each other. Did . . . did this count as sleeping with someone? Like, no, not sleeping with someone, goodness . . . but . . . you are still being intimate with them, and Honey did acknowledge she had feelings for her, and while knowing this she did ask her to spend the night holding her to help her sleep . . .

	Okay, okay . . . get a grip, Bluey. This overthinking is going to start being the death of you real quick if you don’t stop.

	Despite the fact that she could feel an anxious tingle travel through her fur as she did so, she put on a sweet smile for Honey and replied, “Sure, Honey. I’ll do my best.”

	Honey felt a tinge of warmth in her heart as a relief washed over her. Bluey was ok with holding her while the storm raged on outside. Honey brought her legs up onto the bed and looked at Bluey as she scooted back onto her bed a bit further. “T-thank you, I’m sorry I have to ask it of you…” Honey didn’t exactly feel right about the situation, slightly feeling like she was going to push bluey away with how she was acting but the thunder caused her ears to ring and her fur to stand on end.

	She wasn’t sure where the fear had risen from as she had always remembered hearing thunder and going and hiding or cuddling up with someone. She hated herself for having a fear of something that was just a loud sound but sometimes it was so bad it made her tear up and cry. Bluey was helping her cause they were friends not because she had confessed her feelings, right? Honey was beginning to over think herself when she heard a much louder crackle ring out. 

	Her breathing hitched as her eyes went wide and she yelped. She curled up on the bed while she threw her blanket over herself. Her heart was racing much faster than before and she began to shake with her fur standing on end. It was going to be a long night if she didn’t fall asleep soon.

	Bluey felt a twang of pain seeing Honey react so badly to the storm. In that regard, they were opposites. Bluey especially liked the rain, she used to frequently go and play outside during rainstorms. She recalled a time when she had practically been at war with her mum, trying to go back-and-forth between the outside and into the house to fetch things to aid her in building a makeshift little dam in her driveway to stop the water rolling down it. She had been . . . seven years old? Her mum, despite obviously being frustrated and exasperated over the huge mess she had constantly been making,  had eventually come to help her, and there had been a double rainbow that formed after the storm settled. The memory of looking up into the sky that day with her mum by her side was one of the best memories she carried. 

	But Honey? The poor Beagle was shivering and was almost crying. Bluey felt so bad for her. The Heeler was aware of the certain degree of awkwardness that this situation presented, but frankly, her desire for Honey (who regardless was still a good friend) to not feel frightened and alone at a time like this trumped that awkwardness. She put all of her school things down and then shifted herself so she was next to Honey. She positioned herself so she was to Honey’s back, and she wrapped her arms around her, reaching to Honey’s hands with her own and gently taking hold of them, and she pulled Honey close.

	Honey settled down slowly, her shaking slowly dying to slight shivers every now and again. Her whimpering calmed down quite a bit over the time it took her eyes to begin shutting but they were still there sometimes. Her heart was conflicted on if she should ever bring this up again or if she should just let it rest in her memories forever. It mattered only slightly at the moment due to her mind clearing and her body slowly going limp. “T-Thank you. I will always consider you my best friend.” 

	Honey didn’t last another second after the words escaped her mouth before she shut down and began resting. She was quiet and still while she held Bluey’s paws loosely in her sleep. She still shivered slightly but that was only due to the chill in the air from the ac having kicked on. 

	Honey didn’t dream often when she was asleep and when she did she only really recalled bits and pieces but this time with her heart swelled with love and admiration for her friends act she dreamt quite well. She was on a horse wearing a dress riding away from a few marauders, who looked awfully similar to the terriers, who had taken her castle and meant to capture her. She felt hopeless as she rode on now wanting to be taken prisoner when she heard something loud. Another set of hoof fall though this one was far louder. It boomed towards her but instead of fear she was filled with hope as she recognized it for some reason.

	From a nearby forest galloped a large pegasus with its horn shining and its wings folded to its sides. On its back was Bluey in a set of silver armour with a sword drawn that shined a blue glare off it. She rode towards the terriers who fled in fear at the magnificent beast and the heeler atop it. “Dear princess are you alright? I received a letter that your castle was getting invaded and I rushed to help. I regretfully was too late to save your castle but you and your people are safe!” 

	Honey climbed from the horse she had been on and looked up at Bluey with stars in her eyes and admiration oozing from her. “Oh Legendary Knight Bluey! You saved me! How can I repay you?!” Bluey petted the pegasus's neck which caused it to lower her down and she hopped off creating a small dust cloud that passed over Honey’s bare feet. “Dear Princess, all I ask for in return is a simple kiss.” 

	Honey blushed within the dream and stuttered as she stepped backwards before falling over. Once she hit the ground she jumped up slightly in the bed.

	Honey felt a gentle squeeze of her hand. Bluey was also awake. “Are you okay, Honey? You were saying something in your sleep . . .”

	Honey huffed and panted. She felt warm and sweaty as she perked her ears up at the sound of the rain hitting the window. She looked towards it and saw the black sky before breathing a sigh of worry. “I-I’m fine. I need to go to the dunny but how long was I out for?” 

	“Several hours, you were doing good,” Bluey replied as she blearily looked at the always-on display of her phone for the time, pausing for a few moments to yawn. Her voice was laced with drowsiness. “You had started whimpering around recently though . . . were you having a bad dream?”

	“N-No I had a really good dream.” She got up and smiled at Bluey before putting her paw on the wall and slowly walking herself to the bathroom. It wasn’t long before she returned though and looked at Bluey to see if she was still awake. Her heart was pounding, her skin was sweaty and she’d definitely have to take a shower in the morning but she couldn’t get the words out of her head “all I ask for in return is a simple kiss.” 

	She panicked in her dream and woke Bluey up and now she couldn’t stop thinking about what might have happened if she didn’t.

	Bluey’s chest rose and fell in a slow, steady beat. The Heeler had fallen back asleep in the time it took for Honey to return.

	Honey rubbed her eyes and smiled. She now realized she didn’t have her glasses but it didn’t really matter she was used to the house so she hugged the wall until she got to the couch and curled up on it. She heard some thunder crackle a little ways away but she didn’t react with anything but a smile as she pulled one of the pillows into place and laid her head down on it and fell back asleep.

***

	Bluey reached out, and reached out some more. It was when she realized she was reaching out to nothing but air that she opened her eyes and awoke. She propped herself up on her arm and groggily looked around. Honey wasn’t in the bed with her any longer. A yawn wide and long escaped her as her mind continued to come into focus.

	It was morning, judging by the early sunlight that was creeping in through the window. Bluey checked her phone which told her that it was a few hours until school was supposed to start. Perfect, she wouldn’t have to rush . . . hopefully. But where was Honey?

	Almost as if in answer to her thought, there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. Several seconds later, it slowly opened to reveal Honey’s dad, Marcus.

	“Ah, you’re awake,” he said quietly with a small smile. “Good morning, Bluey, did you sleep well?”

	Bluey returned the smile. “Morning, Mr. Beagle. Yes, I slept very well, thanks. Where’s Honey?”

	Marcus chuckled. “She’s still passed out on the couch in the living room.”

	Bluey’s smile turned into a frown. “Aww, I feel bad, I didn’t mean to just take her bed like that . . . we had agreed to share it.”

	“I believe I heard her get up sometime in the middle of night. Maybe it was because of the storm. And she didn’t want to risk disturbing you when she got back.”

	Seeing Bluey continue to frown and guiltily rub her arm made Marcus smile more warmly and add, “Don’t you worry yourself, Bluey. You’ve always been such a great friend to Honey. She talks about you the most out of all of her friends.”

	That got Bluey to directly look at him. “Really?”

	“Haha, oh yeah. She’s always talking about how supportive and helpful you are with everyone. Quite certain she’s stated on more than one occasion that you’re the type of friend that most people dream that they had.”

	Bluey could feel her cheeks get hot and the guilty rubbing of her arm turned more to embarrassment. “Oh please, Mr. Beagle, I’m not even close to being that amazing.”

	Marcus had to work at keeping his laughter down in volume. “Well, not to Honey, so take that as you will.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I had just stopped in to check on you before Daisy and I left for work.”

	Bluey brought her smile back. “I’m good, Mr. Beagle, thanks for checking on me. I’ll make sure Honey gets up and I’ll get the both of us to school. Say hi to my dad for me!”

	“Thanks, Bluey, and will do! You girls have a good day at school.”

	After Honey’s parents left the house, Bluey left the bedroom and sure enough, she found Honey still fast asleep on the couch. Bluey found herself silently watching the Beagle as she slept, her father’s words echoing in her head. She greatly appreciated compliments from others, but it felt odd receiving such a high amount of praise from someone. Did Honey really think that highly of her? She just . . . didn’t think that it was deserved. But, then again, did that not explain the crush? Like . . . well . . . she briefly considered her own developing feelings for Mackenzie, and how she valued his friendship. It was the same notion, right? . . . right?

	Bluey took a deep breath and let it out in a weary huff. She was getting quite good at overthinking this, and it hasn’t been 24-hours since Honey confessed to her. That’s gotta be impressive to some degree, eh? The Heeler shook her head. She needed another distraction, but what would it be this time?

	Her mind was saved by the growling of her stomach. It was only then that she realized that neither she nor Honey had eaten anything since lunch at school yesterday. She—no, the both of them could use a nice, filling breakfast, especially before another long day at school. Bluey turned her attention to the Beagles’ kitchen. They wouldn’t mind if she whipped up some breakfast for her and Honey, right?

	The blue Heeler walked into the kitchen and surveyed what was in the fridge and in the pantry. As luck would have it . . . there were actually quite a few options available to her. What should she make? She checked the time again. Honestly, with how much time they still had before they’d be late, she could actually make almost whatever she wanted. 

	After a bit more thought about what Honey might like or be most familiar with, Bluey made her decision. Given her parents’ British origins, a full, classic English breakfast sounded perfect! Or, as Aussies sometimes lovingly referred to it as, the Big Breakfast. After retrieving all of the ingredients and the necessary equipment, she put all of her mother’s teachings in the kitchen to work.

	Honey's eyes slowly peered open as she woke up. She felt like she was still in a daze and looking around she was confused as everything that had happened the night before was a haze in her sleepy state. She slowly sat up on the couch before standing up. Her mind was so numb that she felt like she was gliding along.

Her ears perked at the sound of something cooking and her nose sniffed a few times before she smiled and began walking into the kitchen where she was surprised to see Bluey over the stove. Her heart began pumping harder as fear filled her head. She remembered the knight and how she had asked for a kiss so thinking she was in a dream Honey moved closer before gently cupping Bluey's cheek and pulling her face to look at her.

Time felt like it froze for a moment before she smiled to Bluey and then spoke. "Here's your kiss, Miss knight." Without a second word she pushed her lips against Blueys for just a moment and then pulled back as she started to begin feeling normal again. Her heart pumped as she looked down and around before yelping and stepping back a few steps. "O-Oh no! This isn't a dream?!?!"

Bluey had been in the middle of taking out some eggs to crack open and fry in a pan when Honey had approached her. When Honey had touched her face and pulled her to look in her direction, the Heeler hadn’t initially known what to think. A part of her had questioned why Honey made such a gesture, while another didn’t seem to really mind. She had smiled at her, opening her mouth to tell her good morning when Honey had spoken first, calling her a knight (Calling her a what?).

She didn’t fully realize she had been kissed at first. Or rather, she knew that she had been kissed, but understanding that she had been kissed was on quite the delayed timer. An egg that she had been holding in one hand ended up slipping from her hand and it cracked and splattered on the floor in a bit that might’ve been comical if she had been witness to this moment as a bystander instead of a participant.

Bluey Heeler had just experienced her first kiss, at a time when she had least expected it. She had her first kiss while she was in the middle of making breakfast for her friend . . . her friend who was crushing on her. That . . . certainly wasn’t what she had thought she was going to taste this morning. Wait, that’s where her mind was going to go? For goodness’ sake.

“Honey . . .?” It was all Bluey managed to say at first. Her mind was racing way too fast for her mouth to have a hope of translating her thoughts into actual words. Instead, the only thing her racing mind seemed to do was convince her heart to start racing along with it. She just had her first kiss, she just had her first kiss.

Honey’s breathing became heavy as she blinked a few times trying to fight back her tears. Why had she felt so weird earlier when she woke up? Why had it all felt like it was a dream? She gave a whimper as she continued moving backward. “B-Bluey I’m s-sorry!” She was sobbing now as she kept backing up. Why did her body make her do that? Why had she felt so faded into her mind that she thought this was a dream where she could kiss her friend? 

	She felt she’d ruined not only her chances of being with Bluey but also possibly their friendship as well. She tripped and fell back onto the floor where she continued scooting back until she hit the back of the couch. She kept wiping her tears away but they were replaced just as fast. “I-I… I-I didn’t k-know!” She covered her face with her arms as she tried composing herself but she was failing as she felt panic set in and her nerves on high alert. 

It took Bluey another couple of seconds for her to recover enough from the surprise of the kiss and return to the present. Once she comprehended what Honey was saying and doing, she could feel her heart break for the Beagle. The shame and embarrassment in her eyes, and she was sobbing so badly. Bluey wasn’t often the sort to panic, but this situation was so brand-new to her and everything was happening so incredibly fast, she felt like she was in a panic. Her heart that had already been pounding in her chest from having been kissed now beat harder as she needed to think about what to do.

“Nonononono i-i-it’s okay Honey don’t worry about it it’s fine okay,” Bluey found herself rushing through in one breath. She quickly stepped toward Honey and knelt beside her. “It’s okay! It’s okay, really! Don’t worry about it, I’m not mad! Please don’t cry!”

	Honey heard the step and tried moving away more. She was ashamed at what she’d done and the fact that Bluey was acting like it wasn’t that big a deal was causing her to feel worse. She felt like she’d taken advantage of her friend to get the kiss even though it wasn’t either of their faults aside from the stretch that could be made that it was because of her feelings. 

	She continued wiping her tears and whimpering, she could feel the warm fur beside her while she was trying to console her friend but Honey couldn’t understand why she was being so nice. Sure Bluey was nice all the time but what was her driving force at the moment? Then a breath caught in her throat and she clenched up. It was because they were still friends. 

	Honey was still Bluey’s friend and she wanted to console her because of that. It made a comfort wash over her and started to lessen the panic she was going through, her tears slowly petered out to nothing but watery eyes and her sobs turned to soft whimpers as she lowered her arms and looked to Bluey slowly. She felt a bit ugly at the moment but she didn’t care as she swallowed before speaking in a soft, shaky voice. 

	“I-Is it really ok? I-I basically forced you to t-take my f-first k-kiss.” She still felt locked to her emotions and the thought about breaking her friend's trust since she was the one who felt like she was in a dream. She still didn’t understand how it happened since she was usually the most aware of things around her and now she felt like a kid getting caught taking a cookie from the jar without permission. She was sad and sullen over the fact and, although what Bluey did helped, she still felt like she did something terrible she’d never be able to take back. “I-I’m really sorry Bluey, if you wanna stop being my friend I-I’ll understand.”

Bluey looked at Honey in silence for a few moments before she said in a low, quiet voice, “You said that when you had first confessed to me last night, Honey. Why do you think that I’d stop being friends with you so quickly? You’re one of my oldest friends. Our dads work together, we’ve known each other since we were toddlers. I would never just leave you, Honey.”

Bluey then shrugged. “Like . . . I’m confused, I guess. I’d like to understand why you . . . we . . . yeah . . .”

Honey sniffled and wiped her eyes as she forced herself to calm down. She breathed and counted down from 10 in her head before giving a shaky sigh. “I-I… I had a dream last night that you were a knight that saved me and my people from being attacked by the terriers who were raiding us. I-In the dream when I asked how I could repay you… You asked for a kiss… T-then just a minute ago I felt like I was dreaming. Everything was so hazy and strange and I just…” 

	Honey couldn’t speak anymore; she was feeling short on breath and having to explain herself after all that had happened was causing her a lot of stress. She turned away and closed her eyes as she brought her legs up to her chest as she began to lock up inside her feelings. She didn’t feel like she should be near Bluey anymore for the time being since she didn’t think that she could be a good friend and keep her feelings in check anymore since she’d just lost to her mind and kissed her. “I-I’m really sorry…”

Bluey wanted to comfort Honey more, but she wasn’t entirely sure how, or if it’d be appropriate, or if she should be doing so at all. It was obvious that Honey was embarrassed and upset about what happened, but how could Bluey convince her that she wasn’t offended by it? Because she wasn’t. Right? Nah. Not offended. Just . . . hmm . . . how did she feel about it? She had nothing to compare it to, she had never kissed anyone before.

Well . . . it had been pretty short; Honey had broken the kiss rather fast and backed up. But . . . well, it had been warm . . . soft . . . it certainly hadn’t felt bad, she was positive of that. But, that was mostly it, at least right now. Was that normal? Was she supposed to be feeling something? Was there more to it than that? Was it somehow different just because Honey was another girl? She didn’t think so, but how was she supposed to know these things? Ugh . . . more overthinking . . . but Bluey didn’t blame Honey for that. At least, she didn’t want to. She could at least relate to feeling anxious about a crush, that much they certainly had in common right now.

Bluey reached out and gave Honey a few delicate pets on her head . . . God, was this appropriate at all? Was this demeaning? Was it patronizing? She really hoped not . . .

“I promise, Honey, I’m not mad . . . honestly, if anything I think it’s kinda . . . er, sweet, that you had a dream about me. I didn’t think I’d be thought of in that way . . . um . . .”

She was admittedly starting to feel a bit awkward, she wasn’t sure what she should say. Maybe she ought to give Honey some space? Would that be better? Oh! Their breakfast! She really ought to finish making that regardless, they needed to eat before school.

“You really quite sweet, Honey . . . maybe that’s why that’s your name, haha.”

Now Bluey definitely felt awkward, so she gave Honey one more head pat and got up to return to the stove. She cleaned up the broken egg on the ground and then cracked some fresh ones onto the pan and began frying them.

	Honey moved her head against Bluey’s paw while it was there. She felt sick now and honestly she didn’t know if she could eat. She waited patiently for Bluey to finish the breakfast and then she stood and walked to the counter where the plates were at and got some out for them both. Forks were next and then some spoons just in case but the whole time she was doing it she was moving slowly as if she had no energy or like she didn’t wanna be herself at the moment. 

	She ate silently and slowly, the whole activity was draining her more and more but she felt she had to eat since Bluey made all this food for them… for her… She stopped halfway through her plate and gagged suddenly as she clutched her stomach. The guilt was eating her insides faster and faster as she stayed near Bluey and soon enough her food was stained with her salty tears before she threw her chair back and ran to the bathroom where she could be heard emptying her stomach contents into the water.

	She wasn’t going to go to school today which would mean that she would have to call her mother and explain that she was sick. She would have to make up all her work on the next day she was there and that could possibly make her drop down the academic ladder which would mean she wouldn’t be on the top. She was feeling so many emotions at the time that she couldn’t stop herself from puking when there was nothing left inside her stomach. She used her foot to close the door as she curled up on the cold floor and shivered while laying there. She wasn’t going to move anytime soon, she just hoped that Bluey wouldn’t try making her feel better again at the time since she would only feel worse if she missed school too. Her future was her problem and she’d solve it her own way.

Bluey had felt the tension from the moment she had set the food down on the table. Honey was silent, refusing to say anything. She was lost in her own mind, and when Bluey had tried saying things to her, it was as if she didn’t exist. A small part of her had worried that her food was bad, but after watching Honey in silence for a while, that idea seemed to not be true. But it was impossible to truly enjoy that food, not with things the way that they were, not with Honey feeling so bad about what had happened. Bluey felt her own guilt bubbling away in her stomach. Had she made things worse by trying to comfort Honey as she had? Had that made Honey feel worse? She couldn’t tell, and Honey didn’t want to say anything . . . the blue Heeler wrestled with thoughts of what she ought to do.

When Honey had started gagging, that was when Bluey had started getting scared. Had the food been bad after all? Honey again wouldn’t speak to her when she asked what was wrong, and she then was startled by the Beagle suddenly getting up, running into the bathroom and locking the door, the distinct sound of muffled vomiting echoing from within. 

Bluey rushed over to the door and called through, “Honey! Are you okay, Honey? Do you need help?”

There was no answer.

“Honey! Please, I want to make sure you’re okay!”

No answer.

The third attempt at trying to call through the door got cut off halfway through as Bluey gagged herself. Her throat tightened up, and her vision quickly became blurry with tears. She was making this worse, wasn’t she? She was trying so hard to make Honey feel better, when it just . . . seemed impossible.

You can’t always fix people, sweetheart.

	She recalled her mum’s words from when she had been a little girl, and she hadn’t understood why she couldn’t make Bingo feel better after she had gotten upset while the family had been playing Favorite Thing at the dinner table. She knew she couldn’t fix everyone . . . but she kept wishing she could . . .

	The Heeler began to cry, no longer knowing what she should do. She felt that Honey’s silence meant that she no longer planned on going to school today, but Bluey didn’t want to leave her. But she had to go to school . . . or could she skip it? One day wouldn’t be the end of the world . . . but then  she’d have to explain what happened to her parents . . . would that just make things worse? She wasn’t the sort to feel like she had to hide things from her folks, she genuinely felt comfortable explaining everything to them . . . but how would Honey feel if she skipped school to continue trying to look after her? Would that make her feel even worse, she was already locking herself in the bathroom. Damn it . . . damn it! She hated this. But what could she do to solve it?

	She was an organizer. A problem-solver. She felt she had gotten that from her mum. So when presented with a problem that she couldn’t solve, she just . . .

	“P-Please s-ay something, Honey . . .” Bluey found herself saying through hitched breaths. “I just . . . w-want to know wh-what to do . . .”

"Bluey you have to go to school. I-I don't deserve to have you around right now." She choked it out as if the words would kill her. "I-Ill be ok…"

Bluey’s breathing hitched a few times. “W-What do you mean th-that you don’t deserve to have me around, Honey? That’s not true! I want . . . well I . . .” She trailed off for a moment. “I just want you to be okay . . .”

"It's just nerves, Big Blue… I'll be fine soon, just please go to school. I already feel bad for kissing you, if you miss school I'll feel so much worse."

Bluey took a few moments to try and get her crying under control. She took a shaky breath and replied in a bit of a squeak, “Okay, Honey . . . I’ll go to school . . . I’ll message you later . . . okay?”

After another round of silence, Bluey resigned herself to Honey’s desire to be alone. She went and cleaned up all of the breakfast plates, putting the leftovers in containers which she placed in the fridge. She gave all of the dishes and pans a preliminary wash and then placed all of the dishes in the washing machine. 

As she gathered her school bag and her car keys, she stopped by the bathroom door one more time. “I’m leaving now, Honey . . . I’ll . . . I’ll see you later . . .”

Bluey took a deep breath and blinked back a few fresh tears before she headed out, got into her car, and drove to school.

	Honey let out a weak goodbye to her. She shivered a little more before she put her head on the ground and whimpered softly while she felt the silence press in on her while she was now alone for real. She wondered if she should do anything about the pain that was inside her heart from what had transpired before but she decided that she’d do that later. She closed her eyes and waited patiently as she drew in and let out shaky breaths waiting for sleep to take her.

Bluey’s mind was consumed by what-ifs and wondering if she had made the right decisions. Honey had just been so upset . . . she hadn’t expected her to take things so hard. Like . . . sure, it had caught her by surprise. Sure, she had envisioned her first kiss being under different circumstances, and admittedly with a different person. But it hadn’t been bad, she wasn’t mad that Honey had done it. Should she be mad about it? Would other people have been mad about it? Is that Honey had felt so strongly that she’d be mad about it? Was it more common an emotion than she was thinking of? Why did love have to be so complicated . . .

The Heeler got to school and parked her car. She sat there with the car running for a bit, her mind refusing to move on. Should she try and text Honey to make sure she was okay? She was at school now, like Honey had wanted. That should put her more at ease . . . but she wanted to be left alone . . . but Bluey was worried . . . damn it . . .

There came a knocking at her window. Mackenzie had watched Bluey pull in and sit in her running car for a few minutes as the time ticked away for them to get to class so he had to check on her. The black and white dog looked at her with a concerned look at how she seemed to be beyond troubled. “Bluey are you alright?” 

Bluey jumped a bit in shock at the knocking. She had been so preoccupied she hadn’t noticed Mackenzie approaching her window. Once she recognized the Border Collie though she calmed down. She offered him a small, unconvincing smile, turned off her car, and got out. 

“Hey, Kenzie,” she said, trying to sound like her usual upbeat self but likely failing at it. “Sorry, didn’t see you there, what’s up?”

“Um, nothing really. You were just sitting in your car and… Nevermind. Would you like me to walk you to class? You seem really distracted.” Mackenzie was almost a foot taller than his Blue Heeler friend but he didn’t use it against her or use it as an easy way to tease her, instead he used it to help her out most of the time. There was something about her that always seemed to cheer him up when he had to be at school but it wasn’t there today so he figured that he should help her out this time. 

	He readjusted the backpack that was on his back and looked towards the building that loomed over their heads and then at the clouds that had stuck around from last night's storm and then sighed. Being this close to Bluey while she was in a less than happy mood caused his mood to drop slightly but for her sake he kept his smile up and his aura high. “We had better hurry if we’re going to make it on time, most of the slackers are arriving about now so the halls are going to be a bit more crowded.” 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Bluey replied, grabbing her book bag from her car and then locking it. She glanced at him as they began to walk to the building, still trying to keep up her cheerful facade. “How are you this morning, Kenzie?”

	“I’m pretty decent. Got up early and did my morning walk before coming home and taking a shower before getting a spot of breakfast and then came to school.” He led the way inside greeting others that were getting to school around the same time as them. Mackenzie seemed extra cheery and was speaking to everyone they passed a bit before continuing on until he stopped to talk to Rusty and Jack. The whole conversation was quick and mostly about basketball but there were a few quips back and forth talking about who they were with but then they smiled at each other and hugged for a moment. “Hey Bluey, hope you have a good morning!” “Yeah, Bluey, have a fun morning.” 

	Jack and Rusty ran off with their paws connected and then he held his paw out to Bluey for her to hold as he continued so that he could get her to her class a bit quicker. “Alright I’ve talked enough Bluey. It’s time for you to tell me what’s wrong with you. I know how you normally act and you’re acting off.”

	Bluey sighed to herself. “Damn, I was half-hoping you weren’t being observant today.” She chuckled a little to try and ease the tension, but it was half-hearted. That being said, she did know that Mackenzie cared about her, and he was honestly an observant friend, and that was part of why she felt really close to him . . . and admittedly why she wanted to be closer.

She accepted his paw and they continued to walk together. Holding onto him made her feel better, and she knew she could trust him with anything. Taking a deep breath, she said, “It’s Honey . . . she . . . isn’t feeling very good today, so she’s not coming to school. And I’m worried about her, y’know?”

While she trusted Mackenzie and was willing to explain to him what had actually happened, her mind couldn’t help but wonder if Honey would get even more upset if she did say it. Was there anyone that was aware of Honey’s crush? If no one knew and word got out . . . 

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that. I know that along with me and a few others that she is one of your oldest friends. If you’re worried about her then that means that you still care about her. I would text her sometime soon to make sure that she’s ok. I dunno how you girls text friends that are sick but me personally I text my friends a bit more frequently when they aren’t feeling well so that they can know someone cares. Do you know what was wrong with her? I heard you spent the night with her so if she had bum worms I don’t wanna get them too.” 

Mackenzie joked a lot but beyond all of it he really cared for his friends and Honey was a friend to most of the kids at school. He pulled out his phone and looked at her contact for a moment before putting a heart emoji in her chat and sending it to her. It was what he did to show his friends that he cared and he wasn’t a stranger of sending a heart or two when he felt someone might need it. 

	As they turned the corner he gave a sigh and turned back around. “Do you mind if we take the long way? There’s someone down that way I don’t wanna talk to right now.” Among the students that were down the hallway there were only a few of their friends including Lucky, Judo, Coco, and Chloe. All of them were talking to their own personal friends aside from Coco who was leaning against the wall near a classroom waiting for someone it seemed.

Bluey studied the students in the hallway for a moment before allowing Mackenzie to take her along. She eyed him curiously. “Is everything okay with you, Kenzie? Why don’t you want to see someone, is something wrong?”

	“It’s… I guess I was gonna have to tell eventually. Me and Coco have been dating for awhile and things became a bit more complicated. I don’t want them seeing us holding paws in case it would upset them.” He was silent as he led her around the long way for a while until the hallways were almost clear then he looked at her. “Now you, what is wrong with Honey? You’ve gotten me concerned it would be unfair to not tell me.”

The part about Honey didn’t register properly in Bluey’s head because the first part about Coco took up all of her attention. The Heeler slowed down to a stop.

“Wait . . . you’re dating Coco?” she asked. She tried to make it sound purely out of surprise, but her voice came out softer and more delicate than she meant to. “Since when?”

Mackenzie let go of her paw and gave a soft sigh as he turned back to Bluey. “It’s been about four months now. We were hanging out after school and one thing led to another and we hooked up… I dunno if it was the right choice for me but I can’t back out on them now. We make an ok couple but honestly the reason we’re still together is kind of bad.” He leaned against the wall as the last other kid walked out of the hallway and then spoke again. “Bluey I did something bad… We did something bad…” 

	Another sigh escaped his lips as he looked Bluey up and down a few times. “You probably hate me now since you had a crush on me. I can’t leave Coco so I can’t be with you… Because I got her pregnant.” 

Bluey didn’t know what to feel at that moment. There was so much Mackenzie had said to her in such a short amount of time. Her ears fell and her tail went completely limp, which contrasted with her hand that hadn’t fallen when Mackenzie had broken away from holding it. Everything just seemed to hang in the air, time was slowed. Sounds were delayed and echoed. 

Her heart painfully skipped a beat as she tried forcing herself to respond. “I’m . . . I’m so sorry, Kenzie . . .” Her voice started getting tighter. “I had no . . . no idea . . . about you and Coco . . . is she alright?”

“Blueberry you don’t have to be sorry. I made the choice to do what I did and I’m gonna stick with it. I guess I should say that I knew about your crush when I went out with them that night. I felt like I betrayed you which was why I never told you about us.” Mackenzie checked his phone before giving a soft smile to Bluey. “I guess you got out of telling me what’s wrong with honey. Go get to class Bluey. We can’t afford to be late.” 

	Mackenzie, despite what he said, walked to her and grabbed one of her paws before bringing it up to his mouth and giving it a kiss. “I loved you too Little Blue.”

That took Bluey to a place that she really didn’t want to be, and the Heeler could feel something happening inside of her that she honestly didn’t think she could stop no matter how much she wished she could. She hurt, but she didn’t want Mackenzie to see just how hurt she really felt. She wanted to be away. Away from Mackenzie, away from where she was standing, away from other people. Just away. And she needed to be away now.

And yet, she wasn’t able to move at first. She stayed rooted to the spot. That damned spot. Why the hell couldn’t she move? She didn’t want to be there anymore. Just leave. Just leave. Just LEAVE!

Instead, the words, “I love you, Kenzie” came out of her mouth. Her voice was like a squeak as her throat felt like it was closing up completely. “I just . . . wanted . . . to say it . . .”

What good did that do? To say something like that now? It wasn’t going to change anything, how did that make anything any better? Mackenzie clearly knew that she had developed feelings for him, but now saying it to him when he was going through all that he was going through was like rubbing it in . . . when . . . when it actually . . . seemed . . . that he had felt the same way.

She wanted to cling onto him and cry into his chest, but at the same time that’s exactly what she didn’t want. She didn’t want anyone to see her right now, she had to leave.

“I just want you to know that I don’t hate you.” But . . . she kinda did though?

“I wish you and Coco the best.” Even though she wasn’t told anything. Evidently she knew very, very little about her so-called close friends. How good of a friend was she to them then?

Her vision was starting to blur and warp through forming tears. The hand that Mackenzie was holding was unintentionally gripping him harder and harder painfully.

"Don't cry Bluey." He pulled her into a hug and whispered to her. He figured something like this might happen if he told her but it was a truth that he couldn't keep to himself any more. "I know it hurts now but you'll end up with someone better than me. Don't stay trapped with your feelings for me." Mackenzie held her for a couple minutes until the first signal bell rang for class. 

"Would you still like for me to walk you to class? We don't have very long left to get there." 

The emotional grenade within Bluey had already had its pin removed. Primer struck, the fuse was lit. It was going to go off whether the Heeler was ready for the explosion or not, but it was like Mackenzie had to go and find a way to add even more fuel to that already-lethal cocktail. There was a small, now-tiny part of her that understood what the Border Collie was saying to her, and perhaps if this morning had gone differently–well, no, more like if the last entire 24 hours had gone differently–then maybe this would have been fine. Well, “fine” being rather relative, but likely not this. It would seem that today simply had no intention of being so kind to her though.

Part of Bluey couldn’t help but feel elated over being held by Mackenzie. His fur was soft and warm, the scent of the shampoo he always used was one she had always greatly enjoyed–fresh, like an open field. She could hear the beating of his heart, which did seem to be beating rather quickly here, though right now it wasn’t nearly as fast as her own, nor as painful. She wanted so badly to wrap her arms around him, and her body seemed to struggle with this, going back and forth between almost making contact with him, and staying still. Desiring to hold him, and not hold him.

Was this similar to what Honey was feeling? Wanting one of your best friends, but feeling like you never could? Bluey certainly felt like she understood a lot more how the Beagle was feeling now on a personal level, especially the desire to isolate herself. And to think, too . . . that Honey had encouraged her last night to go and talk about her feelings to Mackenzie . . . four months, huh? What might have happened, if she had talked to Mackenzie four months ago? Would he have still gone out with Coco and hooked up? Would he have not gotten Coco pregnant? Would . . . would she and Mackenzie be together? Happy? Because they both loved each other? Was this punishment for taking so long being too nervous to say anything? Maybe that was something else she had in common with Honey now too . . .

But that was only part of it. Her romantic feelings for Mackenzie were still inside her, of course, but now they clashed with so many other emotions to make this ugly, inky mess within her. There was a feeling of betrayal. From so many of her friends now. Bluey had wanted to believe that she had been doing good, making friends, earning their trust, and always being someone whom her friends could always go and talk to. She felt in-tune with her friends, and she could tell when things were wrong and she could figure out ways of making them feel better. But now? She had one of her oldest friends express the fear that she could simply leave her, twice. And then another of her oldest friends hooks up with yet another of her friends and neither of them elect to say anything, and this was happening for months without her having a clue. Now, Bluey wasn’t arrogant to think that she was entitled to that information, absolutely not. But now she was getting admissions that her friends specifically wanted to keep their secrets from her. 

And that honestly hurt. It really fucking hurt. And she now felt like she really didn’t know her friends at all anymore. In less than 24 hours she was shown she had known very little about Honey, about Mackenzie, about Coco. Who’s next? Chloe? Indy? For all she knew now, she didn’t know any of her friends, and all of the years she spent trying to be the best friend she could possibly be turned out to be a waste, because what good was she as a friend, if she couldn’t help in times of trouble? Was she just not trustworthy enough? Did no one believe that she wouldn’t judge them? That she could just turn around and abandon them? Hate them? Did all of her friends see her as being that quick to call it quits, so there was no point in ever asking her for help? Then what good was she then? She felt like a horrible friend, because apparently no one thought she was helpful.

Bluey’s breathing hitched sharply and she was trembling; she had to use an extreme amount of effort to force out the words, “Just . . . tell the teacher I don’t feel well . . . I need to use the restroom.”

Mackenzie pulled back from her and gently patted her head. “Alright Bluey I hope you’ll be alright.” He glanced back at her for a moment before sighing and walking away from her. He honestly felt extremely bad for how he could sense her feelings but she needed alone time so there was no reason to stick with her or he’d cause more problems. His footsteps echoed through the now mostly clear hallways as he walked towards the class prepared to inform the teacher she wasn’t feeling well. 

By the time she made it to the nearest restroom, Bluey couldn’t see at all, and had to locate a stall and enter it by touch. Her book bag was dropped unceremoniously to the floor as she slumped onto the toilet, the trembling now full-on shaking, her body wracked with painful sobbing as she cried uncontrollably. She felt horrible, because even though she was told that she was so highly valued by her friends, she felt like nobody. How important could she be, if no one thought that she’d be willing to listen to them or help them? She just . . . didn’t know what to do anymore, and that was a kind of despair that she hated the most.

Honey had felt terrible once she awoke on the bathroom floor. Her throat was dry and her body felt frosty. She was slow getting up and once she did she felt weak and wobbly. She opened the door and looked out of it for a moment. “B-Bluey?” Then she remembered that she had told her to leave. She looked down at the floor wishing she had asked her to stay now. She clung to the wall as she made her way to the kitchen where she opened up some of the leftovers from breakfast and took a few bites with a glass of water. She felt slightly better but there was no way she’d be able to get to school right now.

	She walked into her room very slowly and grabbed her phone to text Bluey. “I’m really sorry about what happened between us. I hope you’re having a better morning than I am… I miss you.” She looked at her chats with Mackenzie and gave a soft sigh as she saw the heart and wondered if Bluey had told him that she was sick or if she had confessed to him and they were now together. 

Bluey was only vaguely aware of an incoming text through her crying, and it took more than a few minutes for her to finally start coming down from her emotional storm. Her breathing was still hitching and she was trembling when she felt like she could summon the energy to grab her phone. It took her another minute to wipe away enough of her tears for her to make out the words of the text, and realize it was from Honey.

Bluey ended up choking on another sob and fresh tears fell over the message. Obviously, there was just no way Honey could have known what had happened not even a half-hour ago . . . but goddamn it . . . today just really seemed dead set on hitting her with one emotional punch after another.

After once again calming down enough to have the ability to say something, all that Bluey managed to write back was, “I know how you feel now.”

Honey was confused and slightly scared from the text. “W-what happened? Do you need me to come get you?” Honey wouldn’t accept if Bluey was hurt and she didn’t help her. She was slightly tired still but there were some energy pills she had for reasons related to her stress. She got up and grabbed her keys ready to go get her best friend. “I can be there in a few minutes if you need me! I don’t want you feeling how I felt.” 

Bluey let out a single bark of a laugh, but it came out as more of a sputter. “It’s a little late for that, Honey . . . I just don’t know what to do right now. I just don’t want to do anything. I’m so damn tired.”

“Alright Bluey where are you? I’m coming to get you.” Honey didn’t like the way that Bluey was texting and she really didn’t want her passing out while at school. She was dressed quickly and out the door even quicker as she raced to her car. She didn’t want Bluey to feel how she did so she had a plan to help. 

There was a thought that floated through Bluey’s mind that wondered if maybe she should have just not responded to Honey’s texts in the first place. Or if she should have just told Honey that she was fine. But . . . no. With how upset she was about feeling like no was trusting her to be there for them . . . lying to Honey would only serve to make her a hypocrite, and she didn’t want that . . . she felt bad enough as it was. She really didn’t feel like having company right now but . . . it sounded like Honey was determined to show up either way . . . so the Heeler saw little point in trying to stop her at this point, that wheel was already set in motion.

With a heavy sigh, she texted Honey the exact restroom she had holed up in. Or, at least, the one she was pretty sure she had holed up in. She had to go based off of memory because she had already lost the resolve to cry before she had made it there.

Honey was quick to pull up. She saw Bluey’s car in the parking lot for students and then turned it off and got out before rushing towards the school. They always kept these doors unlocked a little longer so that kids could come in later. The favorite teacher was the one who stood by it and she was stopped by him briefly. 

	She explained her ordeal before he waved her along with a nod telling her to be careful. It was a little ways to the bathroom she’d ended up in but she walked in while panting. “Big Blue? Are you here?”

Bluey really wasn’t sure how she felt about all of her nicknames at the moment, but now wasn’t the time. “I’m here, Honey,” she answered, her voice cracking as she did so.

Honey was at the door to the stall in no time and sat down before Bluey as she gently reached out a paw but stopped it right next to her cheek. She saw the state that her best friend was in and didn’t wanna make it worse so she would let Bluey connect it if she felt like it. She pulled a coupon and showed it to Bluey. “You’re having a rough day. Let’s get out of here and I can get you an ice cream. No sense in you being here if it’s just going to drain you and make you worse.”

Somewhere in her, Bluey had been prepared to try and explain to Honey that she didn’t want to do anything, she didn’t want to go anywhere (except probably home), and she didn’t want to be around anyone. But . . . seeing Honey there, gazing at her with such warm compassion in her eyes despite how she had looked only a few hours ago back at her house, ready at the drop of a hat to comfort her even when she herself needed comforting . . . it was impossible to deny that, very deep down, she wanted that. She felt like she wanted isolation, but really, she wanted someone to hold on to. And Honey was here.

The Heeler began sobbing again and she leaned forward and embraced Honey in a tight, powerful hug, crying into her fur.

Honey looked down at her and gently put her arms around her while she gently patted her back. “Oh Bluey it’s alright. I’m here, just cry and we can leave when you’re ready.” Honey’s heart beat was just above even as she was in a position she wanted but with emotions on Bluey that were the opposite of what she wanted for her. Honey held her a little tighter and leaned against her as well, not willing to let her go until she was ready.

Bluey didn’t fully realize how much she appreciated being able to hold someone when she was this upset until now. With Mackenzie, they had been out in the open, and she really had not wanted to let all of her upset emotions before fully on display for any teacher or student to see. But at least here, with Honey, they were . . . well, mostly private. And at least for now, it was private enough. And Honey was as comforting and encouraging as ever. Words couldn’t really do justice to how much she appreciated that the Beagle had shown up, despite her initially feeling like she didn’t want anyone around. Honey had come anyway, and really, she was thankful for that.

“Thank you . . .” Bluey managed as she held onto Honey still. 

“You’re welcome but you don’t have to thank me. Do you wanna talk about what happened? I wanna understand what made you feel so bad.” Honey had moved one of her paws up to Bluey’s head and gently patted her head while still hugging her. She was prepared to wait all day if she needed to, there were other important things that she had to do but helping Bluey was above all that. “I’ll always be ready to listen when you’re ready.”

After some hesitation, Bluey decided to relent. “If you . . . do want to get out of here . . . I can tell you in the car. I don’t want to talk about it here . . .”

“Alright let’s get out of here then. They’ll lock the doors soon so we don’t wanna be too much longer.” She put the coupon back into her purse before slowly pulling back from Bluey just in case she wanted to stay in it. “Do you wanna leave your car here until later? We can come pick it up later if you’re feeling better.” There she was again thinking about every little thing that she could so that everything would work out. 

Bluey nodded. “Yeah, we can just take your car, I’d like that . . . I just need to make sure I’m back sometime after school’s done, because I’ll probably have to take Bingo home.”

“Alright Bluey.” She stood up and held out her paws to help up Bluey. Something was different about how she felt now but Honey couldn’t think about that right now cause she needed to make sure that Bluey was alright. She wanted her to be alright more than she cared about herself right now. Was that a bad thing? She was gonna skip school to help her friend. Her teachers and parents would probably understand. None of this showed on her outward appearance as she waited to help her friend up. 

It didn’t escape Bluey that she was now planning on skipping school. It also didn’t escape her that she’d have to explain why to her parents, and to Bingo. But, she had been prepared to call things off earlier to be there for Honey, and it occurred to her that, quite ironically, the tables had been turned in just a few short hours. Now Honey was the one skipping school to go and give her support.

Bluey got up and collected her things, doing her best to give Honey a smile, though she knew Honey knew it was hollow at the moment. “Okay, Honey . . . I’m ready to go.”

Honey nodded and pulled back her paws before stepping back and allowing Bluey some space in the first moment since she got here. “I’ll wait for you at the door so you take a moment for yourself.” Honey waited a moment before stepping back further and then walking to the door and stepped out of the bathroom and waited for her on the outside. 

Bluey took a few deep breaths to keep herself calm, but honestly it was easier said than done. Her mind was positively swimming in so many thoughts and feelings, and her wonderful ability to overthink things wasn’t letting up, and it was taking everything that she had learned in the past hour and running away with it. It was all just so . . . yeah. A small part of her understood that it was just really poor timing on a lot of things at the same time, but that did little to quell her feelings in the present moment.

There was still a desire to be by herself, but Bluey knew deep down that she did desire some comfort. And Honey was here to offer that comfort. A passing thought wondered how much of her enthusiasm to help her came from her romantic feelings for her, but, what did that even matter? If anything, Bluey was even more touched by the gesture in that case. She really appreciated it, though she still wanted to question Honey as to why she had been so quick to think that she’d stop being friends with her. 

That was for later though. For now, they needed to get out of the school. The Heeler grabbed her book bag and steeled herself to exit the restroom. As she did so, she found Honey waiting just outside—along with their 1st Period teacher. 

Bluey let out a small squeak of surprise. “Oh! G-Good morning, sir . . .”

Their teacher was a tall and lanky long-haired black Dachshund. Judging by the folder of papers in his paws, he had been on his way to the copy room.

“Miss Heeler, Miss Beagle,” he said cordially, eying the two of them. He turned his attention more to Bluey. “Are you feeling alright? Mr. Border Collie had explained that you weren’t feeling well.”

“U-Uh, n-no, sir, I’m not feeling well at all,” Bluey tried to say conveyingly, but she knew she had failed at it. She put a paw on her stomach for emphasis, as if that would help.

Their teacher turned his attention to Honey. “And am I to take it that you’re not feeling well yourself, Miss Beagle? It’s not like you to miss class. Any class, for that matter.”

“Yes sir I’m not feeling well. I had to come get Bluey due to some girl reasons. I’m really sorry to miss my classes but I’ll just make up all my work tomorrow.” Honey implied that she figured that she’d be better tomorrow but honestly with how everything had turned on its head for her and Bluey and with what Bluey was bound to tell her, she was unaware if she would in fact get better.

“We promise to work extra hard from now on sir. I hope you understand.” Honey grabbed Bluey’s paw before walking past the teacher swiftly and without much else to say. She didn’t listen if he called after her because honestly there was no way that the teachers could keep them there aside from threatening disciplinary actions but Honey would deal with that if it came up. Soon enough they were at the door with the teacher from before just about to lock it but hearing the footsteps behind him and seeing the state of the two girls he moved out of the way and let them pass without any trouble. 

	“You girls feel better.” “Thank you sir.” Honey replied before letting go of Bluey’s paw and yawned softly before letting go of Bluey’s paw. “Sorry to drag you but I couldn’t let us get in a conversation or we’d have had to go through the front entrance.”

Bluey hadn’t expected Honey to be forward enough to take her paw and march her forward. The bold move had made her nervous, because she wasn’t sure how their teacher would take to them trying to brute force their way past him. She turned her head around to look at him, wondering if he was going to either yell or follow them.

To her relief, their teacher simply gave them a small, amicable smile and said, “Looks like you girls should get some well-needed rest. I’ll let your other teachers know you had to take a sick day.”

Were they just getting lucky? But, it was then that Bluey remembered that he was a shrewd observer in his own right, and he could’ve clearly seen how much she had been crying. She probably looked dreadful right now, the fur all over her face matted and damp from the tears. She gave him a look that she hoped conveyed her gratitude for letting them go and even playing along, and before she knew it, she and Honey were outside.

It took her a second to click to what Honey had told her and she shook her head to clear it. “No, no, I understand. That would have been a lot more awkward to have gotten through . . . thank you, Honey.”

“Bluey… don’t thank me again until you feel better.” Honey let out a soft sigh as she walked forward slowly barely keeping her motivation up at how drained she felt. “Do you want to get ice cream or would you rather get something healthy? I feel better after a good ice cream but a salad lasts much longer.” The sun shining down on her warmed her slightly but she still had that cloud hanging over her head from earlier this morning. 

She unlocked her car as they got close and got inside her driver's seat before turning the car on and turning the ac on low. She expected to hear talking from bluey once she got into the car but she didn’t mind coaxing it out of her if she had to. They needed to help each other and if that took making each feel better slowly then that’s what she’d do. 

“I’ll be honest, I’m not interested in anything healthy at the moment, not at a time like this,” Bluey replied with a small laugh. “I’d love some ice cream . . . but, the important thing is that I get to be away from the school for a bit . . . and I get to be with you.”

Honey felt her heart flutter and her cheeks burn but she ignored it as she pulled out of her parking spot and began on her way, making a mental note that they had to be back soon so that Bluey could get her car. “Alright Ice cream it is.” She waited a few moments in silent thought before sighing and asking her first question. “What happened Bluey? I wanna help you through it.” 

	Honey glanced over and blushed more as her mind was beginning to give her some intrusive thoughts on what to do. Thankfully the roads were clear or she might have crashed thinking about putting a paw on Bluey’s thigh and rubbing it. She looked back at the street as she turned the ac up another notch to help combat the burn. Honey was extremely upset at her body for what it just pulled. She didn’t understand that she really wanted Bluey in every way, even as a mate.

It took a few moments for Bluey to collect herself enough, but she trusted Honey enough and appreciated the help, so she told her everything. From getting to school to talking to Mackenzie, and everything that he had told her.

Some fresh tears slipped down her cheeks as she spoke. “I just . . .” She paused and shook her head. “No. I’m sorry, that much I shouldn’t be saying to you, it’s not fair. I just feel . . . I dunno.”

“Oh fuck… Bluey I’m really sorry that it’s like that. But you know that you don’t have to hold back about telling me about what else you’re holding back. I get that you were crushing on him for a while so that must really hurt.” Honey let a soft smile show on her lips as that felt slightly hypocritical but she wouldn’t say that. “If there is anyone who can understand your feelings I probably can and I wanna so that I can help you. Don’t think about my emotions right now cause they’re just blocking your healing and we can always talk about them later…” 

	There was something that Bluey didn’t know about Honey either and she couldn’t bring it up now, it wasn’t really important in the moment anyway but if she didn’t talk to Bluey then Honey did have one other person that she could talk to about them that might be almost as good. She would rather talk to Bluey about them though. Her tail began to slightly wag as they got nearer to the ice cream place she frequented and that meant that she could have her favorite flavor and Bluey would be able to experience it for maybe the first time. She’d never seen her here since she started coming here anyway. “What’s your favorite flavor?”

Bluey couldn’t help but smile a little and chuckle at the question. “This is gonna sound really boring, but my favorite is plain chocolate. The richer the better. It’s my dad’s favorite flavor and he eventually convinced me of its superiority.”

Honey giggled at her choice. “Bluey it’s not that boring.” She pulled into the drive through and was waiting behind some of the cars. “Waffle cone or a bowl?”

“Ooh, waffle cone, definitely. Can’t mess with the classics.”

	Honey waited patiently for the cars in front of her to move before ordering a large waffle cone for Bluey with Chocolate and then a large mint chocolate waffle cone for herself. She then pulled forward waiting in line. “Would you like to come back to my house to relax or do you want me to drop you back off so that you can get the car?”

Bluey thought for a few moments before checking the time. They honestly had most of the school day left, that . . . shouldn’t be too bad, right? They had plenty of time to eat ice cream and talk.

“I’m good with going back to your place . . . if you’re okay with that.”

“Of course I’m alright with it, Bluey.” She pulled forward once more and pulled out her wallet and the coupon and handed the card over and the coupon. Once she had paid she was handed the ice creams and passed them to Bluey. “You don’t mind holding these do you?” 

“Of course not,” Bluey replied, accepting the cones. “How much do I owe you?”

Honey gave a soft giggle as she thought of something she thought was funny. “Well I was doing it to be nice but if you really wanna pay me back. How about you kiss me first next time?” Her joke hurt her more than she figured it would. She had heard that people used humor to cope but that seemed like it wouldn’t work for her. “I’m sorry that was in poor taste.” She just got back to driving and kept silent as she did.

Bluey understood what Honey was trying to do, but as was the supposed theme of the day, it got her thinking. There was a part of her that considered Honey’s motive in all of this, and the argument could be made that the very joke she just made clearly gave it away. Just how much of what Honey was doing was driven by her romantic feelings for her? She had suffered a lot of embarrassment this morning because of the kiss, yet as soon as Bluey admitted that she was hurt, despite the pain she had herself, Honey had dropped everything immediately to come and get her, and now here she was, in her car, going back to her house with ice cream. It then occurred to her how book-like this looked from an outsider’s perspective. Her day had started at Honey’s house with food and a kiss. Now she was going back to Honey’s house . . . with food . . . and Honey not-so-subtly asking for a kiss.

But, another part of her made the counterargument that Honey had confessed her feelings to her. This wasn’t a secret anymore. Bluey knew that Honey was motivated to do all of these things for her because she was in love . . . but Honey knew that Bluey knew. It was now out in the open. What would be the point in trying to deny anything now, or be subtle about it? There was no hiding it, and it’d be honestly rather silly to keep up that facade at this point, especially after, accident or not, they had kissed. Like . . . maybe Bluey could claim that she’s offended by Honey trying to take advantage of Mackenzie’s rejection of her? But . . . well . . . yeah, she could . . . but Bluey honestly felt like she couldn’t truly blame her for trying. And it’s not like she had been trying to sabotage Mackenzie and claim victory, Honey had encouraged her to talk to him, despite admitting her feelings. Could she really blame Honey for incidentally having a sense of hope following things not working out with Mackenzie? If she did, then she’d be a hypocrite, because had Mackenzie instead chosen to end things with Coco, Bluey would be an enormous liar if she claimed she wouldn’t have at least been heavily tempted to take him. And frankly, she probably would have.

She found herself giggling at Honey's joke. “Just a kiss for all this ice cream? Sounds like a steal, haha.”

. . . she . . . may not know what she’s doing anymore.

Honey sighed at her return of a joke. It was good that she didn’t feel offended by what she had said. Soon enough they pulled into her driveway once more and honey turned off the car and handed Bluey her house key. “Here, go on inside ahead of me. I need to do something really quickly. You can just put mine in a cup and then into the freezer. I promise it won't be too long.” Honey got out of her car and then walked around to the trunk where she kept a few things. She sifted through it before pulling out a notebook and holding it close to her chest as she let out a soft sigh.

Bluey did as she was told, feeling embarrassed at her own attempt at trying to lighten the mood. She placed Honey’s ice cream in the freezer and then sat down on the living room couch, slowly picking at her own food. It was deliciously decadent, among the best ice cream she’s had, but her enjoyment of it was limited because of everything else she was feeling at the moment. She really didn’t know what she was doing anymore, and while she’d normally welcome the challenge of being in uncharted waters, this was just one situation where she really didn’t like it, and she wanted to cry again. So much between several of her closest friends, and it hadn’t even been a full day yet . . .

Honey walked inside and her footsteps could be heard immediately and she went right towards the freezer to get her ice cream and then moved to the couch next to her that caused a slight dip. “Alright Bluey I am here to listen now. Tell me what’s eating at you so we can make you feel like Bluey and not yucky.”

Bluey took some time to gather her thoughts. As she did so, she could feel tears brimming at the corners of her eyes and her throat got tighter, but she forced herself to say it. “I just . . . can’t help but think now that I’m a bad friend, because now I’m finding out all of these things about some of my oldest and closest friends, and they had wanted to keep from me because of this fear that I’d immediately stop being their friend. Mackenzie assumed that I hated him after telling me about him and Coco . . .”

Bluey then looked at Honey and sniffed. “Even you, Honey . . . you told me that you thought I’d just no longer want to be your friend after you told me that you had feelings for me, or after you had kissed me.” Her breathing hitched. “Do you guys just th-think that I’d d-do that? That I’d walk away like that? Why would you guys think I’d h-hate you, I don’t.”

Honey felt terrible but it was Bluey’s time to be comforted. She gently placed her paw on Bluey’s head and then shook her own head. “Bluey it isn’t that I thought you’d hate me it’s just that I thought that maybe you’d not like me cause I was gay. I dunno just after holding it to myself and thinking self deprecating thoughts about it I just got so caught up in my emotions that came out. I’m so sorry, Bluey.”

	Honey’s arms wrapped around her and held her tightly while her face nuzzled into her shoulder fur. She had forgotten about her ice cream and it would soon start melting if she didn’t eat it soon but Bluey was top priority and she was going to do everything that she could to help her. “It was like I was over thinking for so long that I couldn’t not over think about it when I got scared. I don’t think that you’d wanna leave but a part of me likes to overthink everything.” 

Bluey clung into Honey and sobbed into the crook of her neck, her voice muffled as she said, “I’d never hate you for being gay, Honey. You’re one of my best friends, I could never. All of you guys, I love all of you, I’m just hurt thinking that you could think I’d so easily hate you . . .”

Honey’s voice got low as she gave a shaky sigh. Maybe she wasn’t a good friend if Bluey felt like this now and it made her sad and angry to think that she and her other friends were the cause. “It’s ok Big Blue I’m sorry about it I really am. I shouldn’t have assumed anything. You take your time and let it all out and then we can see about having the others talk to you about it as well. I didn’t mean to make you this upset, I’m sure that none of us did.” She felt a shiver run through her body as she tried to keep her composure up so that she could still help. 

Bluey cried for another moment before she shakily said, “It’s okay, Honey . . . I just want you to know, I couldn’t ever do something like that. Not to you guys.”

She clung onto Honey a little tighter. “And you, Honey. Never think I could ever hate you for being gay. The fact that . . . you said that you love me . . . makes me feel really special. And you’re the first person to have told me that.”

Honey was a bit taken aback and had to make sure of something. “W-wait you mean of your friends right? Your family says they love you right?” Regardless of what was happening she would yell at her family for not saying that they love Bluey. “I’m glad though, I figured that you’d not hate me but it’s really nice to hear that you don’t.” A drop of Honey’s ice cream drops on Bluey’s leg which causes her to pull it back and swirl her tongue around it to get rid of the bit that was melted. “I guess we need to eat these now.”

Bluey laughed a little and broke apart just enough so she could look Honey in the eyes, giving her a teary-eyed smile. “Yes yes, I mean of my friends. You’re the first, Honey. And nothing can take away how special that is, or how special that makes me feel. All of that wondering and waiting . . . and you still became the first. And I’m happy that you did.”

Honey smiled to her and let out a soft smile in return. She moved her clean paw to bluey’s cheek and gently wiped her eye with a soft touch. “Ok good. I would be upset if your parents didn’t say they loved you. I’m glad that you’re happy I did. Even if we don’t end up together, Bluey, I'm glad to know that you’ll always be one of my best friends ever.” *She finally set down her note book and then looked at Bluey. “So I want you to read over this… It was a journal someone made me keep but instead of using it how they wanted I filled it with confessions… and a few drawings but mostly confessions. I haven’t even shown it to my parents so you’ll be the first to read what I wrote… I hope you don’t cry reading it.”

Bluey eyed the book with both curiosity and apprehension, then looked back at Honey. “You . . . basically want me to read your diary? Are you sure? That’s so personal . . .”

“It’s not really a diary… It’s different ways that I thought about confessing to you… And some drawings about what we might look like holding hands and kissing and … such… Yeah ok maybe I’ll just read you one or two.”

“‘And such?’” Bluey repeated, feeling her heartbeat a little faster. She cleared her throat. “Well, I mean, I’d love to know.” She paused, realizing how that probably sounded and added quickly, “I mean I want to know how you truly feel about me, I want to really understand you.”

Honey looked at the notebook and opened it slowly to the first page. “Dear Bluey, I know that this is sudden since we’ve known each other since we were kids and we’ve become really close over the years but there’s something about you that drives me crazy and makes me wanna hang out with you more. I don’t really understand why it’s now that I feel like this towards you but I think I really like like you Bluey. I feel a little stupid saying it like that but I don’t wanna say more than that in case I am wrong.”

“Aww, Honey,” Bluey said softly. The words honestly made her smile. And she could really understand what it felt like. “That’s really sweet.”

Honey flipped a few pages forwards to a confession dated almost a month later. “Dear Bluey, your voice is so sweet that every time I hear it my sweet tooth acts up. We hung out today in gym class and you finally showed me how you make one of those paper dream catcher things and honestly I had a lot of fun. You probably didn’t notice but when you laughed while we were playing I blushed. I felt my heart flutter and my body just wanted to hold onto you and never let go. I hate that I’m so scared to tell you I love you but I know that you like Mackenzie so I’m fine holding it in. I hope it can fade if you two end up together.”

A tear slid down Bluey’s cheek as she fidgeted a bit with her hands. Her body was scrunched up, and eventually she decided to bring her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. She remembered that day, teaching Honey how to make a dreamcatcher. Knowing what she knew now . . . that helped to explain why she had been so enthusiastic to learn . . . she had just wanted to spend time with her. Honey had been able to tell that she had been crushing on Mackenzie . . . she guessed that being in love made it easier to tell that other people were in love . . . but then again, that hadn’t seemed to help her at all with being able to tell that Honey had liked her . . .

The whole idea of time seemed to fill her mind. Honey had been crushing on her for a long time, and Bluey had been crushing on Mackenzie. Just what . . . what would have happened if someone had said something before today? Before last week? Before four months ago? She knew it wasn’t good to dwell on speculation and what-ifs, but she couldn’t help it right now. What would have happened if Honey had told her about her feelings earlier, would she have still been trying to get with Mackenzie? What would have happened if she had told Mackenzie about how she felt before he had chosen to hook up with Coco, would she be with him now? 

“I’m sorry that you had felt so scared to tell me, Honey,” she said quietly. She sniffed. “But . . . I’m really happy that you’re telling me all of this now . . . it’s . . . honestly really beautiful hearing you talk about me like this . . .”

Honey flipped forward to the halfway point in her crush, the 6 month confession and blushed as she looked it over. "T-this entry is a bit more um… it goes into detail about a daydream I had… Do you want me to read it?"

Bluey looked to Honey. “Whatever you’re comfortable with telling me, Honey . . . I’m okay with any of it.”

Honey gave a soft breathy sigh as she skimmed over the page before slowly reading it. “Dear Bluey, it’s been 6 months since I discovered my feelings for you and they’ve only grown more powerful. I’m sitting in the bleachers of the gym right now watching you play your flute for band practice and it’s making my heart flutter at how beautiful it sounds. It reminds me of a daydream I had, we were at your house and we were in your room studying when you pulled out the flute. The way that you played it made the notes seem to dance around inside my ears and that’s when I pulled you into a kiss. It was a strange dream after that and one that I feel ashamed to admit I came back to a few times when I thought about what it’d be like if we got together and once we were both really comfortable together maybe we could go to bed together and >////<” 

	Honey stopped reading as she let the implication hang in the air as she looked down at the page knowing what came next. 

Bluey could feel her cheeks start to burn a little as the realization set it. “O-Oh, you’ve . . . thought about me in that way . . .” She genuinely didn’t mean that in a negative or judgemental way, more like simply a surprise. Or . . . a not-surprise surprise if that made any sense. Like . . . it made sense . . . Bluey wouldn’t deny that she had thought about Mackenzie more than a few times either if she was asked. But it was a surprise in the sense that it was actually said aloud.

Honey fiddled with the corner of the page knowing that if she showed the picture drawn on it that it might make Bluey cringe if even slightly. Honey had practiced drawing for years and it had helped as she could now draw very well. She took in a sharp breath before flipping the page showing off a two page picture of Bluey with starry eyes looking at the viewer as her tongue drew over a pussy that Honey clearly meant to be her own. “I-I um… Yeah…” 

Bluey could now definitely feel her cheeks burn as she stared at . . . well, herself. A part of her acknowledged that the drawing was actually very well-done. And it was . . . quite detailed, too . . . did Honey . . . directly use herself as a reference for the—oh God, no, what the hell was she thinking, this was not the time.

“W-Wow . . . that is . . . honestly a good . . . drawing,” she managed, hoping she wasn’t coming across as critical. 

Honey licked her ice cream trying to distract herself from what she was experiencing. She slowly pulled the book back into her lap where she began flipping through until she got to the next most important one to her. One month after the drawing.

“Dear Bluey, I’m really sorry that I feel this way about you but I can’t help it. You’re such a great friend, you’re so nice and always down to help anyone who needs it, and the way that you listen to my problems is just perfect. I know about your crush on Mackenzie and now it seems that you do as well and it hurts a little. I have kept this to myself for so long that I can’t explain to you why I’m hurting.” There were a few tear drops on the page now as Honey closed the book and put it onto the table leaving it off in a cliffhanger as she sniffled a little but tried covering it up with a lick of her ice cream but one look at her face would show that she was close to breaking again. 

“I just thought that maybe you’d find some of those cute but that one is harder to read… I’m sorry.”

Bluey leaned over and wrapped her arms around Honey in a tight, warm hug. “Don’t be sorry, Honey. I’m really glad that you’ve told me, and I really, really appreciate that you’ve been so honest with me.”

In that moment, she felt very close with Honey, and she took everything in. All of Honey’s words, all of her confessions, all of her I-Love-Yous, and the warmth she was giving Bluey despite feeling embarrassed, pained, and tired. Opening up and laying herself bare to her despite being afraid.

Bluey couldn’t be sure of a lot of things right now. She couldn’t be sure if what she wanted to do right now was right. And it was because she couldn’t be sure if she’d grow to love Honey in the same way as Honey loved her . . . but she wanted to let Honey know just how touched she was by everything she’d done for her, just during today alone, and so the Heeler tightened her hug and gave Honey a kiss on the cheek.

Honey’s body went rigid as she felt Bluey’s arms wrapped around her and her lips on her cheek. Her demeanor broke as her paw clenched making her waffle cone break and fall over but Honey didn’t react, she didn’t move at all as her eyes filled with tears that quickly spilled over and streamed down her face. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out except for a soft whimper as her emotions that she had been holding in to help bluey out spilled over. 

	In her mind she was panicking but on the surface all that changed was her fur standing on end. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know why she couldn’t control herself and honestly it was frightening to her that in such a situation she locked up. She couldn’t even pull her legs over her chest to hide from the world. She was a dear in headlights, a child lost in a crowd, a puppy separated from her mother. 

	It was strange that she was so frightened at the aspect of getting a kiss on the cheek from Bluey, she loved the Blue Heeler but at the first sign of any affection it caused her to stop working. Her paw felt cold as the ice cream that she squished between her paw began to melt and run down it causing a bigger mess. Her mother was gonna be pissed that she had spilt ice cream on the rug that had been given to her from her own mother. 

	“B-Bluey…” There was little air behind the name as she barely spoke it loud enough to be heard even as close as she was. 

Bluey moved her head back to look at Honey. “That was for the ice . . . cream . . .” She had tried to joke, but the smile on her face quickly left her as she quickly started scanning Honey’s expression and noticing the broken and clenched ice cream in her hand. 

The Heeler’s voice became a lot smaller as she said, “I . . . I’m sorry . . . did I do something wrong?”

Honey wanted to shake her head, to reassure her that it wasn’t her, to just hug her back so that they could have a good moment but all she could manage was a weaker “N-No.” Her nerves were still high but she couldn’t revert the nice moment they had had but the tears kept streaming as she tried to break from her trance. 

It was minutes of waiting before she could move. The carpet was definitely stained but she would move again so she got up and ran into the kitchen where she cleaned her paw. She grabbed the towel that was on the front of the oven and rushed back to the carpet where she started cleaning up the spot. She didn’t say anything to Bluey just yet fearing another freeze up. 

Bluey remembered where the family kept their cleaning supplies and she went to fetch them, kneeling down opposite Honey and daring to gently put a paw over hers.

“Please, Honey, let me help you,” she said softly. “It was an accident . . . I want to help . . .”

“No it’s ok Bluey. Um thank you for the offer but there’s nothing that can really be done.” Honey pulled her paw back quickly and picked up what she could of the cone and ice cream she’d dropped. She got up and went to the sink to wash off the ice cream and cone that she’d picked up and then went and put the towel into the was basket and when she returned she had a few napkins and some carpet wash. 

Bluey had already started with some cleaning solution and was going over the spot with a scrubbing brush. “Your parents have some good brands. If we work quickly, I bet we can make it look like it never happened.”

Honey gave a soft sigh and smiled. The day had started pretty bad but things were starting to look up for her and Bluey. She handed over the napkins but then froze again as she thought for a second and hugged her for a moment. “Bluey, thank you.” Once she pulled back she sprayed the spot that she’d spilt the ice cream. “Let’s get this clean and then I wanna just… Is it ok if we cuddle? I know things are weird so I don’t wanna make them more so.”

Bluey hugged her back and returned the smile. “After the day we’ve had . . . I’d love that, Honey.”

“Heh love is a funny word to use now don’t you think?” Honey teased slightly but she got to cleaning right after as she wanted to keep it from getting more stained. It wasn’t too hard of a job since her parents had the strong cleaner and once they were done it actually looked a little bit better than what was around it. “Yeah I hope they don’t notice cause I’m not cleaning the whole rug.”

Bluey couldn’t help but giggle at that. “The last thing we need today is to be told to clean a whole rug . . . but we did we did a great job! Told you it’d work if we worked fast.”

The Heeler helped Honey put away all of the cleaning supplies and then grabbed two ice-cold water bottles out of the fridge, handing one to Honey as they returned to the couch. She ended up staring at her own bottle for a moment and commented, “Funny how we started with a couple of these bottles just last night.”

Honey looked at her before sitting next to her and leaned against her as she shut her eyes for a moment. “A couple bottles and some math notes.” She gave a soft chuckle before holding her bottle close to her chest. “Thanks for helping me with the rug. It probably would have taken me double the time.” 

	Honey felt strange but in a good way. She was leaning against Bluey with the intent to cuddle with her but she didn’t know if she would actually do any cuddling. She just wanted to be calm and be with her. 

Bluey took a long drink from her bottle, enjoying how cold and refreshing it was. After going on yet another emotional roller coaster for the umpteenth time that day, ironically, that water was more crisp and calming than the ice cream. She set her bottle down, and after thinking about it for a few seconds, decided to be bolder and wrapped her arms around Honey, pulling her close and resting her head on top of hers, cradling her.

It felt strange to Honey to be in her friend’s arms like this when they both knew that Honey enjoyed it for a different reason. She snuggled close, almost moving into her lap but that was far too bold for her. “Is the water good?”

“Amazing . . . probably better than it ought to be, but after what we’ve been through there was nothing finer,” Bluey replied with a small laugh. She gently patted Honey with one of her paws, took a deep breath and let it out slowly in a sigh. “Thank you, Honey. For all of your help. I . . . really needed a friend, and you went above and beyond to make me feel better. I don’t . . . really think I can accurately put it into words how grateful I am for it.”

“So don’t Bluey. Just enjoy the moment and relax. Honestly today was a roller coaster for both of us. I don’t think that I could imagine what it must have been like when you found out Mackenzie liked you and ended up with Coco… I mean I might have if things had been different but I don’t wanna dwell on it. I’m sorry about freaking out when you kissed my cheek.”

“No, no . . . I’m sorry if that was too much. I . . . really didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but I wanted to express to you how much I appreciated what you did, and I just . . . thought that was the best way for me to do it in the moment.”

“It’s alright I liked it but my body didn’t know how to respond since we’re still just friends. I almost thought about returning the gesture but that would have really been awkward. I did have a question though… Was I your first?” 

Bluey felt herself blush a little and she cleared her throat. “Y-Yeah . . . you were. First person to say they had a crush on me, and the first to kiss me, accident or not, haha.”

“Well you were my first kiss too. Still sorry that I took your first kiss from you.” She looked up at her and smiled a little. “You doing better Big Blue?”

Bluey returned the smile. “Yeah, Loads better . . . and you know what? I’m glad you were my first kiss.”

Honey’s cheeks burned slightly as she turned away. “I-I am too. This isn’t how I expected it to go but your fur and how gentle you are is… Thank you for coming over yesterday.”

Bluey laughed a little, her voice tinged with apprehension. “This is . . . uh . . . this is all incredibly new to me, so I’m sorry if I have no idea what I’m doing . . . honestly, I’d be just as clueless about being like this with you than if I was like this with literally anyone else, haha. Even if I had gotten together with Mackenzie, I wouldn’t know the first thing to do, I’m hopeless.”

Honey’s eyes were closing again, there was something about the Heelers fur that caused her to become drowsy but she fought it to talk with bluey. “Oh bluey you don’t have to do anything special. You holding me like this shows that you care and even as just a friend it shows that you want to help me even if you get comfort from this too.” She yawned and groaned out as she fought the rest that was trying to get her to shut her eyes. 

	“A-All you really have to do is hold the person you’re with. Intimacy is just about being close with someone and showing your affection, it doesn’t have to be kisses or touches to certain spots or even… You know… and it also doesn’t have to be between lovers, it can be friends as well.” 

	Honey was losing out to her drowsiness but she couldn’t help it as the heeler was just that calming. She was seconds before sleep before she let out a soft whispered “I love you” that was more quiet than a whisper and she didn’t mean to and it was possible that Bluey hadn’t even heard it but she would be able to hear that she’d fallen asleep.

Bluey could feel Honey falling asleep in her arms, when her ears perked up considerably and shot forward as she swore she just barely caught the words ‘I love you’ coming out of Honey’s mouth. It was the first time the Beagle had said it so simply and so concisely, and it honestly touched Bluey in a way that she hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t attached to an ‘I would if I could’ sentiment. This was pure and unobstructive. And her heart did indeed beat a little faster from hearing it, and her breath momentarily got caught in her throat. She continued to cradle Honey in her arms, and as the Beagle fell asleep, she bent down and kissed her on top of her head.

Bluey didn’t know what the hell this was, the two of them, at this stage. But whatever it was, she liked it. And she was happy.

	Honey slept peacefully but her dream was anything but. It was a struggle inside her mind as she wanted to both go to Mackenzie to try to help him out so that Bluey would be happy with who she loved and letting Mackenzie stay with Coco so that she could have Bluey like she wanted. 

	The way it manifested in her dream was a bit harder to decipher though as in the dream Honey was sat in a dark corridor with the voices of previous interactions with Bluey and Mackenzie played out. They were from way back in the 7th grade when they all used to hang out and read and play together. Honestly Honey missed those days and wished she could go back so that things could be simpler and she wouldn’t have to go through college level classes in high school.

	She walked down the hallway where she heard Mackenzie was talking about a book he’d finished reading about some kind of dragons fighting against each other. It sounded cool to Honey but the books she’d been reading at the time were too demanding to take a side track so she never had gotten to read them. As she walked down the corridor the lights turned off behind her after she walked out from under them.

	At the end of the corridor was a door with a blinding white light through it and as she opened it she could hear Bluey’s laughter towards what Mackenzie was saying. She stepped through and saw the younger her looking at the two and feeling so upset that she couldn’t laugh and read like they could. She had put herself on her higher pedestal and it was costing her points with her friends. Bluey must have seen the frown on her face as she put her paw on her cheek and Honey recited the words as they came from her friend's mouth. 

	“Awe it’s ok Honey, I bet Mackenzie would let you borrow it.” She then repeated what she had said at the same time as the memory. “Thank you but I’m really busy with War and Peace.” She cringed now hearing herself say it twice. She decided that she would do what she could to try to get Bluey to be happy. That’s when everything went dark and a single light shone on her standing before a large glass wall. Bluey stood on the other side and placed a paw on the glass and Honey did the same. 

	Their paws touched as the glass became air and Bluey’s paw interlaced fingers with hers. It was a beautiful moment in her eyes and as she spoke in her dream she spoke aloud. “I love you Bluey, but you would be happier with Kenzie. S-should we be holding paws?” 

	Bluey had been fighting off the urge to fall asleep holding onto Honey. It had been difficult, because the Beagle was, honestly, very warm and soft. But there was only a couple of hours now until school would be over, and she’d have to return in order to get her car and take Bingo home; she didn’t want to risk dozing off and then end up falling into a deep enough sleep that both she and Honey failed to wake up in time. When Honey began talking in her sleep however, the Heeler found renewed energy as it captured her attention.

	Honey was . . . asleep, right? She ever-so gently rocked the Beagle to see if she’d respond, but she did not. Yeah, she was still asleep. Honey had squeezed her paw and said that she’d be better off with Mackenzie. Did she really still think that? Or was it just the result of whatever she was dreaming about. Was it right to try and assuage her feelings of never possibly being with her? Honey kept insisting on giving up her own feelings for her, and it made her sad. Even though she had no idea if she’d grow to fully reciprocate Honey’s feelings, she still felt bad that the Beagle was constantly putting her first.

	Again, Bluey had no idea if what she was doing was right, or fair, or anything really. But she squeezed Honey’s paw back and said softly, “You don’t have to keep putting me first, Honey. Mackenzie is with Coco, and I hope for the best for them.”

	Honey’s mind processed Bluey’s words and let the dream bluey speak them. It caused her to feel a bit strange thinking that they were her own thoughts but if they were then maybe she could act with them. Honey let go of the paw for a moment and gave a soft smile to the dream Bluey. She supposed that it would be ok if she let her emotions show more and so she grabbed the paw she’d been holding and kissed it gently. She loved Bluey so much it caused her pain sometimes but that was a few times between hundreds. Honey’s dream ended on a very positive note but she stayed asleep for a few minutes extra.

	 Her mind had a lot to think about but as her eyes opened and she saw she was still laying with bluey she nuzzled back into her fur. She gave a soft sigh and smiled as she enjoyed the sensation of their fur rubbing together. She thought back to the dream and looked up at Bluey to see if she was awake. She wanted to do one last thing before they separated. She had one more confession to read.

	“Big Blue?” 

“I’m here, Honey,” Bluey replied softly. She gently squeezed her paw for emphasis. “Did you sleep well?”

Honey gave a smile and nodded while squeezing the paw in return. “I slept wonderfully actually. Did you get some rest as well?” 

“I rested, but I was keeping an eye on the time to make sure we could return to school on time to get my car,” Bluey said. “Don’t worry though, we still have time.”

She squeezed Honey’s paw again. “I’m glad you slept well. You really needed it.”
	
	“Heh Bluey you get some rest I’ll stay up to watch the time. I need to write in my dream journal anyways.” Honey couldn’t believe that it took her this long to realize that they were holding paws and for once it didn’t make her blush.

Bluey smiled gratefully and laid back on the couch. “Thanks . . . I just want a small nap . . .” She yawned. “Make sure I’m good to drive Bingo and I home.”

	Honey gave her a nod and squeezed her paw before pulling her paw back. “Rest well Blue.” She stood up and walked into her room and set an alarm on her phone while she opened her dream journal and began scribbling down her latest dreams.

	Bluey set a reminder on her phone just in case as well, and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she closed her eyes and quickly drifted into sleep. Time passed and she slowly opened her eyes again. It took her a hot second to focus and she had to rub the sleep from them. She looked around. Where was she? 

	Ah, the school, that’s right. She must’ve finally dozed off in the classroom. Ugh. She had so much homework to take care of, she had better get that done or she was gonna be really sorry talking to her teachers. Hell, she was already lucky that she hadn’t gotten in trouble for falling asleep in class, it seems. There was no one here, thank goodness. There was a passing curiosity as to why the classroom was completely empty, but Bluey considered that a blessing and didn’t want to question it. She could just leave and no one would have seen her.

	Bluey was about to grab her book bag and get ready to leave when she noticed a water bottle on her desk. She smiled and picked it up. She was actually feeling quite parched as it so happened. The water was ice-cold and crisp hitting her tongue and cooling as it went down her throat. How refreshing! She was quite happy now as she turned around to leave, only to come face-to-face with Honey.

	“Hey, Big Blue!” Honey chirped with a sweet smile.

	“Yikes! Honey!” Bluey exclaimed in surprise. It was like the Beagle had come out of nowhere. She hadn’t heard her come in or walk up to her or anything. She was normally fairly observant, jeez.

	Honey giggled. “Sorry for the scare, I didn’t mean it. I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me to get some ice cream with me. I know this amazing place not far from my house, and it has a drive-thru and everything. We can grab something quick and then maybe head back to my place to hang out, if you’d like?”

	Bluey smiled at her and nodded enthusiastically. “Ooh, that sounds awesome, okay! It’s a date!” 

	Honey’s smile widened. “I really like that word, you know. We really should go out on a date sometime.”

	Bluey laughed. “Yeah, maybe we should, Honey.” She took another drink from her water bottle. She couldn’t quite put a paw on it, but something felt a little different that time. It wasn’t quite as refreshing and cool. What was that all about? Eh. It was probably nothing.

	“Anyway, Honey, yeah, I’d love to get some ice cream with you.”

	Honey beamed. “I love ice cream almost as much as I love you. I’ll go out to my car and I’ll meet you there. I’ll drive, it’ll be my treat! Just the two of us!”

	Honey enthusiastically went and left the classroom, leaving Bluey by herself again. The Heeler smiled to herself now, thinking how much she enjoyed the Beagle’s company, and she blushed a little from that. She took another drink from the water bottle. Huh. It seemed even less cool and refreshing than before. What was going on? What an odd . . . whatever. It was time to leave. She had to meet Honey. Bluey grabbed her book bag, walked to the classroom door, and opened it.

	Standing in the doorway was Mackenzie. “Little Blue!” he greeted with a friendly grin. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

	Bluey’s tail wagged at the sight of him. “Hey, Kenzie. Why were you looking for me?”

	“I have something I really wanted to tell you. May I come in?”

	Bluey snorted a little with laughter. “Uh, sure? This isn’t my house but I don’t see an issue with it.” She stepped back and allowed Mackenzie to enter the classroom, and he closed the door behind him.

	“So what’s up, Kenzie?”

	Mackenzie took a deep breath and said with a big smile, “I love you, Little Blue. I want to spend my life with you.”

	Bluey blushed horribly and she took another drink in a lame attempt to hide her embarrassment. Now the drink was very different, but she still couldn’t tell what was the matter yet.

	“Aww, Kenzie . . . I love you too, but I know you and Coco need to be together to support the baby and everything . . . I think you’re doing the right thing.”

	Mackenzie’s grin widened. “No, Bluey, that’s just it! Coco and I talked, and we agreed to raise the baby together, but not as a couple. We agreed to both see other people that we’d be happier with, and I’m the happiest with I’m with you!”

	Bluey’s blush worsened and she took yet another drink—different still. “You guys wh . . . you guys what?”

	“Yeah, you heard right! I want to be with you, Bluey! I love you more than anything! We can be together. What do you say?”

	Bluey could feel her heartbeat start to race in her chest. She was feeling . . . odd. About as odd as her drink, actually. She was sure her face was really starting to turn red. “You really . . . y-y-you really mean we can be together?”

	“Yes! Isn’t . . . isn’t that what you want? Little Blue?”

	Bluey found herself backing up until she was against a desk. She drank the last of the water in the bottle and gasped as she finished. It was no longer cool because it was piping hot, as if it had been freshly heated for tea. Her heart thudded against her chest now. She and Mackenzie? Really? Could they actually?

	Mackenzie stepped forward and came closer to Bluey. “We can get together, Bluey. Just like both of us wanted. I love you, Bluey. Don’t you love me?”

	“O-Of course I do, Kenzie,” Bluey blurted out. She could smell his shampoo. That fresh scent. She was starting to feel very warm.

	“Then let’s do it. Let’s get together. Let’s be happy.”

	Bluey could barely manage an ‘okay’ before Mackenzie closed the gap between them and kissed her. She kissed him back, dropping the empty bottle and her book bag and wrapping her arms tightly around him. The Border Collie did the same, embracing her and pulling her close. They kissed again, then again, then again.

	Bluey’s heart raced as she felt Mackenzie becoming more daring. He tested the waters by trying to open his mouth in the middle of a kiss, and she did the same. He slipped his tongue in and they began making out. She was feeling even warmer. Mackenzie slowly brought one of his paws up to her chest and massaged one of her breasts, causing her to let out soft moans, almost like coos, during the in-between moments of their kissing so they could breathe. Slowly, even more daringly, the Border Collie began to reach with his other paw in the other direction, stopping just short of her jeans, lightly tugging on it, as if knocking on a door, waiting for permission.

	She invited him.

	He unfashioned the button on her jeans and unzipped it, but didn’t bother with pulling it down. He didn’t need to, he had all the access that he required. He placed his hand on her stomach and slid down, into her jeans, into her panties, and straight toward what he was after.

	Bluey gasped loudly as he made contact with her most sensitive area. Her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest as she felt like she was boiling over with heat. Every touch of Mackenzie’s felt like lightning rocketing up her spine and she loudly moaned his name. He didn’t stop what he was doing. He kept going. He reached even lower so he could enter her with his fingers, inserting them in one by one, making her gasp again.

	He still kept going. Working. Building. More, more. Bluey could feel herself boiling. Roiling. Like steam building up in a heated kettle until she finally—

	Bluey’s eyes shot open and she bolted upright with a start, panting heavily as she felt a wave of extreme pleasure wrack her body, her mind temporarily blank.

	Honey had finished writing in her journal and sighed as she thought about the interaction that Bluey and her had just had. She had been sitting just a second ago but now she was curled in a ball thinking about a few things. Bluey was asleep so she decided that it was about time for a real stress reliever. She checked her phone to see the time was a little over an hour before school let out which meant she had the time for it. She silently got up and looked at the couch only to see that Bluey was awake now.

	Her plans for touching herself were shot so she walked out of her room and to Bluey. “Did you sleep well? I finished writing my dreams down so we can chill a little more before taking you back to your car.”

	Bluey snapped her head toward Honey, startled. It took her a few solid seconds to remember where she was. She was at Honey’s house. She had taken a nap to recharge a bit before going back to retrieve her car and taking herself and Bingo home. Her whole body was flushed and she was still panting, her heart pounding strongly in her chest. Was she . . . did she . . . she and Mackenzie . . . in . . .

	It was then that her mind cleared more, and she started to fully comprehend everything that had happened. And what started driving it home was a sudden awareness of a great deal of wetness between her legs. It was slick and sticky . . . fuck. Her face now burned anew for an entirely different reason. She just had a wet dream, about Mackenzie, when she had been sleeping at Honey’s house.

	Bluey tried to reply to Honey at first, but nothing properly came out. She had been at a loss of exactly what to say before, but it was rare that she got expressly tongue-tied. But this was a kind of embarrassment that she hadn’t experienced before, and it minutely occurred to her that this must’ve been similar to how Honey had felt showing her the intimate drawing she had done of the two of them.
	
	Saying that Honey looked concerned was an understatement. She looked at Bluey with worry all over her face. “Bluey, are you alright? Did something bad happen? Do I need to get the car started?” She couldn’t think of anything else that would be wrong aside from a call or text from someone that something terrible had occurred.

	“No, no . . . nothing like that,” Bluey managed to get out. This situation was now embarrassing enough without freaking out Honey and letting her think that there was some kind of emergency. There was no catastrophe . . . well, that term was relative. The Heeler brought her knees up to her chest so she could rest her head on them, but immediately regretted that decision. Fuck–she could smell her own sex through her jeans. It was very faint, but it was unmistakable, goddamn it. She groaned and buried her face in her paws, her face feeling like it was going to just sear straight off.

	Bluey didn’t want to admit to it, especially given who it was that she had just dreamed about. She had just tried to encourage Honey to not care about her feelings for Mackenzie, but here she was having just dreamt that the Border Collie had made out with her and fingered her vividly. Fuck. Goddamn it. Why here, why now. Fuck. 

	It was true though, that as embarrassed as she was right now, Honey had to have been just as anxious and embarrassed to talk about her feelings for her . . . and she must have thought about dying when she dared to show her that saucy drawing of hers. If anyone was not going to judge her for this imaginary indulgence, surely it was Honey . . .

	“I . . .” Bluey started, sighed heavily, then started again. “I had . . . a dream . . . and Mackenzie was in it. And I . . . we . . . he . . .” She groaned. “Fuck, Honey . . . it got hot, okay? It . . . got really, really, really hot and I . . . in my sleep . . . yeah.”

Honey looked her up and down and gave a sigh as she sat down on the arm of the couch. To say that she felt a bit let down after what they'd just talked about would be correct but she didn't think she'd ever really have Bluey so it was ok… maybe… she wanted so badly to say that it was ok and that she was ok with it but at the same time she only liked Bluey and didn't have someone else crushing on her. 

Maybe it was different since Mackenzie was a guy and she had no chance. She rubbed her arm trying to think of what to say but each path she took in her mind ended up with her or Bluey in tears. She groaned out and stood back up before walking into her room and shutting the door. 

Bluey had gotten to cum to the person she liked so to relieve the pressure and hurt she felt she would cum as well. She leaned against the door and slowly slid down to the floor where she let her mind wonder. Bluey wouldn't be allowed to talk to her until she was done giving her mind over to pleasure. 

She stuck her paw down into her shorts and let her middle finger slide gently over the slit lips and imagined that it was Bluey but something inside her churned wrong though she continued to push and pull the finger as she felt her cheeks flush and her breath get hot. She covered her mouth to keep both sobs and moans in.

She felt wrong and fucked up now but she deserved the pleasure after all the terrible emotions she had to deal with all day. She pushed a finger inside herself and choked as she felt suddenly much bigger than she ever had before. Maybe it was because of Bluey's larger paws. She moved it around gently and even moved her paw from her mouth to her breast and grabbed it roughly while biting her lip to keep back her sounds.

	Bluey was torn between wanting to get out of the house and disappear (even though she knew she couldn’t; she didn’t have her car), and wanting to be with Honey. She felt guilty that she had such a sexually-charged dream about Mackenzie after trying to assure Honey that it didn’t matter what had happened with Mackenzie and Coco. But her body had other ideas, evidentially. And with it . . . she just had to accept the fact that she did, in fact, want Mackenzie . . . she wanted the Border Collie . . . all of the Collie . . .

	The Heeler sighed and almost felt like crying again. She hated that she was like this, especially now. Why could she just easily accept the fact that she wasn’t supposed to have Mackenzie? Her inner self laughed at her, because of course deep down she knew the answer. It was because Mackenzie had admitted that he loved her, too. Which meant that it was mutual. They could be together. They both wanted to be together. But things happened. Choices were made, and those choices had consequences. And those consequences made it so they couldn’t be together. 

	And that made her upset . . . angry . . . frustrated . . . jealous. There was an additional frustration that she hadn’t just fallen in love with Honey. If she had fallen for her instead, then none of this would have ever happened. Hell, she and Honey would probably have already been dating, and they would have been happy, and everything would have been just . . . fuck. Not whatever the hell this was. 

	Bluey went over to Honey’s door and knocked, asking for her, but receiving no answer. It was then that she could just barely hear something, and she brought her head closer and pressed it against the door to hear better. 

Honey felt both extremely upset and very pleasured at the moment. A second finger was added to the mix while she pleasured herself to the thought of Bluey touching her but even now in her own fantasy she had to be stopped. Mackenzie was who Bluey wanted and Bluey was who Mackenzie wanted, she didn't fit into the equation and so she saw herself out of it. 

She watched in her mind as Bluey took a hold of Mackenzie and they left her mind. Her pussy felt unsatisfied with the two fingers that were very much doing it for her moments ago. She pushed and pulled her fingers but all she was left with was the longing for Bluey that she couldn't get rid of and she wouldn't be able to finish like this. 

She stood causing a shuffle behind the door and a discouraged look adorning her face as she opened the door. She wasn't even surprised that Bluey had come to the door. It was her nature to be caring and here she was showing it. "Get your things Bluey. I'm taking you to get your car." She didn't say another word as she pushed past Bluey and walked into the kitchen where she grabbed her keys and waited.

Bluey stood in front of her with an expression that showed how much she was trying to search and understand. Her eyes were trained on her, taking in as much as she could, and the Heeler seemed to really be thinking hard about something. 

“You were . . . touching yourself, weren’t you?” she asked. It probably sounded more emotionless than she would have liked, but with how high strung the entire day has been, it was just hard to keep up that energy at this point.

Honey thought about if she should lie or not but it didn't really matter as she'd forgotten to wipe off her fingers. "Yes…" she couldn't say more than that as her emotions were shifting slowly again. 

Bluey seemed to take that in for a few moments before she continued. “Were you thinking about me?”

"I-I … Yes." Honey could have lied or side stepped the answer but maybe it was a stepping stone. She had a little hope but after that dream she wasn't so sure Bluey would ever come around.

Bluey continued to search Honey’s expression, taking another long moment to think about something. “You don’t seem satisfied or happy about it.”

"I… I thought about Mackenzie taking you away from me… I-I couldn't finish." Honey felt a little shaky and held onto the counter for support. "Do… Do you regret me telling you about my crush?"

“No,” Bluey replied firmly, but the breath she took afterwards was shaky. “But after today . . . I honestly wish I had started crushing on you instead of Mackenzie . . . it would have made all of this not happen. It would have been so much easier. I’m upset, I’m mad, I’m mad that I’m upset. It’s all so . . . it’s all so . . . not fair.”

"Not fair to you or not fair to me?" Honey's question burned to ask but she had to know, she wanted to know all about Bluey's feelings so that maybe she could help. Why did she still wanna help though? It was shown that Bluey wasn't over her crush and she wouldn't be for a while which is what stung the most to honey. Knowing that one day she might get the chance to have her. But how long was she expected to wait with such a fragile heart Honey didn't know if she could handle her saying that she'd take days, or weeks, possibly even months. She gave a sigh just wanting it all to be over. 

“I don’t think it’s fair to either of us, Honey,” Bluey said, her voice getting quiet. “It could have just . . . been . . . not this . . . y’know? It just could have been not this.”

"Bluey… I understand your crush and I get that you won't get over it easily. How about we just get you back to your car and then afterwards you can go home and think it all over." 

	Bluey took a few deep breaths to steady herself or she felt like she was going to start crying again. Honestly, she was very well going to still do so later, because she’d wouldn’t feel right trying to keep everything from her folks, but . . . just not right now. She and Honey both had had quite enough of that for now.

	“Okay, Honey . . . I think you’re right.”

Honey held out her paw for comfort to her friend… just her friend and nothing more. Possibly never anything more. She waited patiently for her friend to grab her paw so that she could walk her out to her car. "Let's go then."

	Bluey smiled with sincere gratitude and took her paw, giving it a firm squeeze. 

	There they were again paw in paw. Honey held onto hers gently as she led her outside and to the car. She let go and then got into the car and waited for Bluey. They had a little while extra to spare so she turned on the radio while waiting for her to get in.

	Bluey got in the passenger seat and sat in silence for a long moment, listening to the radio. She thought over everything that had happened in just the past 24-hours—probably the most dramatic 24-hours of her young life thus far. She was left in a state of confusion, of inner turmoil, of frustration, of anxiety. But as much as she felt angry and sad and confused right now, there was one thing that had been a constant, and that one thing was Honey. And it really impressed her how the Beagle fought so hard through her own anxieties and frustrations and anger and sadness . . . all for her. Even when there was no promise that the two of them would get together. In spite of it all, Honey remained by her side. And that was something that, truly, really touched the Heeler. And no matter what, she would always consider Honey one of her most treasured and closest friends.

	The Heeler reached over and took Honey’s paw again, squeezing it gently and holding onto it.

	Honey gave a soft smile as she pulled out of her driveway while holding Bluey’s paw gently. She wanted so badly to be able to do this whenever they wanted but it’d be a hard transition to get there. She kept quiet and just listened to the sound of the radio as they drove. It was a quick drive there but once they did get there it was almost time for school to let out. She pulled into the empty spot next to Bluey’s car. It was her spot so it would matter very little. 

	Mackenzie was bored out of his mind waiting to be able to leave but suddenly he got a text from one of his mates so he raised his paw and asked to use the restroom. He hadn’t brought anything to that class thankfully because now he was able to just leave the room, go to his locker and grab his things, then leave out of the now unlocked door. That’s when he saw the car next to Bluey’s and recognised it as Honey's. 

	She was supposed to be sick though, or at least he assumed since she wasn’t at school and that very seldomly happened. He would go over and talk to them. He and Bluey left off on pretty bad terms earlier so he decided that it would be best to walk over to Honey’s window and knock softly on it. That’s when he saw their paws intertwined. 

	Honey jumped once she heard the knocking figuring that it was one of the security guards but it turned out to just be her competition. She rolled down her window as she let out a sigh and tried pulling her paw from Bluey’s. “Oh hey Mackenzie. Sorry I wasn’t at school today. I wasn't feeling too well. Hope that your day went well.”

	When Honey had started to pull her paw away from her own, there was just a split second where Bluey considered just grabbing and holding it firm. It would be like an act of defiance, a statement that she was determined to get over the horrible emotions that filled her. She was gonna get over it, and Mackenzie could forget about the nice-guy caring routine. She didn’t need it, she didn’t need him, so he could just go right ahead and leave her the hell alone.

	But . . . fuck. What in the hell would that actually accomplish? She was mad, she was frustrated . . . but she wasn’t truly mad at Mackenzie. She was mad at the situation. Mackenzie wasn’t a villain, and he was living with the consequences of his own actions as best he could, and he still cared. And who was she fucking kidding? She was still in love with him, as evidenced by her intense dream not even an hour ago.

	“Hey, Kenzie,” she said quietly. Her energy level was just not where she wanted it to be. She was starting to feel quite dead. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the car seat for a moment before she opened them again and looked at him.

	Mackenzie smiled at her as well as at Honey. He had made it dreadfully awkward between the two but there was nothing that could be done about it now. “I heard that you were sick today. I hope that you got better. Seems you got Bluey with you as well. Did you both have fun on your date?” Mackenzie was jesting but there was something in the air that drew him to make the joke.

	“Thanks Mackenzie but I’m still a little down. I was just taking Bluey to get her car so that she can get Bingo and go home. It was nice catching up but I need to go.” Honey’s paw was on her side now rubbing the wetness from the sweat off. Her mood was draining faster looking at the guy who had Bluey’s heart.

	“We were both trying to make the best out of a shitty day,” Bluey replied, coming across as far more blunt than she had meant to. She inwardly scolded herself. She was upset, drained, and tired. Mackenzie didn’t actually do anything wrong. The joke rubbed her the wrong way, but it was only because of a ton of context that the Border Collie literally couldn’t have had.

	Bluey eyed Honey for a second and could feel the exasperation and tiredness radiating from her. She might be fine passing it all off as being under the weather to Mackenzie, but of course Bluey knew the real reasons. She should at least help in the one way she could right now, and that was letting Honey get away from this situation so she could decompress and unwind however she needed to. 

	She quickly leaned over and gave Honey a quick hug. “Thanks for everything, Honey, I really appreciate it. I’ll message you later.” She then collected her bag and moved to exit the car.

	Honey hugged her back with an arm before she pulled away. She yawned softly before giving Mackenzie a wave and rolled her window back up which caused him to step back. Honey was out of there without another word. She hated Mackenzie and bluey right now but she couldn’t let either of them know. She hated herself for hating either of them too.

	Mackenzie looked to Bluey and gave her a soft wave and a gentle smile. “Hey Little Blue. Would you like to talk before I leave?”

	Honestly, no, but that was because she was self-aware enough to know that she wasn’t in the best headspace at the moment and she was afraid of what might happen if she continued to engage with Mackenzie before she had a chance to actually be by herself to destress and reflect on everything. But, she couldn’t just leave, so she just had to deal with it and pray she could keep herself in check.

	“Lemme text Bingo that I’m here, then sure,” she replied with a small, hesitant sigh. She shot Bingo a text saying she was here and waiting for her by the car, and Bingo texted back saying that she had to take care of a couple of things for one of her teachers, then she’d be right now.

	Bluey nodded once to herself and returned her attention to Mackenzie. “What’s up, Kenzie?”

	“I was just wondering if you needed someone to hang out with. I figured that you were with Honey all day and she can get a little finicky if you don’t talk to her right so I just figured that if you wanted I could come hang out at your place.” He was making excuses to hang out with her. He didn’t wanna leave her alone by herself but if she said no he’d also have to spend more time with Coco and they were getting a bit harder to continue being with and he wanted some time alone.

	“Honey is fine, she doesn’t mean to be finicky, she’s just stressed,” Bluey said in the Beagle’s defense. She didn’t feel like she was wrong in saying so, Honey definitely was stressed most of the time . . . but knowing what she did now, she also felt that she knew exactly why Mackenzie would get the notion that Honey was finicky. 

	And then there was Bluey’s now-open secret. Well, her secret that she had come to know had been more open than she thought. Mackenzie and Honey had both known . . . and she could feel her heartbeat increase in tempo, and she hated that it did, and that it was so easy. Because who was she kidding? She couldn’t have Mackenzie, but him asking to spend time with her made her heart flutter just as quickly and easily as it ever had.

	“What could she have to be stressed about? She has the best grades in the school. The second best student doesn’t even come close. She has some of the coolest friends in the school. Not to mention her parents are loaded. I would give a lot to be in her shoes.” 

	“So do you wanna hang out? I can bring over something that could be fun for us.” He had gotten a new game that he thought that she might like. He had wanted to show her last night but she’d gone over to Honey’s house instead.

	It hurt now that Bluey understood the full extent of why Honey was stressed out, but she couldn’t tell Mackenzie why. Well, she could, but she absolutely didn’t want that. There was already too much tension . . . she genuinely was afraid now that if Mackenzie learned about Honey, then it’d cause an even bigger rift between them. They already were at risk of fighting, and she didn’t want that. 

	“She works extremely hard for those good grades, and there’s a lot of pressure for her to do extremely well. Her parents are honestly incredibly sweet and supportive but Honey places a lot of pressure on herself to be an overachiever and make them proud. She already knows exactly what college she’s going to attend and what degree she’s going to get–I’ll be damned if she hasn’t already applied to it.”

	Bluey felt like she was doing this both to stick up for Honey, and to avoid having to answer Mackenzie’s request of hanging out. She didn’t feel it was fair to him because she probably looked like she was brushing him off and ignoring him, and she didn’t want to. Maybe the argument could be made that his comments were insensitive, but . . . goddamn it, just like Honey could come across as aloof or persnickety, Mackenzie could be coming across as a bit of an ignorant jerk for the exact same reason. He was in love with her and he was trying to spend time with her. Bluey didn’t think he was intentionally trying to be insensitive . . . he just wanted her attention, and it was eating her up because god dammit . . . she wanted to give it to him. But how could she?

	She felt like she couldn’t keep ignoring him though, so she bit back the urge to just go and sit in her car to avoid him altogether and said, “You sure that’d be alright with Coco? You were already hesitant to let her see us . . .”

	“Well I don’t really know. Listen Bluey if you don’t wanna hang out it’s fine I actually was going to blow off another friend that wanted my help with some things. If you change your mind, text me later.” He started walking towards his truck as he really couldn’t wait any longer since he was now gonna go help his friend. He stopped a little before it though. “Hey why were you and Honey holding paws?”

	Bluey felt a surge of both panic because she was pushing him away in a way she didn’t want, but also anger that she felt like he was trying to guilt trip her. “We were comforting each other because today sucked!” she snapped. She almost nearly said too much, but she managed to steer her emotions through words that weren't going to implicate Honey. “Don’t act like it’s easy for me, Kenzie. You know I love you but we both know we can’t be together. I’m still friends with Coco and I don’t want to risk making her think I’m going behind her back, okay? It’s not . . .” Her breathing hitched. “It’s not fair.”

	“Bluey calm down. I know it isn’t easy to have the guy you like tell you that you can’t be together because he got another girl pregnant. I’m sorry I upset you. Hope you and Honey were comfortable enough for each other. Ya know what’s really funny? When you have a crush on someone it’s easier for you to tell when someone else has a crush too.” 

	He didn’t say another word before he got into his truck and gave her a soft smile. He wanted her to be alright but all this girly stuff he was bad at once puberty happened. He started his truck up and drove off slowly as to be careful.

	Bluey’s breathing hitched a few more times and several tears slipped down her cheeks. In barely eight hours she had gone from seeing Mackenzie walk away from her to her pushing him away from her. This was exactly why she had been afraid of continuing to talk to him at this stage. Her heart was pounding and her head hurt from all of this goddamn drama. She opened her car door and angrily threw her bag into the back seat. “Damn it!”

	While Bluey was having an absolutely abysmal time with what she was going through, Bingo was having a great time, the best in a while actually. She smiled while looking at Lila who was on her knees before her in the girls bathroom. Lila and her had been meeting in secret just before school ended a few times every week. They’d only really been dating for about a week now however but that didn’t matter. She let out a soft moan as Lila took an extra slow and rough lick over her clit. “L-Lila we have to hurry. Bluey’s already waiting.” 

	At that Lila slowed even more. She loved their free time together and she wasn’t going to speed up cause Bingo was scared of her sister. She looked up to her with a smile before pulling back and kissing her thigh. “Bingo you’re cute when you’re worried about time limits. Let me do my thing and then you can go back to your precious time away from me.” She licked along her slit before pushing her tongue inside of her slowly causing a gasp to come from Bingo’s lips as she pushed her head against her cunt as she began clenching around her tongue. She could never last long with Lila and it caused a bit of tussles sometimes.

	This time though Lila just licked up the sweet juices and hummed while she did. Bingo slumped back against the wall and puffed and panted softly. “I-I love you Lila.~” Once Lila was done down below she came up and sat on Bingo’s lap before pushing their lips together in a dominant lip lock with her tongue running around freely inside the mouth of the girl who would let her do anything. It lasted a couple minutes with Bingo ending up panting and gasping at every touch. “I love you too Bingo. Now go home and clean yourself up. I love your pussy when it’s fresh!~”

	Back at the car, Bluey had sat inside it for a good minute, crying over having snapped at Mackenzie. She had gone on such a roller coaster today and she hated that it just wouldn’t stop. She felt like garbage at this point, and she wished so badly that she’d just wake up and it’d all have been some stupid, horrible nightmare. But no. That was nothing more than wishful thinking.

	She took out her phone and first sent a text to Mackenzie. “I’m sorry I yelled at you . . . I didn’t mean to. I do want to spend time with you, Kenzie. It’s just. I’m just. A fucking mess and I’m sorry.”

	After sitting again for a few more minutes, she picked her phone back up and texted her sister. “Are you almost finished? I’m starting to get a pounding headache and I want to go home.”

	Bingo looked at her phone before giving Lila a kiss on the cheek. “I love that mouthwash you use. Really tastes cute.~” Bingo pulled away from her before walking out of the bathroom they were in before texting Bluey back. “I’m so sorry I took so long, me and Lila were doing a project. Do I need to drive so that you can get some rest on the way home? I don’t like it when you drive while hurt. It’s scary. I’m on my way out to the car. Get in the passenger's seat if you wouldn’t mind.”

	Mackenzie didn’t text her back. He was now busy helping move some things with his friend and had his phone on silent inside the house while it was charging. He didn’t really care that she’d yelled. Honestly he understood. He was a bit of an asshole so it was justified but he wanted her to stop wanting him honestly. He hated to hold her to him while he clearly saw the look in Honey’s eyes. Poor girl doesn’t really know what she'd be getting into trying to date Bluey.

	By the time Bingo had gotten to the car, she found Bluey in the passenger seat. The elder Heeler did not feel like arguing with her sister right now, so she did as she asked. Bluey already had the car running, with the AC blasting. She had her phone connected to the stereo and “Straight for the Knife” by Sia was playing. Bluey herself had the seat reclined a bit, laying back with her eyes closed, dealing with her impending headache.

	Once Bingo was in the car and saw Bluey like that she gently placed a paw on her shirt where her belly was and rubbed it gently a few times. Bingo wasn't new to driving but she'd already decided that she'd go slow for her sister since she was gonna get a headache. Mostly everyone else had already left so Bingo was able to pull right out before driving out of the parking lot carefully and then starting on her way back home. 

She was silent for her sister so that she would get better but also so that she could think. Her and Lila were together and she wanted to tell everyone but Lila had forced her to promise to not tell anyone but that felt as if she didn't want anyone to know that she was gay which caused a bit of unrest in her.

Sure they kissed and did sexual things together but that was behind closed doors that no one was going to open. 

With each throbbing of her building headache, Bluey reflected again and again about how much love made people say and do stupid things. The worst was all of the hiding, the secret-keeping, the worry and the fear of being found out. One thing that she wished she had inherited from her mum was that special kind of confidence when it came to romance. Her mum was the sort to not panic and hide her feelings when she was her age, and her dad told her that she had never been the shy sort when they had been dating. How nice would that have been . . . especially now. 

But instead, she was insecure. Honey was insecure. Mackenzie was insecure. And she could tell that her younger sister was somewhere in that boat too. Bluey was extremely convinced that Bingo had begun seeing Lila recently. The younger Heeler had definitely been up to something that had nothing to do with school, that was for sure. She could smell it. Not that Bluey had any right whatsoever to say anything about it; she recognized it because she knew she smelled the same. 

Without opening her eyes, she said, “How is that project going with Lila? The two of you have been working together a lot  this past week.”

	Bingo had to think for a moment of what to say as she had promised silence. “Well it’s going pretty good. There are some harder parts and that’s why we do them after school. We started working harder on them recently since the project is due soon.” Bingo wasn’t lying about the project going well and that it was due soon but that meant that her and Lila would have to find some other way to do the things they do.

	They were getting close to home and Bingo’s heart was thumping in her chest thinking about what all they’d done in the last week and how much she wanted to come out to her friends and family. It sucked having to hide it all but what else was she supposed to do? Lila was the one who wore the pants which meant she had to listen. “B-Bluey, what would you do if your friend wanted you to keep a big secret but you wanted to let certain people know?”

	Bluey wearily opened her eyes and looked over at her sister. She counted to ten in her head, before she would’ve come across as sarcastic. She already felt bad for snapping at Mackenzie . . . she really, really didn’t want to seem mean to Bingo. While most siblings would have that classic rivalry and would be at each other’s throats, she and Bingo were honestly really close and they’ve always been there for each other. She loved Bingo a lot, and as tired as she was, she wanted to help her sister, not make her feel horrible.

	“What sort of secret is this hypothetical friend wanting me to keep?”

	“Um… That they’re dating… And doing stuff together…” Bingo felt a little awkward beating around the bush like this but honestly she couldn’t think of another way to say it that wouldn’t give it away. She let out a long sigh and decided to break her vow of silence but only to Bluey. “I-I’m the one keeping the secret and Lila is the friend… We’re dating, we have been for a week now but before we started dating we kind of hooked up at her house…” 

	Bluey took a breath and closed her eyes again. “I thought you were acting a little off the past few days . . . and just so you know, I can smell the project the two of you are working on . . . but, that aside, good for the two of you . . . I’m happy for you, sis.”

	Bingo’s cheeks flushed enough to come through her fur. She pulled into their driveway without saying a word and then smiled at Bluey. “I’m glad you knew already then. Care to tell me what’s bugging you before we head off inside? I wanna try helping.”

	Bluey took a few more deep breaths before she told her everything. This time, it felt good to get everything off of her chest to someone that wasn’t either Honey or Mackenzie, because the both of them, as caring and well-intentioned as they were, were just simply too close to the situation and they each had so-called fur in the game. Bingo, while her little sister, was a much more neutral party.

	“So . . . I mean . . . that’s how I definitely knew what you and Lila had been ‘working’ on,” she finished with a sigh. “I couldn’t complain even if I wanted to, I thought I’d just have a heart attack when I realized what had happened at Honey’s house . . . fuck. I really hate this.”

Bingo hugged Bluey suddenly. She couldn't imagine being in the center of a relationship like what they had but she couldn't let her go through it alone though. She left the car running as she began speaking. "Oh Bluey. This situation sounds like it's quite a lot."

She gave a nuzzle to her cheek while she thought about what had happened to her sister in the last two days. "I think you should hang out with them both and talk to them. They're your friends and I know that they're nice so if you hang out with them both you should be able to figure everything out with them both. Mackenzie is really hard to turn from something that he's set on but Honey is someone who has a plan in mind so if she's had the crush for that long then she probably has already made plans that include you in her master plan. Is that helpful? Be honest."

Bluey hugged her sister. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying, Bingo . . . and you’re right. I do just need to talk to them. I’m just . . . really upset right now . . . and I really hate that I’m so upset . . . I really don’t want to be.”

"I was confused about my feelings over Lila when we started doing our thing but I had a feeling of pull towards her for a while so it felt right when we started. Let's get you inside and I can make you some tea. Would you like some Honey or Mackenzie in it?" 

Bluey opened her eyes again and stared at Bingo. Had she finally lost her mind? Was she becoming delirious from her tiredness and headache? “What? What did you say?”

"I said," Would you like some honey or milk in your tea?" Sorry if I wasn't speaking loud enough." Bingo was a little bit more concerned now as Bluey usually could hear pretty well. 

Bluey let out a tired huff of a sigh. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just losing my mind, it’s fine.”

The Heeler sisters exited the car and collected their school things and went inside. They had the house to themselves for the time being, their mum had a shift at the airport and their dad had a project he was helping to oversee at the museum. 

Bluey tossed her book bag into her room and then went and got some headache medicine and popped a couple of pills before unceremoniously flopping onto the couch with a groan. Her head was pounding again and she waited for a few minutes for it to subside a little.

She glanced over at Bingo and asked, “So . . . what about you, Bingo? What’s going on with you and Lila? You seem really stressed about it.”

“I‘m not really stressed about us being together. I'm more so stressed that since she doesn’t wanna let anyone know about us that she’s just using me right now. I dunno if that’s true though since she’s the one that usually eats me out. It’s very seldom that she lets me eat her out.”

It wasn’t entirely lost on Bluey that she was now having a conversation with her little sister about her having oral sex with her best friend. But. Love and sex and best friends seemed to just be the theme of the day, so why bother questioning anything now? Bluey no longer had any possible cares to give.

The secretive thing though did make her a little curious, because it reminded her enough of Honey, having anxiety of facing backlash for being gay. But Lila’s insistence of her pleasuring Bingo and not the other way around also struck her as odd. The two of them had been best friends since kindy, and Bluey had grown up also knowing Lila for years. It . . . didn’t really sit right with her for some reason, even if it seemed like her sister was the one “benefiting” the most from the relationship.

She decided to ask, “How . . . did this all start, Bingo? What led to the two of you hooking up and then getting together?”

Bingo recalled the night that she’d gone to spend the night at Lila’s when it’d all gone down. She had been acting strangely but it wasn’t so out of the ordinary that she’d ask so they had just started by talking about their classes and Bingo was talking about a boy she had a little crush on. Lila had invited bingo onto her bed and kissed her cheek before telling her that she was actually in love with Bingo. 

After that Bingo thought about some things while they played around some more and before she knew it Bingo was once more on her bed and this time was making out with her. It was a short jump but it was the jump that had set it all off. Soon enough she felt Lila touch her slit gently before moving her paw up to her clit where she spun gentle circles around it until she leaned down and licked it.

Bingo had felt so light headed when she started that there was no way that she’d be able to tell her to stop and instead allowed her to keep going. There were very few words exchanged between them as Bingo was spread as Lila’s tongue pushed in and took her virginity. 

Bingo explained it all in just enough detail that Bluey would understand. She then took a sip of a water she’d gotten since Bluey said she didn’t want tea and she didn’t wanna make her jealous. “After that any time we got a moment alone she was at my cookie licking it.” 

Bluey had a small thought that wondered if Honey secretly wished she could have been more assertive in the whole competition over her . . . wow . . . that honestly felt weird and kinda uncomfortable to say. Competition. Bluey didn’t particularly like it . . . that was just something else that she’d have to really think over and reflect on later. But hearing Bingo recount how she and Lila got together once again didn’t sit too well with her.

“Bingo, be honest with me,” Bluey said slowly. She looked at her sister with genuine concern in her eyes. “Did you want all of that from Lila? Did you want it when Lila had first started touching you? Did you want it when you’ve done it since then?”

Bingo thought for a moment before taking another drink and laying back more in her seat. It wasn’t like she didn’t want it cause honestly Lila and her were really in love but maybe Bluey questioning it was right. “I-I mean… lately I’ve become so used to it that I really don’t think about that… I don’t even think I thought about it back then… Yes and no?”

Bingo sipped again before continuing. “I don’t really know Bluey. It was a while ago so maybe I had some apprehensions but I-I guess maybe I didn’t want it at first…”

Bluey hugged her sister. “Oh, Bingo . . . if you really love Lila, then that’s great, I’m happy for you . . . but she shouldn’t be treating you like this. I’m not sure what’s making her do this, but she shouldn’t be this demanding. She’s supposed to be your best friend. Just because you’re used to it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s a good thing, y’know? You should communicate that to her, she ought to understand.”

Bingo thought again for a bit before sipping the rest of her drink and sitting up. It was a weird thing thinking of if she should confront her or not but it was Bluey that gave her the advice and she trusted her so much. “Alright I will Bluey. Thank you for listening.”

Bluey gave her a small smile. “I trust you when you say that you and Lila love each other. You have been best friends since kindy after all. But you’re my sister, and I don’t want you feeling nervous about anything, and I don’t think you should have to keep things so secret. I just want you to be happy.”

She took a deep breath and sighed. “I say that, but I’m probably a hypocrite. Look at me. Caught between two best friends and doing a real bang-up job trying to solve it.”

“Bluey it’s alright you’re just not ready to choose, and besides not choosing is also a choice. I’m sorry that you’re in a situation as well. Maybe mum and dad could help both of us.” Bingo didn’t wanna say it but she really thought that Honey would be the better option since Mackenzie almost definitely wouldn’t give up Coco due to the pregnancy. 

Bluey nodded slowly and awkwardly rubbed her arm. “Yeah . . . I was planning on telling Mum and Dad about everything that happened since yesterday. I don’t want to hide from them, especially since I ended up ditching school today because I just wasn’t in the right place to be taking notes in class . . .”

The elder Heeler rubbed her arm a few more times, looking around, almost like she wanted to avoid what was currently on her mind, but she figured that not only was Bingo a much more neutral party, but she felt it was fair since she had expressed her opinion about her sister’s relationship with Lila.

“You pretty much know everything, Bingo . . . I guess . . . I’m curious to know what you think . . . about . . . yeah.”

“I think it would be harmful to tell you what I think until you decide on your own. If I said go for Mackenzie you could end up breaking up what could be a really strong relationship but if I say go for Honey then you might end up missing out on Mackenzie entirely if something caused him and Coco to take different paths.”

Bingo was on the verge of giving her the answer she thought was right but Bluey would have to be more abrasive for it.

As if in answer to that, Bluey wiped a tear from her eye and looked back at her directly, her expression searching. “I know . . . that’s what I’m afraid of, but . . . like . . . do you think I should pick one?”

Bingo gave a sigh and looked her straight in the eyes unblinking for a minute. She wanted to not say it but her sister has asked again and the fact she might cry again hurt her. “Honey.”

Bluey did indeed shed some tears, but she didn’t break down completely. She rubbed her arm some more to try and comfort herself and she gave Bingo another small smile. “I appreciate the honesty, Bingo . . . it helps.”

Bingo didn’t stay still, she stood up and hugged Bluey tightly. She wanted to be there for her sister and wanted to help her through what she was going through but she felt like she slightly messed with it more. “Bluey listen, no matter who you choose, feelings are going to be hurt. But you’re a great friend so I know you’ll make the right choice and you’ll help your other friend as well. You’re a great friend and the best big sister.”

That sent Bluey back over the edge and she started sobbing. She kept feeling like she was making all of the wrong decisions and she hated that she felt trapped. Bingo reassuring her that she was a good friend and a good sister was something she had really needed to hear.

“Thank you, Bingo. You’re the best sister I could have asked for. I love you.”

When Bluey had calmed herself down again, she took a steady breath and said, “You’ve helped give me things to think about . . . I . . .” She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “I’m honestly feeling drained from . . . all of it. I think I ought to maybe lay down and take a nap . . . maybe talk to Mum and Dad later over dinner or something.”

"Alright Bluey head to bed then. I have a bit of homework I have to do as well as text Lila about some stuff. Are you sure you'll be alright?"

Bluey smiled and nodded. “Yeah . . . I’ll be alright. Are you going to be okay?”

"Yeah don't worry about me, Bluey. You just sleep well." She then pulled back from her and grabbed her backpack as she headed upstairs into her own room so that she could do her homework leaving Bluey to do what she had to do.

	Bluey went and took a long drink of some ice-cold water, and then by contrast, she went and took a long, hot shower. For the first time since this morning, she felt like she could finally just breathe and not have to be caught up in anything. The hot water soaked into her fur and relaxed a lot of the tension in her body, and she was finally able to clean off the results of her intense dream involving Mackenzie.

	While doing so, she ended up reflecting on that dream a lot more, how she had felt and subsequently everything that had happened between her, Honey and Mackenzie after. She was simultaneously glad that she had chosen to be honest with Honey instead of lying to her, but at the same time felt guilty over it. And she then thought about Bingo, and how her sister personally felt that between her two friends, she’d be better off trying to pursue something with Honey. History being clear in hindsight . . . maybe it would have been better to have lied to Honey. Save her just a little more heartache, after she had gone through so much already. 

	Bluey ended up completely crashing until she had been gently woken up by her parents who had come to announce that dinner was ready. Although she felt very tired still, emotionally she felt a bit better, and she decided that it was still best to talk to her parents and tell them everything that had happened. And she did. She went through everything since she had originally stayed the night at Honey’s, all the way until she had gotten home and passed out. 

	Bluey felt very safe admitting everything to her parents, because she knew that her parents would understand. Of course, they weren’t happy that she had decided to skip school, but they both iterated that taking a mental health day was a fair decision . . . just . . . to please not make a love triangle a reason to keep taking off, and Bluey promised that she wouldn’t turn it into a habit. Both of her parents were completely comfortable with being told that Honey was gay, and neither of them had anything negative to say about the possibility of their daughter dating another girl. Bluey had never actually had a conversation about this specifically, mostly because she had had crushes on only guys up to this point, so she felt relief all the same knowing for sure that her parents wouldn’t mind, and she hoped that secretly, it’d give Bingo a bit of relief too if and when she decided to tell them about Lila.

She posed the same question to them as she did to Bingo, asking for their honest opinions on what she should do, and they both felt that maybe it was better to either go with Honey, or to remain neutral and choose neither. At least, for the time-being. Their main concern with her choosing Mackenzie was simply because of the relationship he had with Coco. They both loved Mackenzie and they commended him for choosing to do the right thing given his mistake, but even if he and Coco chose to pursue different relationships, they would still be permanently tied together by their child, and that would always have potential consequences, which could get especially awkward since all of them were supposed to be friends. The only way that could change is if Coco made the decision to have an abortion or to put the child up for adoption, and Chilli in particular expressed a strong hope that the former option wasn’t done. Given her mum’s personal history with fertility and how long it took to finally have her and her little sister, and given her mum’s sister Brandy, who had never been able to have children of her own, it was understandable that the idea of willingly terminating a pregnancy had never sat well with her.

Bluey lay in bed awake for a while that night, mulling over everything that her parents had said. That was now her mum, her dad, and her sister all saying to either remain neutral . . . or to try things with Honey . . . and the longer she thought about it, the more she did have to admit to herself that there was a small part of her that honestly felt curious. What would a relationship between her and Honey look like? As she finally started to drift off to sleep, the last thing she recalled thinking about was that accidental kiss between the two of them only just that morning.

The next day, Bluey still felt awkward, but compared to before, she felt much better. She took both her and Bingo to school, the both of them a bit thankful that today marked the middle of the week, so they could start looking forward to the weekend. As they pulled into the school parking lot, just before they got out of the car, Bluey looked over to Bingo and gave her a small smile. “Have a good day at school, sis. And good luck with Lila.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar car pulling in not far away. Honey. Bluey took a deep breath to steady herself. She had made the decision to say something to her.

Honey didn’t have a sister like Bingo so her healing was a little slower once she had returned home the previous day. Once she had gotten there and walked through the door it felt like a darkness had set in and the quiet was deafening to her. Her heartbeat started to rise as she began panting before her mother peaked her head through the kitchen door with a smile. She ran to her and hugged her tightly basically begging that she’d never stop loving her.

They had a long talk, well it started out as a long talk from her mother about the importance of school and work but once she saw that Honey looked to be getting worse she dropped that. She asked her about what was making her feel so down and that’s when she told her mother that she was gay and loved Bluey. Her mother grabbed her paw and held it while looking into her eyes and explained that she would always be accepted by her parents no matter who she liked. 

That’s when she explained what all had happened the previous day, skipping school, the rug, Mackenzie and Coco, every little thing that happened her mother listened to without interrupting. Honey was happy about it and once she was done her mother excused herself to get some tea. She returned to where Honey was seated and handed her a cup of tea just how she liked it.

Daisy explained as best as she could that she was proud of her for helping Bluey the way she had and that she did a good thing treating her how she had but that she should also worry about her own mental health as well at the same time. She said nothing of the rug but she did express her disappointments that Mackenzie had gotten Coco pregnant but then she said she was proud that he’d stuck with her. Honey felt like there was a roller coaster that everyone went on when she talked about her feelings. 

It made her feel like she should keep them in or lessen them so that their impact wasn’t that bad. She sipped her tear and sighed as her tail wagged and she felt all her tightness slowly ease. She thanked her mother for helping and just sat there drinking her tea while thinking everything over. Sifting through her memories just to work everything over until she was once again just left thinking about Bluey which slightly saddened her. 

Would Bluey ever really like her? Would she be able to get over her feelings for the Collie they’d known for so long? If she did, would the Heelers family accept her? Probably was the answer to the last question she asked herself. She was out of tea before she knew it and that caused her to put the cup back onto the tray her mother had brought out before she stood and walked into her room and laid down to let herself really destress. 

It was like a heavy stone was on her shoulders but having talked to her mother the feeling had lessened though not dissipated. She wasn’t sure how long she laid there before she passed out but once she woke up she felt quite a bit better. She’d never really needed as much sleep as others to refresh her but as she looked towards the dark sky outside she was taken back to when she’d had Bluey here to coddle her due to the storm and now she felt so alone and small. She checked her phone slightly hoping for a text from Bluey but once she saw the time she sighed.

2 am was when she’d woken up, almost 11 hours of sleep and now she was not going to go back to sleep so she sat on her bed and thought things over once more. It was as if life was throwing her a curveball with Mackenzie then a straight shot when Coco came into the picture. She still felt Mackenzie would have been better for Bluey but it didn’t matter since she saw him sticking with Coco no matter what but that saddened her more, he shouldn’t have to settle because of what happened. 

She didn’t hear her parents leave or the birds chirping until her alarm went off. She looked at it then the window to see the sun just over the horizon. She’d just lost another 5 hours to thought, that was strange to say the least. She got off her bed and took herself a cold shower, it was nice since she was still feeling hot from the day before when she’d tried releasing her pent up feelings with her own paw but it’d failed due to Mackenzie invading her thoughts.  

Once she got out she decided that she wanted to look really pretty. She dried herself before walking into her room and putting on her favorite outfit she was always afraid to wear. She hadn’t ever worn it to school but for Bluey’s attention she would. She gathered her things after she was dressed and walked out of her house, locking the door behind her, then getting into her car and started on her way to school.

She pulled in and eyed Bluey once she was close enough to see her. She turned away and gave a soft sigh as she looked down at herself and then to Bluey. She got out of the car and gathered her things from the back seat before locking her car up. She gave a faint smile to Bluey not knowing what to say as she walked over so she simply waved.

Bluey took the time that it took for Honey to walk over to her to think over one last time the things she wanted to say. For one thing, she was relieved that Honey had smiled at her and was walking over to begin with; a part of her had feared that she had driven the Beagle a little too far and she would’ve wanted to keep some distance. But in watching her walk over, Bluey paid attention to how she looked. Honey looked like her sleep had gotten a little messed up . . . which was fair, Bluey had the exact same thing. However, that seemed to matter none because of how she looked in the dress she was wearing. It caught the Heeler a little by surprise, because she never recalled Honey wearing that particular piece before. Was it brand-new? It was . . . genuinely quite captivating.

“Morning, Honey,” Bluey greeted once Honey got closer. She gave her a small wave, feeling awkwardness already setting in. Her tail swished a little from nervousness. “How are you feeling?”

“Honestly, I feel a little better today though I am a little tired. How are you feeling?” Honey wanted to hurry the chat up as she felt unnatural in such an outfit but it was so comfortable that she didn’t mind it too much. 

“Same, to be honest, my sleep is a bit messed up because I passed out too early,” Bluey replied with a small laugh. She waited a beat before she said, “You look really pretty in that dress, Honey. It looks amazing. Is it new? I don’t remember you wearing it before.”

“I slept quite long. I went to bed about 30 minutes after school let out and didn’t wake up till 2 am.” She gave a soft laugh in return as she looked down at herself as she felt her heartbeat quicken. “I-It’s not that new I just couldn’t bring myself to wear it… It felt right today though. Could we head inside? I feel a little anxious outside right now wearing something new.”

“Of course, Honey,” Bluey answered. She paused, her tail swishing again, before quickly adding, “But, uh, do you think you’d be willing to talk sometime? Just the two of us? It doesn’t have to be right now, I just, uh, really want to say something, if that’s okay . . .”

“Yeah we can talk whenever you want. I could stand a little longer out here if you wanna get it off your chest right now.” Honey giggled while watching Bluey’s tail wag, it was a little funny sometimes that she could tell how she was feeling just by that alone.

Bluey felt a small tingle go up her spine and it was like her fur slightly rippled in a wave up her body. Her heartbeat quickened. She was . . . she was actually doing this. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before saying, “I . . . just really, really wanted to clear the air from yesterday. I feel embarrassed and upset at myself for what happened. I know you told me to not worry about it, but . . . I’ve honestly been really thinking about everything, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it all night . . .”

The Heeler briefly looked away, just to check and see if anyone else was in earshot, and after feeling no one was, she continued, “There’s something I want to ask you and I don’t know how right this is or if I ought to be doing this after what’s just happened, but . . . I . . .” Another deep breath. “Honey . . . would you consider going on a date with me?”

Honey felt like she was going to have a heart attack from just how much her heartbeat sped up. Her cheeks began burning as she stared at Bluey for a few moments. There was no way that she just asked her on a date, a real actual date. Was she trying to make up for what all had transpired the day before? Was she thinking that maybe she would realize that the crush wasn’t a big deal? That one didn’t make sense. When did Honey even have time for a date? 

She thought ahead a few days, Friday after school, if she worked her ass off today so that she could catch up and once again surpass her peers in her geniusness. She gave a nod not being able to talk as she knew she’d stammer and trip over her words. 

Bluey felt a huge surge of energy when Honey had nodded her head and her own heart pounded in her chest. She started laughing and giggling a bit just to burn off a modicum of the energy that she had just gotten, and she had to work to calm herself again. She had decided to just start with asking her, because she knew that if she tried to really lead into it she would have started stumbling way too much over her words and she probably would have botched the whole thing. In the wake of actually asking the question, she tightly wrapped her arms around Honey in a crushing hug.

Honey smiled and held her own arms around Bluey which calmed her slightly. It was crazy to think that she actually wanted to go on a date with her. A sigh escaped her lips before she was able to speak. “W-we should probably head inside now Big Blue. I have to catch up on a lot of work.”

Right right right, sorry,” Bluey said as she released her. She took another breath and let it out in an excited huff as she grabbed her book bag from her car, grinning at Honey, hardly believing that she had genuinely asked her out on a date. “I’ll need to make sure I catch up on the missed work too, haha . . . but that shouldn’t be hard . . . not when you’ve always made such a good tutor.”

“I barely did anything to help you aside from give you some of my notes. I guess thank you for the compliment though.” Honey clutched her bag string for a moment before walking over and hugging Bluey once more. “Thank you for being so cool, Blue. I’ll see you in math” She pulled back and then rushed off towards the school doors as she was ready to finish all the extra bs she had to do. 

Bluey held back for a few good moments, standing there and catching her breath as she felt a rush from having asked Honey out. She had never done that before, to anyone. The feeling wasn’t something she could accurately describe, and she was happy, nervous, paranoid, and excited all at the same time. There was a part of her that still couldn’t believe she did that, but . . . no . . . she actually did. Holy shit. Wow!

The Heeler noticed that her tail was now wagging quite happily and she made herself quit it, lest the whole school start seeing her like that. She then made her way to her first class where her teacher greeted her cordially, and much to her relief, still played along with the whole “sick” routine, telling her to take it easy and giving her a packet of all the material that she had missed from yesterday, along with yesterday’s homework. This would be repeated with her other classes, and eventually she found herself in mathematics. She took her place at her assigned seat, and Chloe and Pretzel both greeted her, asking how she was feeling and telling her they missed her the other day. Thankfully, Bluey was now feeling quite well from all of her renewed excitement, and was able to convincingly be happy in front of her other friends.

It was interesting, to say the least. Math class. Where Honey had asked Bluey if she wanted to hang out and study at her place just a few days ago. It seemed so much longer than it actually was. But the Heeler felt a lot more positive about things now, despite the nerves.

Honey was quite nervous once she entered her first class and explained that she had been sick the previous day. Her teachers were quite hard on her normally but today she had been given a chance to make up her work and the work she was supposed to be due today could be homework. Honey was both relieved and mortified due to the amount of work she was normally demanded to do in the time limit of the class. 

It was much the same for each class after and by the time Honey got to math class she debated skipping and going on a study hall trip so that she could start catching up on the work but she couldn’t help but wonder how Bluey was doing now. She put her papers and books into her locker before pulling out her math binder and closed her locker. She looked at the binder for a moment before smiling. She then walked to math class and took her seat next to Chloe and Pretzel who greeted her much the same as they had to Bluey. 

Honey looked happy despite the fact she felt worried about all the work she’d already had to do and what was going to have to be done tonight so that she wouldn’t get into trouble. 

Honey sat there looking around before she put her cheek on her paw and looked at the board disinterested. Boring as it was, it was still the start of what had caused both the most stressful and most important days of her life thus far. She smiled at Bluey for a moment before opening her binder and flipping to a page to begin drawing.

Bluey returned the smile to Honey and then had to focus her attention on the current lesson. It was easier said than done, given her thoughts drifting to the idea of going on a date with Honey. She had never been on a date before, and she didn’t know exactly what she should do. There was a part of her that knew it was dumb, that there wasn’t anything for her to be stressing out over, and that there wasn’t any need to make it fancy or complicated. It was a simple date, and it was with Honey. That being said, it was a natural uphill battle to focus on something like math, which was far, far less exciting.

Honey didn’t have trouble listening in and drawing at the same time. She didn’t know what she was going to draw when she started but now it was starting to resemble Bluey though she was wearing a nice suit instead of normal girly clothes. Honey let off a little snicker which caused the teacher to glance over to see who it was. He knew that Honey had already done the work but it seemed highly disrespectful to be sitting there not paying attention so he sat there and watched her while she was drawing though she had no idea as she was in her own little world drawing Bluey now adding in little details that showed her on her front porch.

Bluey had heard Honey snicker as well, and was curious as to what the snicker had been about. But she then noticed that their teacher had also definitely heard it because he was eyeing her. Worried that he might call Honey out and put the spotlight on her, Bluey raised her paw and tried asking a question, hoping that it would distract him.

It didn’t matter that Bluey raised her paw as the teacher shook his head and pointed to her as if to say that he wanted her attention. Honey’s drawing was just about finished and she was moments away from flipping to a new page to not get caught.

Crap. The teacher was dead set on getting Honey’s attention. Bluey glanced back at her, and seeing that she appeared distracted, she didn’t want things to get any worse. After waiting for a few seconds longer, she gently whispered, “Psst. Honey.”

Honey had just turned the page to a fresh one far enough into her notebook that no marks could be seen right before Bluey got her attention. At first she didn’t look up assuming that she would just say whatever she wanted and that would be that but after a few moments of not hearing the teacher also she looked up and saw everyone looking at her. Her panic set in as she was now lost and needed to find what was the cause of the staring. She hated when she got lost in inspiration and this was why. 

She stammered for a moment before looking at the board and reading the equations that were on the board but none of them fit together. She had already solved each one separately but nothing about that made sense. “T-Twelve?” It was the answer that she got from adding all the numbers together and it was all that she could come up with. 

The teacher looked at the board and then back at Honey. “No Honey, well yes those all add up to 12 but I wanted your attention not the answer to the equations. What were you doing over there anyway?” Honey didn’t answer and just shrugged, there was no way she was going to admit that she’d drawn Bluey in a tuxedo and imagined taking her to a restaurant, even a normal one. “I was just, ya know, trying to keep up with you…” 

The teacher didn’t buy it and began walking over, he was going to look through her notebook. Honey knew he was gonna try but she didn’t have a way to stop him. She looked around at her friends from Chloe, to Pretzel, then to Bluey. The first two shrugged and shook their heads so she silently pleaded to bluey as the teacher got closer.

Bluey internally panicked because she could see how anxious Honey was getting. What was she going to do? She didn’t want to do anything to fight with their teacher, but she wanted to do something to help Honey avoid getting in trouble or being embarrassed. Had she been drawing? Was that it? Maybe if she could just buy Honey just a little bit of time . . .

Right before the teacher would pass by her desk on his way to Honey’s, Bluey pretended to drop her book bag right in front of him. “Oops! Sorry, sir!”

Honey watched the teacher eye her down until Bluey dropped her back and made a loud thud which caused him to look down for just long enough to switch binders with Pretzel who gave her a soft smile to try to comfort her. She was quick to open it to the right page right before he looked up and walked the rest of the way around Bluey. 

He saw all the notes and gave a shake of his head. “What was so funny about taking notes?” “I just thought of a funny joke sir.” “Well you already have me over here so I would like to hear the joke.” Fuck Honey thought. “A blind man walked into a bar, then a table, then a chair.” Everyone in the classroom giggled and snickered but the teacher didn’t. “Pay attention Honey.” With that he walked back up to the board to continue writing math equations and such.

Bluey breathed out a sigh of relief, glad that Honey hadn’t gotten in any trouble. She looked back at her and gave her a thumbs-up.

She gave a soft sigh as she thumbs-upped back before swapping back with Pretzel and then opened her binder and showed the picture to Bluey with a slight smile.

Bluey studied the drawing and could feel her cheeks get warm as she recognized it was a drawing of her. And Honey had made her look rather handsome in that tux . . . huh . . . Bluey hadn’t thought of herself wearing a tux before . . . not bad at all. She rather liked it. She smiled back at Honey with a mixture of shyness and admiration as she used her hands to form a heart.

Honey’s eyes went wide as she placed her binder down and looked down at it as her cheeks started to burn. She put her paws under the table for a moment before slightly lifting them in the shape of a heart as well. 

Bluey admittedly felt a little giddy. Honey had always been really sweet and cute to her, but it was like there was just something even more adorable about it now. Maybe it was just residually coming from her excitement over having actually asked her out on a date, but whatever it was, she was happy. Chloe passed her a small note that asked, “What’s up with you and Honey, Bluey?”

Bluey stifled a bit of giggling lest she get their teacher’s attention again, and replied back, “Not even entirely sure, it’s new to me! But I asked Honey out on a date this morning!”

Chloe blinked in surprise when she read that, but she grinned at the both of them. She had long suspected Honey of harboring feelings for Bluey, so she was happy to see that it looked like things were progressing in her favor, and she was glad for the both of them.

Honey didn’t do anything else. She couldn’t or she might get in trouble for real. She owed Pretzel a favor now as was her code so she would uphold that. The rest of class for her was boring but soon enough it was time for class to end. She wasn’t distracted by a day dream this time but she was distracted by thoughts of what to do. Her body acted on autopilot and she stood and grabbed her binder while everyone else stood and walked out with the crowd. It was strange for her now. She wanted to hold Bluey’s paw but was that right? She’d only asked her on a date not like to be her girlfriend but dogs who went on dates were usually boyfriend and girlfriend, this case would have been girlfriend and girlfriend, but She knew that Bluey still harbored her feelings towards Mackenzie. 

She didn’t even realize that she was standing at the back door to the student parking until she came out of her thoughts and looked around. Wow that was strange she’d never done that much on autopilot before. She stood and looked back before moving out of the way as she realized she didn’t have her bag or her school work turned into homework. She rushed back to her locker to retrieve it.

Bluey had just finished retrieving things from her own locker, double-checking to make sure she had all of her makeup assignments because she intended to work hard this evening on getting them all done and catching up. As she closed her locker she glanced down the hallway and noticed that Honey was at hers, so she decided to walk over and say hello.

Honey’s backpack was more than full and she groaned as she held it before putting it on her back. She noticed Bluey and felt herself growing shy again. What was this? She was completely fine talking to her yesterday and the day before. Was a date this serious in her head that she felt like she had to be worried about what to say? “H-hey Big Blue.”

“H-Hey, Honey,” Bluey replied, letting out a short giggle to try and relieve some excited tension. Her tail was wagging a bit behind her, which she wished it wouldn’t. “Guess it’s gonna be a nice, long night of schoolwork for the both of us.”

Honey gave a deep sigh and nodded as she moved her head to look at her backpack. “I would say that you could come over so I could help you but this might take me all night. I would love to have you over though…” She shut her locker and leaned against it. “How much work do you have?”

“Well, definitely not as much as you do, given all of your advanced classes, but a lot for me compared to my normal workload, haha.” She paused and awkwardly cleared her throat. “I’d love to come over too . . . but, I wouldn’t want to distract you. Maybe it’s best if we don’t . . .”

“Maybe it is but I might like a break every now and again.” Honey stood and began walking towards the back door again though she stopped and waited for Bluey after a couple steps. 

Bluey started moving as well and walked along beside her. “Ha . . . well, I certainly wouldn’t want you to have to slog through all of that work by yourself . . . I wouldn’t want to, either . . .”

“Well then come over after you drop Bingo off or do some of your work then bring the rest over if you’d like. I have to go get started on all this though. Wanna walk to our cars together?”

Bluey nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’d love to!”

As they got outside into the parking lot, Bluey sent Bingo a text. “Hey sis, just checking if you’re ready to go home. I’m gonna go over to Honey’s house so the both of us can catch up on all of the homework we missed from yesterday, so if you need a ride back I’d like to get going soon.”

Bluey looked back over to Honey and asked, “So . . . I know you agreed to go on a date, but . . .” She laughed. “I don’t think we ever agreed on a time and  place.”

Bingo sent a quick text back. “I’ll be out in just a minute. I’m getting my bag.” Bingo hated that she couldn’t stay longer but Bluey had plans so she had to go. She had been on the way to a meetup with Lila to talk to her but she texted her that she couldn’t make it and had to leave. She figured she’d understand so she ran to her locker and grabbed her homework, books, and book bag before rushing for the back door and towards the car. 

Honey looked at Bluey and blushed a little before thinking about it momentarily. “Well honestly Bluey anywhere you wanna go will be fine. Fridays I don’t usually have any homework so I could be ready around 5 or 6 if that would work for you. We can talk about it then where you wanna go, be it to eat or whatnot.”

Bluey nodded. “Yeah! Yeah, Friday would be perfect, I’m totally okay with that . . .” The Heeler paused and seemed to think about something for a moment before adding while offering out her paw, “Would you like to hold paws?”

Honey could have fainted right there due to how hot she suddenly felt though she still stuck her paw out and wrapped it around Bluey’s. Fuck it felt good to hold hers. It wouldn’t be long lived but she didn’t really care all that much. Soon enough they were at the cars and Honey held tighter not wanting to let go though in the next moment she let go due to knowing she had to get started on the work. 

“Guess I’ll see you in a little while.” As she said that she looked at her almost as if she wanted to do something more but unlike Bluey she couldn’t and wouldn’t ask. 

Bluey studied Honey for a few moments more and it quickly dawned on her that the Beagle looked like she really wanted to do one thing more before they parted ways. Would it . . . be okay here? They hadn’t even gotten to their first date yet . . . but . . . they technically already did it, so . . . 

Well, Honey had asked for this very thing as payback for the ice cream. And obviously this would be a bit better than a simple peck on the cheek.

With her heart starting to beat quickly, Bluey wordlessly pulled Honey closer to her and kissed her on the lips.

Honey wanted it so bad but she was still taken by surprise so it took her a couple seconds to reciprocate it and kiss back. It caused her tail to wag side to say at a blinding speed and her paws clenched as she desperately wanted to hold her paws but didn’t due to worry. 

	Bingo walked up a few seconds into the kiss and waited a few more moments before cleaning her throat to get her sister’s attention. “I’ll be in the car waiting. Take your time, love birds.” Bingo then opened and closed the door after she climbed in and put her things in the back.

Bluey purposefully held the kiss. It was likely only for a few good seconds, but it felt like she was holding Honey there for much longer. She took the Beagle’s paws into her own and affectionately squeezed them. She wanted to know what it felt like, to truly, authentically kiss someone. To kiss them, hold onto them, cherish them in a moment locked together. This wasn’t just a small, quick, dream-confused mishap anymore. This was a real kiss. Her first real kiss. And the Heeler was finally able to experience how it felt.

Like that kiss the other morning, Honey was soft and warm, but this time Bluey was able to take in so much more. The actual feel of Honey’s lips on her own. The hint of a taste that she couldn’t quite describe. The sound and feel of her breathing. And Bluey could feel her own tail wagging as she felt a happiness fill her. And she was happy because she was enjoying the experience. She had been afraid that she wouldn’t, and she always had the passing fear of having to turn Honey down completely. But this? This was nice. She liked this. And that gave her a lot of hope for things going forward.

She was a bit breathless when they finally broke apart, and she couldn’t help but giggle as she said, “Thanks for the ice cream yesterday, it was delicious.”

Honey was lost for words, her face was red and her tail was a blur behind her once they separated. She stared at Bluey and tried to speak but only got off a few soft stutters. Everyone in the parking lot had been staring at the kiss and a few had snapped a pic of two but everyone was now leaving as they should have. “Y-yeah…” It was all Honey could manage after it.

She really felt Bluey this time. She looked down at her paws that felt tingly and licked her lips of the blue heeler’s flavor. It was intoxicating and was driving her slightly crazy as she stood there not wanting to be the first to leave as if she was running but she had nothing to say to Bluey so she should leave, Right? She smiled at Bluey then frowned softly as she pointed at her car and backed up a little until she bumped into the door.

Bluey couldn’t help but find Honey to be incredibly cute and adorable here, getting as flustered as she was. Like . . . she now understood what it meant to be at a loss for words, but this was still just too cute to her, so the Heeler felt emboldened to keep making moves. But she understood that Honey needed to leave, so she settled for darting forward, giving her a quick hug and kissing her on the cheek. “I’ll be over just as soon as I drop Bingo off at home, okay? We’ll be together soon, haha.”

Honey gave a soft hug in return before turning around and pinching herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Just yesterday there was the whole debacle with Mackenzie and now Bluey was acting as if they were already dating for awhile. It was extremely nice. She walked around to the other side of her car and got into it before leaning back into her seat with a huge smile. Screw the homework she needed that kiss and now she needed to come down from the high that it brought her.

She waited for Bluey to leave before pulling out of the parking lot and driving home. It was surreal as she still felt Bluey’s lips against hers and she kept licking relishing in the flavor and what it felt like. Her paws were around hers and she had kissed her so well. Honey sped up, she was gonna blaze through this work then she’d do Blueys for her then… They could cuddle… 

Bluey drove away in a half-daze. It took her a bit to realize that she was buzzing with excitement and her paws were gripping the steering wheel tightly and trembling—but in a good way. She wore a smile on her face that was a mixture of happiness, dreaminess and relief. “I . . . I can’t believe I just did that, holy . . .”

Bingo rolled her eyes and smiled before gently hitting her sister's arm. “Hey doofus everyone in the whole school saw you do that.” Bingo giggled softly and looked at her. “Hope you’re ready to be the talk of the school now, the most sought after girl with the high tier nerd, people are gonna assume you’re doing it for the grades.”

Honey arrived home and watched as she put one step in front of the other one at a time with a giddy aura to her. She loved how she felt but she knew she had to get to her homework soon or else they’d be doing it all night. She rushed inside and waved to her mother before tossing her bag on her bed and pulled out her homework before leaning against the wall and began working. She would do the hardest and work towards the easiest. History was first.

Bluey dropped Bingo back off at home and then made the now-familiar trek to Honey’s house. Bingo’s words to her did echo in her head . . . yeah . . . she hadn’t exactly been discreet with that kiss, and she hadn’t been paying close attention to who had witnessed it. There was a part of her that felt like maybe she shouldn’t have just dived in like that, but another part of her just felt like she had to know what genuinely kissing Honey was like. In all of her thinking the previous night, she had convinced herself that she absolutely could be happy with Honey, but she needed to know for sure since she had never kissed anyone before, let alone another girl. And she had felt afraid that if she tried dating Honey only to kiss her and felt like she didn’t like it, then she would’ve been leading Honey on and she hated that idea. And that was why she felt so relieved by that kiss. Now she was a lot more confident that she could honestly give Honey a chance, and that was something she felt the Beagle deserved, not a bunch of what-ifs and lies.

Bluey made it to her house with ease and then texted Honey to let her know she had arrived as she got out of the car.

Honey was so focused on the homework that she didn’t hear the text. It was hard going through her brain for each historical event and how she was taught that they happened. She was only on the first page out of four, it was really going to take her all night for this. Her mom called her and told her that Bluey was here since she could see from the kitchen window. So Honey jumped up and ran to the door and opened it before waving to Bluey. 

Bluey returned the wave and smiled enthusiastically. “Hey, Honey! I’m ready for a cram session. Let’s knock all of this crap out so we don’t have to worry about a thing this weekend!”

“I hope you’re ready to see some of my work, Bluey. Come on inside. I’ll get us some water so that we can have something to drink while we do.”

Bluey nodded. “You got it!” She stepped inside, waving and greeting Daisy as she did so before making her way to Honey’s room and setting her book bag down and getting out all of her school supplies.

Honey walked in after her and grabbed two waters before walking into the room with Bluey and handed her one before sitting on the bed and picking up her homework again. And then I sighed.as she looked over the problems and started filling them out again. 

Bluey glanced over at her. “Are you having a hard time at all, Honey?”

Honey nodded but didn’t say anything. She was concentrating as hard as she could so that she could finish but there were still two more pages of convoluted history questions that didn’t connect at all. She hated being in advanced history as that was her worst subject but she’d power through.

Bluey had always felt that Honey was way more academic than she was. The Blue Heeler did well for herself and she’d get good grades, but the sheer amount of studying and advanced classes that Honey would take out most other students to shame, and that was from all the way back when she had started secondary school. Honestly, the idea of a subject stumping Honey would be an idea that would terrify a lot of other students, and Bluey couldn’t help but be curious what could possibly be giving her trouble.

In a move of morbid curiosity, Bluey sat right beside Honey and looked over her shoulder at the material she was reading. Ah, it was History by the looks of it, and naturally it was an advanced class like everything else she was taking. Something that was a pleasant surprise however was that Bluey recognized the subject matter, thanks to her history nerd of a dad. 

“The question you’re on is a bit misleading, to be honest,” Bluey said, pointing it out. “It’s worded weird, but I’m positive it’s actually referring to this, because this event didn’t happen until here, then mention of this would make more sense.”

Honey was pleasantly surprised that Bluey was able to come in and help her with a question that was stumping her, and the way that she explained it was very easy to get… She put her paw on top of Bluey’s and gave a smile. “Thank you Bluey, History is a bit harder for me to figure out but I try my hardest. How are you coming on your work?”

Bluey laughed a little. “It’s coming,” she replied simply. “And trust me, I was surprised I was able to help you, Miss Highest GPA in the School. But, I guess ancient history especially has always been around me when my dad digs up bones for a living. One of his last papers that he published was about the time period right before this.”

She placed her other paw on top of Honey’s and returned the smile. “I know you’re always trying your hardest, Honey. You’re the most academic student I’ve ever known. No one has ever been able to touch you and your perfect grades. It’s one of the things I admire the most about you, you’re insanely smart.”

Honey leaned back with a sigh but despite how she felt about her schooling she smiled. “Insanely smart helps very little with a crush Baby Blue… Thank you for giving me a chance with that date. Any idea where you wanna go yet? I still need to figure out what I’ll wear…”

“You’ll look great in whatever, Honey . . .” Bluey cleared her throat. “Crush or not, you’ve always been really cute.”

Honey giggled softly as she sat back up and began doing the work again while thinking. She wanted to say something but she didn’t want to cause an awkwardness. She could feel it around her that she was giving off that same worried air as normal so she decided that she’d whisper it. “E-even if I was wearing nothing?...” She stared at her work harder, not daring to look at Bluey. 

Bluey could feel her cheeks start to burn and it was like her fur frizzled in a wave up her body. She didn’t know if Honey had meant her to hear that or not, but either way, she did. Was she meant to answer? Should she answer? She contemplated how she might respond, what she ought to say. A simple ‘yes’ might be succinct, but . . . it just seemed like a bit of a cheap answer to her here? Like, anyone could say that. Anyone who was even remotely interested in another person would gladly say they’d like to see that person naked, barring asexuality she guessed. After some further consideration, she recalled something she had wanted to tell Honey anyway, and felt it was better to say that instead.

The Blue Heeler was still working on her assignments, but she said, “There’s something I had been wanting to say, about . . . about that dream that I had had the other day. I . . . obviously told you about how it . . . ended. But. Something that I didn’t tell you was that you were in it, too.”

“O-oh really? What was I doing?” Honey was starting to feel herself getting warmer but she didn’t know if it was really a good thing or not since she didn’t know where Bluey was going to go. She’d been feeling needy since Bluey had had that dream and now she was here talking about it.

“You had actually been in the dream before Mackenzie showed up,” Bluey continued. “You had invited me out for ice cream, and said that you loved me and that we should go out on a real date. And I told you that maybe we should. I remember blushing at that.”

She waited a beat to get her thoughts in order and kept going. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized how easy and natural it had been to answer you like that. I didn’t feel surprised or uncomfortable or unsure or anything when you said those things to me. And I didn’t feel awkward at all responding to the idea of a date. It felt . . . good. It felt right.”

The Heeler finished the current assignment she had been doing and then finally moved her head to address Honey directly. “So, if you had been wondering why I had been rather bold in asking you out on a date and then kissing you . . . that’s why. I think the . . . I don’t even know what you want to call it—the ‘seed’ or whatever, for you, was always there, and I kissed you because I wanted to know for sure. You more than anyone didn’t deserve to think you were being strung along.”

She smiled warmly and lovingly. “And I’m happy to say that the dream pointed me in the right direction. I really enjoyed that kiss. I do . . . believe I feel the same way, Honey.”

Honey looked like she was about to cry but she was smiling while she did. It meant so much to hear those words from Bluey and as she finished her history she leaned over and hugged Bluey tightly. She didn’t need a kiss or a rub or anything. Bluey was here and admitted that she liked her. It felt amazing to hear and it always would. “Oh Baby Blue! I’m so glad that you feel that way. I don’t feel like I have you completely but I do feel like I could have you if you let me… Maybe that’s what the dates for huh..”

Bluey returned the hug, nuzzling her cheek and then burying her face into the crook of her neck. She really did love how warm Honey was. 

“That’s the second time you’ve called me that now,” she said with a small laugh. “Is that gonna be your new nickname for me?”

Honey’s throat vibrated as she responded. “Mmm hmm. I think it’s cute, almost as cute as you!~ Is it too much? I could go back to Big Blue!~” Honey felt as if it was necessary to give people nicknames and if they didn’t work out she felt she could always think of a better one. “Can we hold each other like this for a while?”

“We can stay like this for as long as you want,” Bluey replied, shifting herself so they could be more comfortable and scooting so she was even closer, wrapped together. “And I think it’s cute too . . . you give me a lot of cute nicknames. I need to think of something good for you.”

“I think I’m gonna stay with Baby Blue for a while. It sounds like it fits you perfectly.” Honey held onto her, her mind was reminding her of the work she had but her body wouldn’t move for awhile. She wanted this, no she needed this. Bluey was super important to her and she wouldn’t let go for a little while. “Would it be too early to say I love you? I mean I do and you know about my crush but I don’t wanna force you into anything.”

Bluey softly giggled and held Honey close to her. She savored holding onto her, taking in her warmth and the scent of her fur. Listening to her breathing, feeling her vibrate a little as she spoke. There was no secret here; Bluey was experimenting with all of this for the first time, and Honey knew that it wasn’t like Bluey was going to instantly develop this deep crush for her in only a day. 

“I’d like to hear you say it,” Bluey said quietly, barely above a whisper. And she did. But she felt the need to add, “I do want to say one thing though, Honey . . . I really hope you don’t think I’m taking this too fast for you. I . . . really don’t know what I’m doing . . . and I’m afraid you might feel like I’m just using you to rebound from Mackenzie . . . I’m afraid that’s what I could be doing . . . so I wouldn’t, I mean, just . . . I just don’t want you to feel like that. You’ve been so supportive of me and . . .”

She hugged her tighter. “I really don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t think that Bluey, I don’t think that at all. Honestly I feel like I’m moving too fast for you which is why I’m worried about saying it so much…” She held onto her with a soft smile before putting her head to hers. “I’ve never actually dated anyone so like we’re kinda both in uncharted territory. I want you to be happy above all else Baby Blue so tell me if you want to stop.” 

Honey wasn’t having any apprehension over dating Bluey it was more that she didn’t know if Bluey was actually gay… she said that she liked the kiss that they had but honestly maybe that was just because it wasn’t a chaste kiss done while one of them thought that they were sleeping and went into a crazy panic attack. “You feel so warm Bluey!”

Bluey squeezed her affectionately. “You’re really warm yourself, Honey! I really like this . . . it’s . . . comforting. It makes me feel like I can really relax. I don’t feel uptight or anxious, even though I know I have a ton of schoolwork to catch up on, haha.”

She cleared her throat. “Plus you’re . . . ahem. Really soft.”

Honey smiled and let out a soft sigh. She didn’t wanna work but she knew that she had to get it done if there was any chance the teacher would take it. “As much as I really enjoy this, I think that it’s time we got back to work.”  Though she said it she didn’t pull back one bit.

Bluey laughed softly. “And herein lies the mistake of us completing our assignments together, haha. I know we need to get it done too . . . but I don’t want to. Holding you feels really nice.”

“I know Baby Blue I shouldn’t have gotten you to come over. I just really enjoy holding you.” Her tail began to wag softly. “I also really enjoyed the kiss earlier… Thank you for it.” 

“You’re welcome for it,” Bluey replied. She half-broke them apart, holding her paws in her own. “Would . . . you like another one?”

Honey felt a flush come to her cheeks but she was more prepared this time. She gave a slight smile and nod before moving a little closer. “I-I’d love another one actually.”

Bluey moved forward with her and pressed her lips to hers, still holding one of Honey’s paws and interlocking their fingers together, and reaching around with her other hand and wrapping it around Honey’s waist. 

Having her arm around her waist made Honey feel a bit hotter. It was more intimate in her head and that caused her need for Bluey to rise once more. Honey held onto her upper arm while they kissed, wanting more but not having the will or bravery to ask. This would be enough, it had to be, there was no way she’d ask for her fingers right now it was almost certainly too much.

Bluey began to notice small changes in Honey’s demeanor. The feel of her breath coming out of her nose hit her just a little quicker. The squeezing of her hand on her arm. There was a slight tremble to her body. The Heeler initially thought it was just Honey enjoying the longer kiss, but she eventually switched to a different conclusion. It wasn’t simply the kiss. Bluey recalled Honey admitting to her intimate drawings, and she recalled what the Beagle had also been doing the other day. She felt she now understood.

She kissed Honey not once, but several times, and after a third time she moved her head to the side, kissed Honey on the cheek, and then moved even closer and whispered into her ear, “You want something more, don’t you?”

Honey felt extremely embarrassed about reflexively nodding but she looked at her opened door and tried her best to let Bluey know but her words were trapped behind breathlessness. Her body wasn't her own anymore as she moved her paw from Bluey's arm to her breast and squeezed it while grinning. 

Fuck. It was funny, because Bluey had somehow been surprised by Honey’s enthusiasm even though she shouldn’t have, in any way, been surprised by Honey’s enthusiasm. It should have been more than expected, frankly. But there it was, a gasp that she had to immediately control from being too loud as her breast was groped. All the times that she imagined such contact from someone just simply didn’t amount to much when it actually happened for the first time, and her fur stood on-end like someone had zapped her with electricity.

The Heeler hadn’t been entirely certain just how on-board she actually had been when she whispered into Honey’s ear, but that squeeze to her breast was a step in the right direction. She noticed that Honey had briefly looked away so she followed where her gaze had been and then realized her bedroom door was open.

Uh-oh. Nope. That wasn’t gonna do, not when Honey’s parents were home. Bluey got up from the bed and with a surprising amount of nimbleness sprinted to the door and then closed it before sprinting back to Honey and getting on the bed. She had to bite back laughter as she did so.

“That’s better,” she whispered with a grin. “So. About helping you so you can better concentrate on your schoolwork . . .”

The Heeler kissed Honey again, deeper than before, and alluringly wrapped both of her arms around her, one hand massaging up her back, the other down to her waist.

The moan resonated in Honey's ears before it was cut short. Fuck this was actually happening… FUCK! Bluey was going to do stuff to her that frankly she wouldn't have wanted from anyone else. As the door closed Honey let out a soft sigh before smiling to Bluey. "T-Thank you Baby Blue!~" 

Honey's voice was hushed to an almost inaudible level. Honey almost let out a moan of need before she was suddenly in another kiss with her lover's arms wrapping around her. Massaging Honey's back caused her to arch towards Bluey while the paw at her waist made Honey whimper with need.

Honey felt completely dirty now. This was her friend and though she'd asked to go on a date they'd never said they were in fact together. So why was Bluey doing this, and why was Honey letting it happen? She'd figure that out after they were done.

There was a part of Bluey that was questioning why she was being this bold with Honey this early. They hadn’t even gone on their date yet. They hadn’t even truly told each other that they were dating, that they were official. This was starting to feel like what she imagined happened between Bingo and Lila, which she still had some sisterly concerns over. Maybe . . . this wasn’t right? Was she actually taking advantage of Honey’s desire for her? She didn’t want to believe that was true. She felt like she was loving one of her best friends in a way that she had been hoping to be loved for a long time. And that was what Bluey decided to go with. Honey loved her dearly, and the Heeler wanted to show how much she meant to her. 

And certainly, this wasn’t entirely one-sided. Honey wasn’t the only one having a good time here. Bluey could feel herself getting warmer as her heart rate began to rise. She kissed Honey deeply multiple times in a row while using her paws to massage Honey’s body wherever they touched. She slowly brought up one of them to one of Honey’s breasts and began to squeeze and massage it.

Honey moaned into the kiss leaving her mouth open for Bluey. Her thoughts of pleasure and love were overweighting her thoughts of filth but they were persisting slightly. She was beginning to get really wet and Bluey hadn’t even touched her slit. It was crazy how fucking good she was making her feel though her stomach was beginning to tighten from worry of how big her fingers would actually feel. 
	
	She let her other paw copy Bluey’s by pressing against her shirt where it met her fur below her breasts. Honey was losing her mind with how great she felt and it caused her to shake slightly as she tried focusing on pleasuring Bluey as much as she was pleasuring her. The paw slowly moved downward towards the hem of Bluey’s pants wanting to dip in but she was worried that Bluey might not want her to. Her paw on her breast moved from it and then moved into her shirt to get closer to it.

	Bluey was now starting to feel aroused, she could feel that familiar blooming sensation in her lower body as she started to get wet. She took Honey’s invitation of an open mouth and dared to add her tongue, and the feeling of making out with her started accelerating her sense of excitement. She could feel Honey’s paw dip lower towards her pants. And now she had a choice to make. Did she let her? If she did this, there wasn’t really any going back, because there was no second-guessing what the Beagle was going to do if she undid her pants.

	. . . she . . .

	She took Honey’s paw and directly placed it right on the clasp of her pants.

	Honey’s paw shook in hers before it was placed on the clasp. Her mind was split between kissing Bluey back and undoing her pants. It was surreal what she was doing as she undid her pants carefully. Her other paw moved from her shirt to her skirt and undid the button that held them together. The fabric relaxed allowing all the access for the Blue Heeler.

	Once Honey’s paw returned into her shirt but this time she carefully scooped out the breast from her bra and began squeezing again though this time her thumb grazed over the nipple every so often.

	Finally Honey moved her other paw into Bluey’s pants and moved over her panties slowly up and down. Her heart was thumping and her cheeks were bruning. It was so close all she had to do was move it over and push her finger in… Could she though? She wanted to desperately and Bluey had put her paw on the clasp so maybe… She dared it and moved the panties out of the way and placed her fingertip against where she knew the entrance to be. She shook as her eyes began to water before she pressed the finger forwards into Bluey.

	Bluey had begun to moan softly due to the attention that her breast was receiving as she continued to make out with Honey. There was just something about how the Beagle was tasting to her at the moment that the Heeler was enjoying, and the way it felt locking lips, tongues touching, their exhalations on each other that was starting to heat up. She could feel her body heating up further as Honey began rubbing the outside of her sex, each slow pass of her hand making her more aroused and she became aware of a slowly-increasing desire to have something inserted inside of her.

	Bluey Heeler wasn’t a complete stranger to sexual things. She had taken matters into her own paws so to speak, usually when she was by herself, and that was because she had a tendency to be vocal when she was receiving pleasure. She wasn’t extremely loud (at least, she didn’t believe she was) but with her whole family being herding dogs, there had been more than one occasion where her parents or her sister would overhear her due to their sensitive hearing, and they have all teased her about it. This was something that passively occurred to her as she continued to engage with Honey, and she did feel a surge of embarrassment over the thought of her parents overhearing them, which is partly why she continued to make out with her in a small attempt at muffling her voice. The thought of getting caught was both terrifying and exciting at the same time, and her heart started to beat ever faster as a result.

	She knew it was going to happen. She felt Honey undo her pants. She felt Honey rub the outside of her sex. She felt Honey part her panties. And she felt Honey reach lower where she hesitated for a moment right outside. She knew it was going to happen. And yet, when Honey had moved forward and inserted her finger, it still managed to take her by surprise. Pleasuring herself with her own paws and getting pleasured by someone else were two different experiences, and the key reason for that difference was the element of surprise. Not surprising as in ‘shock and awe,’ it didn’t have to be something so dramatic. It was the simple fact that when pleasuring yourself, it’s with your own paw, your own decision-making, there is the understanding that every move you make, you know what move it is, and your body reacts accordingly. The sensation of something touching you that wasn’t being done firsthand by you alone, means that everything that’s felt is something that has a certain level of unexpectedness however small it is.

	Feeling Honey’s finger go into her and the sensation of her inner folds stretching to accept it caused her to very sharply take in a breath. She hadn’t considered just how different it’d feel having someone else do that to her, and that finger going in alone caught her by surprise. Her natural inclination was to let out a quick bark of pleasure, but the fear of that alerting Honey’s parents made her reign it in as best she could. She immediately locked her mouth with Honey’s and succeeded in muffling herself well, the rest of her breath being released through her nose in a strong huff. Her body felt extremely flush all of a sudden coming off of that initial sensation and that warmthness became fuller as she felt Honey’s finger go all the way in. 

	Bluey temporarily brought both of her paws up to cradle Honey’s face as she kissed her once again in an expression of intense affection, and she then moved her paws to Honey’s shoulders and gently coaxed her into moving to lying down on the bed, with Bluey now over her. She used one arm to keep herself propped up, and with her other paw she made a move to copy Honey. The paw traveled all the way down, massaging as it went, from her breasts, to her stomach, down into her skirt, and to her panties where she slowly toyed with her with the panties still on, going fully up and down over her sex, placing just a tiny bit of extra pressure each time she went over where Honey’s clit would be.

	Honey felt hot, feverishly hot, like her body was on fire but it felt so good. She was excited to feel that bark that was muffled by their kiss and the feeling of both of her friends' paws on her face, no she and Bluey were more than friends now… Even best friends didn’t do this together. Once her paws moved to her shoulders and pushed her over onto her back she felt all her resentments that this was wrong and that she shouldn’t let Bluey do this disappear. She felt the papers she was working on before crinkle against her back but she didn’t really care as she wanted to keep going, needed to keep going. 

	Honey let out a whimper and pressed a bit harder against her breast as she pressed against her clit each and every time. She was already wet, she already had all the pleasure she needed in even one of those fingers that she could feel teasing her. She pulled her paws back and removed her jacket and shit. She pulled from the kiss as she looked into Bluey’s eyes with pure admiration for just how far she was willing to go. 

	Honey felt very exposed at the moment and it took everything that she had to not cover her bra and stomach. She seemed like her bra was about to burst from hiding her real size and her stomach wasn’t exactly smooth and tight how she wished it. She was slightly chubby but now Bluey knew and that caused some of her body shame to ease up. She spoke in a whisper for a moment though she had to hold Bluey’s paw still. “B-Baby Blue! A-Are you sure?”

	Bluey stopped from going any further for several long moments, during which time she took in Honey’s words and then really took in what they were doing. Seeing the Beagle sprawled out beneath her, with one of her paws inserting itself into her, looking up at her with such a sincere expression. The look in her eyes, the tone of her voice. It impressed upon Bluey just how . . . pure Honey was. Maybe some would find that to be an overly-sentimental and cliche thing to say, but to Bluey it was the truth. It was a purity that came from such a deep place of affection and respect. It wasn’t a secret anymore, Honey knew that Bluey knew how bad her crush was, how badly she desired what they were doing right now. And yet there was still hesitation, a pause, she stopped her and wanted to make sure that this was something she truly wanted to do. And that really meant something to Bluey, thinking about how much Honey wanted her but even when it was all laid out at her feet she still hesitated. 

	Bluey paused in rubbing Honey’s sex and brought her paw back up and gently moved Honey’s bra up and over her breasts, fully exposing them. She stared down at the Beagle, taking all of her in. Soaking in the visual of her form, hearing her whimpering and excited breathing, feeling her breath on her face and the Beagle’s finger pleasuring her from the inside. And she gazed into her eyes, seeing herself reflected back in her glasses. She tried thinking of something to say, something to tell her. Something that, while it’d never be able to fully encompass everything she was feeling at this moment, would at least come somewhat close. 

And there, looking down at Honey and savoring everything about her, she chose to say, “You are so beautiful, Honey.”

Honey’s breasts were quite a bit larger than her bra size. She had d size and was wearing a b size. Her face was completely flushed and her glasses were slightly tilted which she fixed with her paw that was now free from her breast. Her breath was shallow and shaky but she was working on catching it while giving a failing smile to Bluey. Then she heard her words and gulped as she looked down at her sweaty body feeling her heat inside her own slit. Then she glanced back up at Bluey and let out a moan as she clenched wanting more. “R-Really?” 

Bluey smiled down at Honey and kissed her on the nose. “More beautiful than I think you know.”

The Heeler then reached down and pulled Honey’s panties down all the way to her ankles. As soon as she did so, she immediately got hit with the full smell of her sex, and just how aroused she was. Taking her paw again, Bluey massaged Honey’s outer lips and her clit for several long seconds before slowly, purposefully sliding straight down from her clit between her lips and to her entrance where she let herself inside.

Her reaction was immediate. The pressure of her sliding inside her sex was way more intense than she imagined. She threw her paw over her mouth as she clenched her eyes shut while they began watering. The paw did very little against her loud pleasured moan that rang out into Bluey’s ears. 

Honey clenched around Bluey’s finger as it was far larger than she though and it kind of hurt to have her inside her stretching her. Her body felt so tense and it was as if every fur on Bluey’s finger was a prickle of a cactus but she wanted it to stay inside her, to push and pull so in her now exposed state she ground against the finger trying to get it to move despite her clenching.

Honey’s moan excited Bluey both from how much it sounded from pleasure, and from nervousness that it was loud enough that her parents heard. Her heart pounded against her chest as she stared at the bedroom door for what felt like an eternity, but was likely only a few seconds. After not seeing it open or hearing anything from outside, the Heeler returned her attention to the Beagle she was pleasuring. The clenching of Honey’s sex around her finger was intense, and it surprised her a little at how much Honey was bucking. Although the moan that had escaped her sounded like she was feeling great, Bluey couldn’t help but worry that she was doing too much.

“A-Are you sure you’re okay, Honey?” she whispered. “Nothing hurts, right?”

Honey couldn’t open her eyes but her finger that was inside of Bluey moved back and forth once trying to encourage her to continue her fingering. It was intense, the pleasure that she felt but she also felt a new deeper connection to Bluey. She really really hoped that this wouldn’t change the tide of their relationship if something bad happened between them. She pulled her paw back gently hoping that the movement wouldn’t trip her up again. “I-It’s intense and your fur is prickly b-but I want you to keep going.”

Bluey hadn’t considered how her fur would affect the sensation. Both Heeler and Beagle fur were short, but Heeler fur was coarser, so while Honey’s paw felt rather smooth inside of her, evidently the story was a little different the other way around. A part of her felt a bit bad about it, but Honey was insisting that she continued, so Bluey chose to oblige.

Bluey took a moment to study how Honey was shifting her body to grind against her finger and then began moving that finger to act as a counter to that movement, so there would be a constant sensation. She probed Honey’s folds, searching and exploring as her sex continued to clench around her finger. After a bit of navigating, the Heeler believed she encountered a tiny area of different texture, and knew from self-experimentation to focus on that; she began repeatedly curling her finger so it would poke and prod and tug at that spot, and at the same time she used her thumb and reached it upwards to stimulate the external part of her clit. The technique was harder for the Heeler to do on herself, but the angle she was at with Honey made it easy for her to do here.

God it felt so good to be touched like this by Bluey. She was torn between focusing on biting back her moans and focusing on the pleasure that was coursing through her body at the moment. It was still prickly but from the wetness that she was letting out it was causing the fur to slide along her insides much easier. Honey wasn’t able to continue fingering Bluey in her current state as she was far more sensitive than she’d ever been before when doing this to herself. The assault on her g spot was beginning to cause her to feel lighter and begin seeing stars around Bluey’s head. Her eyes began to spin as she felt herself slipping from worry into pleasure. 

She was beginning to lose her grip and her moaning began to slip through due to it. She couldn’t help it due to how good Bluey seemed to be. “B-Baby Blue more!~” Her voice was full of sultry and lusty sounds. She was barely keeping herself quiet but the more that she slipped the more that her voice turned to normal volume and if they weren’t careful she’d be screaming out within minutes.

Bluey was relieved that Honey was clearly enjoying herself, but the Heeler did feel like with how loud she was getting, she had best do something to at least try and keep things down, especially since Honey was asking for more. The answer Bluey had to sort of answer both was to return to making out with Honey, doing her best to muffle her moans. It was funny in a way, because Bluey thought that she’d be the one more in danger of getting too loud. But no matter. In a different way, it made Bluey feel very positive about herself, because her goal from the beginning was to show Honey how much she truly appreciated her for all of the things that she’s done, and the sounds she was making made her believe she was achieving that. 

After doing as she was for another minute, Bluey decided to further Honey’s desire for more by lowering her body so she and Honey were pressed against each other without putting her full weight on her and allowing her to continue fingering her, and to that, she dared to add an additional finger.

Honey’s eyes shot open wide as a white light took over her vision. Adding a second finger hurt so bad but at the same time it caused her to feel like she was in heaven. The pleasure that spread through her by her being stretched was becoming too much as she clenched up harder around the first finger and newly added one. She let out a cry of pleasure into the kiss as she arched up into Bluey’s body while she began to cum. 

	Her pussy convulsed over and over as her juices flowed out against Bluey’s fingers and then down her legs and onto the bed. It was far more intense than anything that she’d done to herself and honestly she was content with it. Her head was mush at the moment and she couldn’t think of anything but what the Heeler had just done to her. She wanted nothing more than to keep her going but she could feel her eyes starting to slowly move together as her vision came back to her. 

She was extremely tired now but she couldn’t sleep just yet, she was fighting the need to sleep but it was a losing battle. 

A special sort of satisfaction filled Bluey as she felt Honey orgasm. The contractions clenched, rippled and tugged around her fingers as her whole hand became soaked in her fluid. She slowly weaned the sensation of moving her fingers around as the contractions became weaker and weaker, and when they were over entirely, Bluey stayed inside her for a few moments longer and then gently exited her. The smell of her sex was incredibly strong and it filled her nose, but Bluey found it oddly satisfying, same as she felt satisfied that she was able to give Honey such an intense climax, and the cry of pleasure that had escaped her as she came had carried with it a ringing that made her feel a little prideful.

It was definitely surreal, knowing that she had just had sex with Honey. They had taken each other’s virginity, and it was all done in Honey’s bedroom when they were supposed to have been working on a bunch of assignments . . . while Honey’s parents were home. Fuck. She really hoped they hadn’t heard anything . . . she wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of having to tell them that she had just fingered their daughter into orgasm before they even went on their first date. Good grief . . . that’s right. She had only asked Honey out on that date just this morning, hadn’t she? Damn . . . whelp. Nothing could be done about that now, and honestly and truly, Bluey felt like it was worth it all. Whatever happened in the future, this experience wasn’t going to be something she regretted. Honey was worth it. And the way that Honey had responded to the whole thing is exactly what made it worth it.

Bluey shifted so she lay by Honey’s side on the bed, and then held her close, pressed against each other in a tight hug. She kissed Honey on the cheek and then whispered in her ear, “Thank you, Honey. For being you. You mean so much to me . . . I love you.”

Honey felt her finger slip from Bluey and groaned out as she was pulled from. She was left panting and naked and dirty. She felt Bluey put her arms around her and heard the words that came from her but honestly she couldn’t really help but to whimper and feel bad. She hadn’t helped Bluey finish as Bluey had to her so her paw moved back to Bluey’s pants to try to help her finish. Honey was not about to fall asleep when she’d just done what she did with Bluey and she was left unsatisfied for Honey’s own weakness to her orgasms. “I-I didn’t help you much though. H-How can you be happy when you haven’t cum?”

Bluey chuckled softly and nuzzled her. “Honey, you’re the sweetest. I didn’t start this for my satisfaction, I wanted to show my appreciation for you.”

The Heeler didn’t have any desire to deny Honey wanting to reciprocate the gesture however, so she helped by fully taking off her pants and her panites this time before returning to wrap her arms around Honey and stretching out on the bed.

Honey was grateful that Bluey was so helpful in this situation. She gave her full access to her sex and in return Honey smiled and gave her nose a soft kiss. It was sweet what she had said to her and it filled her with enough strength to continue. She began to gently push and pull her finger up and down the slit mimicking what she had done to her. Honey didn’t believe in her skills enough but she began to press a finger slowly into Bluey as she had before and moved it around slowly while she pulled and pushed back and forth.

Getting Honey to cum had been exciting and rewarding in its own right, and Bluey had gotten pretty aroused from her service to the Beagle. As a result, her sex accepted Honey’s finger easily, and the sensation of her folds once again being stretched to accommodate the digit made her suck in her breath and let it out in a huff, biting back a moan. 

“That feels great, Honey,” she said, her voice tinged with the groan she was trying to hold in.

Honey felt urged to continue due to how well Bluey reacted. She wasn’t as skilled as Bluey as she hadn’t known that the g spot was a thing but she had felt how deep Bluey had gone and touched her that caused her to feel so much better. She began searching, pulling out and pushing into deeper and more shallow parts so that she could try figuring out where her spot was. “R-Really? I hope so!~”

Bluey could tell that Honey was searching for her spot, and she felt incredibly appreciative and endeared to her for insisting on putting forth the effort to reciprocate the intimate gesture. She felt that the Beagle was apprehensive in what she was doing, and it only made her feel even more endeared to her that she was trying to do this for her.

“Just a little further,” she breathed, her next breath coming out as a pant because she felt Honey’s finger stretch her close to where her spot was which made her sex clench around the digit.

Honey was excited when she'd heard that it was only a little further but to her dismay she now felt her knuckles pressed against her folds uncomfortably. Her paw was too small which meant that she'd just have to continue to rock her paw back and forth while rubbing against her walls while she did. 

"S-Sorry Baby B-Blue… I can't g-go any further."

Bluey felt a wave of genuine affection wash over her as she heard the disappointment in Honey’s tone. She wanted so much to please her. It was honestly an incredibly beautiful thing to see, hear, and feel how much the Beagle wanted her to be happy and satisfied.

“You’re doing amazing, Honey, I promise,” she whispered. She pulled Honey super close to her, kissing her and then laying there face-to-face, their foreheads touching.

“You’re close enough, I can feel it,” she said as she felt her sex begin clenching again. She took in another breath, holding it for a few moments as she felt her sex clench again, the contraction causing her to squirt out a tiny bit of fluid. She then huffed out her pent-up breath, her hushed tone tinged with moaning, “That . . . that feels so good, Honey . . . ahh . . . I love that.”

Honey felt so bad that she could only go in so far. She couldn't reach the wonderful spot that Bluey had caused her so much pleasure with but Bluey was still receiving pleasure… Honey really hoped that she wasn't faking it. Her face lit up once they were pulled face to face and she had reveled in the kiss.

Foreheads touching and eyes to eyes Honey felt a new form of relief wash over her as she continued to finger Bluey. She had the idea suddenly to speed up her pushing and pulling which she did slowly over a few seconds, using the additional slick fluid to make it easier. "I-I'm glad it's still good for you!~" 

“I’m loving it, Honey, please . . . ahh . . . please d-don’t . . . haah s-stop.”

The Heeler slowly let herself get lost in a sea of pleasure that she was swimming in. Honey may not have been able to quite reach exactly where her spot was, but because the contact was indirect, it just made everything build up more slowly. As Honey picked up speed inside of her, it was like her heartbeat didn’t race to keep up with the speed, but it felt as if each beat was more powerful, if that made any sense. It was like her whole body was slowly and beautifully getting warmer, fuller, a steady increase in pressure that rose within her.

Each push, pull, and tug kept making her sex swell to the fullest extent, periodically reacting to certain prods by clenching and the contractions making her squirt out more fluid. Bluey tried her best to keep quiet, but it was impossible for her not to moan at this stage. Her breathing wasn’t quick and light, but hot and heavy as her body fully flushed and she felt like water being heated to a boil. She would take a breath, then hold it as her eyes closed, her jaw hanging open-mouthed as her sex would contract and she’d squirt, and she’d then let out a low moan as her breath was huffed out; her moan would slowly rise in pitch and then morph into a whine. She could hear a rushing sound in her ears as blood was pumped powerfully through her, her body throbbing, and she could especially start to feel that throbbing in her sex.

“Oh, Honey . . . aahh, man,” she panted, almost sounding like she was going to cry from the build-up.

Honey felt a sort of power well inside her while she pushed and pulled a bit faster again though this time she added a second finger so that she could start moving them outward and inward to press and pull against her walls more and less as she saw fit. Bluey had gotten her to cum so easily and that caused surprise within Honey as it was taking longer to get her there. It was nowhere near a turn down though it just meant that what she was getting from Bluey was genuine. Her fingering continued more and more as she suddenly started to push in harder though she pulled out slowly and evenly while still scissoring inside her. 

“B-Baby Blue!~” Honey was loving this more and more, it caused her to feel a bit of seniority over Bluey as she was the one to come up with a pet name first though Honey really hoped that she would get one of her own from Bluey soon. She bit herself internally after that though. “Slower Honey, the date is Friday so you aren’t dating yet!” Then again they were fingering each other and Honey had already reached the best orgasm she’d ever felt before. “This has to mean something however right? She’s letting me finger her and she just made me cum. Not to mention that she’s said she loved me a few times during this.” The internal struggle was showing on her face but her pace continued the same as before.

“W-We need to talk after this…”

Bluey heard what Honey said, but it didn’t really register because of how lost she was getting in pleasure. This was so much better than taking things solo. And the buildup was something else. She clung onto Honey tightly, her grip hardening as she felt the pressure continue to rise within her. Her sex thrummed and throbbed, clenching and spasming more in frequency. She could feel she was getting close, and she managed to relay that to Honey, begging her to not stop, that she was almost there.

She started to squirm more and more from Honey’s touch, the additional finger adding an even greater amount of pleasure. Her sex tightened and clenched around the fingers, pressing down in response to the buildup within her. Each powerful beat of her heart was a throb that coursed through her body and pulsed in her sex. Her moaning was constant now, broken only by her pants. Everything else began to slip away, she wasn’t focusing on anything else other than how amazing she felt, and that Honey was the reason for it.

“Hon–AHH!” Bluey hadn’t been able to get out her full name when it finally happened. She felt herself cross the point of no return, and the rush of her body priming itself for the final release. Seconds later she climaxed extremely hard, her sex contracting, clenching, rippling like mad around Honey’s fingers. A stream of fluid was forcibly ejected from her as it hit. After the initial loud vocalization, ironically Bluey was silent for most of her orgasm, her face in a scrunched-up look of intense stress that was finally being released, and her whole body shook from it. As the waves started to die down, she let go of the breath she had been holding in and that was when she made another sound–a loud, low growl of pure pleasure and satisfaction.

It took her a bit to finally gather up the energy to do anything other than pant heavily and cling to Honey. For a good few solid moments, it was like everytime she tried to speak, she just couldn’t, her body laying in utter relief over having gone through such a powerfully-intimate ordeal. Honey had kept going, never stopping, never giving up on her quest to bring her some happiness, and wow did she deliver. Her continual search for that happiness and satisfaction gave her an idea, and at first Bluey thought that it would sound really dumb to Honey because it was just an extension of her name. But Bluey had learned to not bother with such worries with her, so although she worried it wouldn’t be appealing, she tried it anyway.

“That . . . wow . . . was incredible, Honeybee.”

Honey wasn’t able to stop Bluey from letting out a scream but it didn’t seem to matter as her parents didn’t check in on her. It hurt a bit while Bluey clung to her but she wouldn’t let Bluey know. Honey’s tail began to wag quite fast once she heard the nickname. Honeybee that was extremely cute and Honey felt a little like it out shown hers but she was content on keeping hers. Honey licked Bluey’s nose before nuzzling her neck and sighing happily. “I dare say darling that that makes quite a difference in our relationship.” Honey wasn’t able to say it in a serious manner as she was worried and a bit fearful that Bluey would snap at Honey once she realized that they’d just basically fucked.

Bluey laughed a little. “I daresay that we took things out of order . . . just a little bit.” She nuzzled Honey back and gave her a kiss. “But, I’d say that I’m okay with that.”

Honey leaned into the kiss and sighed softly once it was over. She was sweaty and felt like she needed a shower and she was pretty sure that once of her homework assignments was soaked but Bluey and her had just fucked… “D-does this mean we’re girlfriends or do we need to wait for the date…”

“I was going to wait for the date . . . but this was a rather unexpected turn, haha.” Bluey took a deep breath and thought for a moment. “I think I’m okay with calling us girlfriends . . . I think tonight has convinced me.”

Honey’s tail couldn’t be seen anymore as it was wagging too fast. Honey kissed Bluey’s neck before sighing against it. “We should shower Baby Blue. Do you have a change of clothes?”

This time Bluey’s laughter was almost like a snort. “Pfft. No. I hadn’t planned on getting undressed tonight. I knew we’d be having a studying session but not about sex ed.”

Honey blushed as she looked down at Bluey’s body pressed against hers and then sat up and then pulling up her panties. “Let me see if I have anything in your size. I do work out sometimes so I think I have a few stretchy pairs of pants. Are you ok with that?”

Bluey gave her a teasing sort of grin as she sat up and stretched. “Already to that stage, huh? I thought the classic thing was to let me wear a shirt or a jacket of yours, but I guess stretchy pants sound pretty good, too.”

“Heh Blue don’t act like you wouldn’t stretch out my jacket if you wore it… But I can let you wear it, I wouldn’t mind you smelling like me. As long as you let me use one of yours.” She went into her closet and looked through her clothes before pulling out her biggest Hoodie. It was one of the band hoodies that she bought when the school had a fundraiser. “I guess you can use this one. It’s a little bit bigger than I am… Please give it back when you’re back in your clothes.” She went back in after handing it over so that she could find some of her biggest pants. 

Bluey took the jacket, smiling as she recognized it and put it on. “I remember this fundraiser . . . the music department really needed the money.”

The Heeler scrunched herself up in the jacket for a bit. They were honestly really high-quality jackets, the head of the department had sacrificed a lot of personal time and resources putting everything together. Bluey wore her personal one very often, she was a proud musician like her dad, who had been in a band in his youth before he ultimately got his doctorate in archeology.

She went over and hugged Honey from behind, wrapping her arms around her waist and lovingly squeezing her. “I haven’t forgotten how much you personally helped out with that fundraiser, Honeybee. It was thanks to your constant campaigning that we had a stronger turnout than we thought we would and we managed to meet our goal.”

"Oh please Baby Blue, you know all the support was already there I just gave little pushes here and there." She leaned into Bluey's touch and slightly shivered from the touch around her waist. Her body had weakened from her orgasm but it felt as if it was ready to be in Bluey's hold whenever she wanted it.

Honey found a pair of pants that were unfamiliar to her until she realized that the stretchy fabric and cute design were none other than Bluey's. She had gotten them dirty one time when they were hanging out and Honey had taken personal care to clean them. It was when Honey was a little bit bigger so they had some that fit them both. 

She pulled down the hanger that they were on and held them behind her while giving a soft smile. "I believe these are yours my queen!~"

Bluey studied the pants for a moment before she started laughing. “That’s right! I remember these, you insisted up and down that you had to take responsibility and clean them after you spilled your smoothie on me.” She nuzzled Honey on the cheek. “You were too cute that day, your blush shown right through your fur!”

"My fur is white and golden brown. You can always see when I blush, don't you be a coy Heeler. Man those were some good smoothies though, we should go get us some more sometime soon. You go get dressed now I'm gonna have to shower so that we both don't smell like cum and love making!" 

Honey felt a strong pull when she said those words. Those were the right words for her and now that Bluey had said what she had and they were basically girlfriends it felt amazing the use those instead of sex or fucking. She felt a whisper escape her. "I love you Baby Blue.~"

Bluey giggled and replied with a joking grin, “Well, what if I like smelling like our love-making? Maybe I like smelling like you, it’s unique.”

Her expression became more tender and she cupped her hands around Honey’s face and drew her into a kiss. “I love you too, Honeybee. I . . . know things have gotten so crazy lately and I kinda have only made them crazier still, but . . . I’m really happy I have you. And no matter what happens, you’ll always be so special to me. My first kiss, my first date, my first partner, my first lover . . . that’s all you, y’know.”

"I don't smell that special Blue. It's just Apple and Cinnamon shampoo… and I'm happy as well. I expected things to go far differently if we got together but here we are giving each other all of our firsts. I'm not the only one who got all those things. I'm glad we share them with each other." 

Honey turned and gave Bluey's cheek a kiss before picking out some clothes. "I'll be in the shower, if you need anything my mom will be in the kitchen or living room."

“Alright, thanks, Honey,” Bluey said as she left the room. She went and finished putting on the rest of her clothes. Just as she did, there was a knock on the door.

That couldn’t possibly be Honey. Bluey looked to the doorway. “Come in?”

The door opened and Honey’s mum stepped in. “Good evening, Bluey,” she said with a sweet smile. “I wanted to ask if you wanted to stay for dinner since you and Honey seem to be so busy with studying.”

Bluey didn’t like how she emphasized the word ‘studying.’ “U-Uh, that’s awfully nice of you, Mrs. Beagle, but I don’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense, Bluey, you’ve always been like family to us, and I guess that’s only become stronger as of late, huh?”

Daisy gestured with her head towards Honey’s bed. “I also came in here to change out the bedding, I don’t want any stains to set in.”

Bluey felt her whole body flush with embarrassment. “U-Uh, s-stains, we didn’t spill anything, ma’am.”

Daisy gave her a look. “Sweetheart, if you and Honey thought you two were being quiet enough, you’re mistaken. And even if you had managed that, we may not have hearing quite as sensitive as Heelers, but Beagles are scent hounds, I could smell the two of you the second Honey opened the door to take a shower at an unusual time in her typical routine.”

Bluey knew that her blush was shining brightly through her fur at this point. She lowered her head. “I-I’m sorry . . .”

Daisy tilted her head. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Bluey. I’m not mad.” She looked at the bed. “Well . . . I’m not a fan of messes and it looks like you crumpled up a good amount of schoolwork . . . but I’m not mad at you. Honey has told us about her crush on you and Marcus and I were more than okay with her being in love with you. If anything, hearing that you reciprocate her feelings makes us happy, because Honey’s happy.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Beagle . . . I guess . . . I’m just sorry that everything happened so fast and it’s been . . . a lot.”

Daisy took a breath and sighed. “Yeah, well, you and Honey are young. Not that everyone is wild, but it’s common enough that I can’t say that I’m taken much by surprise. And we’ve known you since you were born, Bluey, we trust that you aren’t out to do anything intentionally to hurt anyone. Life can be hectic, just do try to slow down and take a breath. Enjoy the moment a little more, you’ve got plenty of time on your paws still, after all.”

Bluey nodded shyly to her. “Right, I’ll remember that . . . thank you, ma’am.”

Daisy smiled at her again. “Like I said, you’re welcome to stay for dinner. I’m going to get these sheets put into the wash.”

The elder Beagle waited for Bluey to gather up all of the school supplies from the bed before she took the sheets off and moved to the laundry room. Bluey watched her go and groaned into her hands. “That was exactly what I wanted tonight.”

Honey returned some minutes later, she loved long showers, with slightly damp fur. She was surprised to see that the sheets were already off the bed but happy to see Bluey which was shown by her tail wagging though her demeanor changed as her head tilted and she looked at Bluey more closely. She walked into her room and closed the door behind her before sitting next to Bluet and leaning her head on her shoulder. “Did they figure it out?” Honey was far calmer and the shower had helped rejuvenate her enough that she’d be able to finish her work and possibly Bluey’s as well if she wanted it.

“Yeah, we weren’t even quiet enough,” Bluey sighed before muttering something about scent hounds under her breath. But she smiled at her and kissed the top of her head, lingering there to take in the scent of her shampoo.

“Did you have a good shower? Do you think you’re good again to finish what we originally came to do? I had hoped I would have helped you to refocus, haha.”

	Honey gave a nod before nuzzling her neck and leaving a quick kiss there before looking around and then grabbing her crumbled homework and looked it over before grabbing a pen from one of her nearby tables and began working again. “My shower was really nice but honestly I kinda wonder what it’d been like to have you in there with me.” While Honey was writing she looked over at Bluey and then down at her pants and smiled while a blush crossed her cheeks. “Did you want me to do yours too Baby Blue?”

	Bluey laughed a little. “If your parents hadn’t been home I would’ve probably suggested the shower.” She blushed herself and rubbed her arm, a little embarrassed.

She grabbed her own homework and started to continue it, leaning against Honey as she leaned against her. “I couldn’t ask you to do my work for me, Honeybee. I’m not gonna learn anything that way, though you are certainly smart enough for the both of us.”

	Honey gave a soft sigh as her tail returned to wagging away fast. Bluey was hers… her girlfriend. She finished her history quickly as the rest of the problems were far easier than what Bluey helped her with. She put it aside and then picked up her science work and started on that. “Bluey you know you’re smart too right? I don’t want you to feel shadowed by me. I might be smart but I worked hard for it. It's less of a natural gift than people think.” Honey was quite a bit faster on Science but still not going as fast as she could due to not being literature or math. 

	Bluey smiled softly at her. “Thanks, Honey. But, I do think that you have your life a lot more in order than I do. I get good grades, sure, but I have no idea what I really want to do. I’ve bounced around all over the place with career ideas. I still have no idea where I want to go to college. You already know all of that, you’ve already pre-applied to the ones you want to go to, you’re taking every advanced class our high school offers. You know what you’re going to do . . . I can’t help but . . . feel a little jealous, I guess . . .”

	“I could help you out. I wouldn’t want you left alone to have to figure everything out so I can help… No, I will help you figure it out if you want me to.” Honey stopped looking at her science work that was almost finished already to look at Bluey with a helpful smile.

	Bluey wrapped an arm around Honey and hugged her, burying her face into her neck. “Thank you, Honey . . . I appreciate it so much. But one thing at a time, we both have things we have to focus on in the present. We still have time for all that other stuff . . .”

	She giggled and nuzzled her neck and down towards her chest. “Damn . . . I shouldn’t have done that, you smell so nice right now and you’re so warm and extra soft from your shower.”

	Honey gave a soft smile before petting Bluey’s head while continuing her science work. “You can keep it there if you want… I’m not wearing a bra though…”

	Bluey snorted with laughter. “You say that like that’s a detriment . . . well, okay, maybe it is, because I’m gonna end up thinking about that instead of my schoolwork.”

	The Heeler rested her head on Honey’s chest, angling herself so she could at least attempt to keep doing her homework. She smiled to herself. Honey felt incredibly warm, and the sound of her heartbeat was prominent where her head was. And, if she were to be entirely honest, her breasts made really good pillows.

Honey finished her science but instead of moving and getting her next bit of work she sat there and pet Blueys head while smiling down at her and watching her work. "I mean I am not gonna stop you from thinking about them… they're my best feature I've heard. I wanted them smaller but C cups are apparently really attractive… you're the first to see them still… A Lot of first things went to you Bluey…"

Bluey finished her current assignment and then set her work aside again to fully wrap her arms around Honey. “Don’t say that, Hon—that your best feature is your boobs, I mean. I think you’re incredible regardless of how small or big they’d be, I don’t think that matters.”

Bluey sat up straighter and cupped one of Honey’s cheeks in her paw. “My favorite feature of yours is your smile. It’s as cute and sweet as your name, Honeybee. Everytime you smile it’s like a sun drop, and a kiss is like a spoonful of sugar.”

Honey couldn't help but show off her smile from the compliment. She was having so much fun just hanging out with Bluey and now her arms were around Honey again so she hugged back in return and kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you Baby Blue, that's so sweet of you. How much more work is there? We're close to having dinner."

Bluey sighed. “I still have quite a bit to get through . . . but if I actually concentrate like I ought to be doing . . . I should be pretty good if I can keep up the pace like this. How about you?” 

"I'm halfway done and I'm going down the easy route now. I already did history and science so next is literature and then Math. It'll be the easiest so if we ever get done cuddling I will be done in about ten to twenty minutes." Honey nuzzled blueys cheek and smiled before nimbly slipping into her lap. "I still wanna cuddle though!"

Bluey giggled and moved her arms so she was hugging Honey from behind around her waist and squeezed. “This is dangerous, I don’t know how I’m supposed to concentrate on anything anymore with how cute you are!”

She kissed her on the cheek and nuzzled the nape of her neck, taking in the smell of the Beagle’s shampoo once more. As they sat there and cuddled, Bluey took some time to reflect again on the two of them being together, and the utter wild ride they’d been on emotionally in just a few days. How they went from being simply good friends, to making out and making love, taking each other's virginity in one blinding motion of sudden passion.

“I’m curious, Honeybee,” she found herself saying softly. “I know you talked about how you started crushing on me, but . . . I guess I’m wondering if you know why it was me. Like . . . what set me apart. How you realized you liked other girls, and I mean . . . it’s not like we have a shortage of girl friends, y’know?”

	“What is there not to draw me to you? I knew that I liked girls for a while cause I had a few passing crushes but you were so close to me. We were best friends for a while and honestly just the way that you were always there for me and to help me. Baby Blue you were just always there and perfect and I dunno why exactly my heart began beating faster for you but I think the basis is that you and I have been friends for so long that it’s so simple to be around you and talk with you.” 

	Honey let out a giggle as her nape was nuzzled. It felt really good to have her fur rubbing against her own and the breath that came from her mouth against her fur made tingles spread around the area and a soft moan escaped her mouth as she leaned more against her.

	Bluey felt especially warm hearing Honey talking about her like that. It was almost embarrassing to get praised in such a way, but she genuinely appreciated it. She let Honey lean into her and kissed the nape of her neck some more, gently massaging her body with her paws, tracing her form with them tenderly.

	“Thanks, Honeybee . . . it’s . . . hard to really describe how much it means to hear you say such things. And it’s hard for me to really put into words how I feel about you. Crushes have . . . always been a bit weird for me, I think . . . like, I mean that they just don’t happen that easily, or maybe it’s that I’m too oblivious to notice them. Maybe that’s it, because that could help explain how I’m feeling being with you? I just . . . I dunno. And because I’ve never done this before, it’s all so new, and maybe that’s why I’m kinda going crazy with it, which does make me feel pretty bad. I feel like I’m crashing head-first into this whole thing and I’m getting worried that I’m going to hurt you because of it . . .”

	“I’m not really worried about you hurting me Baby Blue. It’s nice to know that you’re worried that you might though cause it’s cute. If I’m being honest I’m really more afraid of hurting you. I’m not as new to crushes but I am new to showing affection how we did… Bluey you had a crush on Mackenzie for awhile and I just feel like you’re settling since you can’t have him. I’m not complaining cause you’re honestly really fucking great but I feel I might not have your full affection.” A gasp was drawn from her lips this time since she got kissed. 

	She was beginning to quiver from the attention and she put her paws on Bluey’s legs for support. “I’m not too heavy am I?”

“No you’re fine, Hon,” Bluey replied soothingly. She understood that they had just made love not even an hour ago, but Honey seemed to be enjoying the intimacy, so she continued with her massage, kneading her paws into her fur as they traveled over her body.

She considered Honey’s words, and felt a bit of shame settle into her stomach like a pit. Honey was probably right. She did feel positive about the two of them, she was confident in that much at least . . . but the way she was throwing herself at the Beagle surely wasn’t normal. She was hurt about what happened with Mackenzie and even though she had acknowledged as much, she just didn’t want any reason to keep thinking about it.

The Heeler stopped her massage and rested her hands in Honey’s lap. Her voice got very quiet. 

“I think you’re right, Honey. I do feel that I love you, I swear to that . . . but I also feel it’s true that I’m trying to take any excuse I can to not think . . . about . . . before. Fuck . . .”

	"Hey hey Blue, if you don't wanna think about it I'll be your distraction. I don't want you feeling like how we made you feel. Anything you want to do I'll let you do." She leaned back against Bluey a bit more and kissed her cheek. "I promise to be a good distraction for you."

“Let me do anything I want?” Bluey repeated. “Hon, how is that fair to you? That just sounds like I’d have total control over you and that would be horrible. You shouldn’t be a distraction you should be . . . my everything.” 

She moved her arms and tightened them around Honey’s waist again. “I want you to be my everything . . .”

"Bluey I am in love with you!" She felt pride in what she said to her but Honey had to confess to her something she was hiding. "I honestly think that I would like to be told what to do sometimes… more than sometimes actually."

Bluey had to pause at that, and it took her a moment to answer, “You . . . want to be told what to do?” She paused again as she thought about that more. “Is . . . is that more of a relief for you? Like it’s more comfortable or something?”

"I dunno Baby Blue, it just seems like it'd be so relieving to not have to figure something out for once and just have someone tell me exactly what I'm supposed to do. We both know how hard I work and you saw my mental breakdown due to having to miss school yesterday… I do have a life planned out and now with the inclusion of you I have a really beautiful one planned. As long as you wanna stay in it." 

Something felt wrong to her like her telling Bluey all thos would cause a break in their relationship but she knew better than to say something… it still hurt her to think that she might end up forcing Bluey away with her talk of the future… she couldn't help it though, her mind always went towards the future cause that's what she was always focused on… except for right now for some reason, right now almost all of her brain was focused on Bluey and just how much Honey was loving being touched by her. 

Bluey was silent for a while, letting Honey’s words really sink in. She always thought of relationships in terms of her parents, and how well they worked together and balanced things equally between them. Neither of them were in charge of the other, so it was odd for her to imagine being in a relationship where the other person would feel more comfortable with not having to make as many choices. But it made sense when she thought about it. Honey had been planning out her future to such a precise degree. And for her to have gotten her crush on her . . . it made her start to truly appreciate just how stressful that must have been, to think about a future with such a large addition.

Bluey wasn’t as good about sticking to a set future. Her imagination and excitement over so many different possibilities always led her to enthusiastically start something only for her to get hooked on something else and then try and pursue that instead. It was partially why she was now considering a career as a writer, because she could write all kinds of different stories with different characters and different worlds, and they didn’t have to be the same. She wasn’t afraid of commitment itself, she was afraid that she’d disappoint someone by not sticking with a plan. Maybe that was why she didn’t understand love all that well, and why she found it confusing, because it represented something a lot more permanent than she was used to. She wanted a love like her parents have. She wanted a life and a marriage like her parents have. But that was going to require her to build something that would last longer than anything she had ever built before. And that perhaps is what really scared her.

Bluey found herself squeezing Honey tighter, not because she was afraid of Honey disappearing, but afraid that she herself would let go.

“I want . . . I really want to love you, Honey,” she said slowly. Her voice sounded a lot smaller than normal.

"Then love me Baby Blue." Honey's voice was full of certainty this time. There was nothing else now on her mind except for Bluey and honestly she felt selfish because of it. Bluey was her own dog and that meant that she could choose to not love her instead. Honey wasn't scared by the prospect of Bluey leaving because honestly if she did that just meant that she'd end up on her original path once more. "I love you with all my heart Bluey Christine Heeler and that won't ever change. If you can handle that then love me but if you can't then be my best friend again and I'll be content with it." Honey wanted to add a kiss to give an extra point to her words but having her waist held so tightly limited that.

“I don’t want you to just be content!” Bluey said immediately. The suddenness of her own statement startled her, and she then felt a wave of shame wash over her because she believed it made her sound too commanding. It was like she wanted control and order, but it was because she felt that she wasn’t that good at controlling her own life, at least not right now, and not when it came to love.

“I want to have permanency, but I don’t feel permanent, and I hate that,” she relented, her voice getting tighter to match her clinging to Honey. “I like having order and knowing what’s going to happen but then I feel like things just change and then I let it change and maybe that’s good and being flexible and adaptable for most things but I don’t want to be that way with a partner. I don’t want to just date someone, I don’t want to just sleep with someone. I want to genuinely work on building something permanent with that person but I’m afraid of things just changing and then I’ll let it.”

She could feet herself starting to tear up. “I didn’t want to think about letting things go because I didn’t want to let things go but I have to let things go and I feel like such a horrible person for saying this to you when I know you love me and I said we’re girlfriends because even though you told me you wanted to be a distraction I hated thinking of you as a distraction even though I’m fucking using you as a distraction and fucking damnit now I really really really don’t want to let you go too because that would just cheapen this whole fucking thing and . . . fuck . . .”

Honey worked her way from Bluey's grip before kneeling next to where she was sitting. Her paws cupped Blueys cheeks and forced her to look her in the eyes and then she spoke softly. "Bluey listen to me ok, I want to be with you and I want you to be with me. You're having a crisis right now and if you decide that you don't wanna be a couple I will be fine. If you don't wanna be friends after because of what we did I won't be happy but I'll be fine. I will always hold you deep in my heart as my first girlfriend and lover." 

“Honey, I want to try and honestly date you,” Bluey replied. Her voice cracked, but her emphasis was firm. “I know there’s something we have between us. We just made love, Hon, I let you pull my pants down and stick your fingers inside of me . . . and you let me do the same thing to you. I don’t want to think of that as being a meaningless experience, for either of us. I’m just . . . scared of things changing again. And I’m scared that I’ll let it happen even when I don’t want to.”

"Change is inevitable Blue. I… I know we let each other do that and honestly I'm glad that we did. It is a change saying that we're dating and it'll be a big change when we tell others but if you aren't ready for it I'll stay here and you can come to terms with it." She let her paws hang more gently on her cheeks before giving her a soft kiss on the lips that lasted only a few moments. "I will wait for you if you want."

Bluey took hold of Honey’s paws with her own and held them tightly. A few tears slipped down her cheeks and onto Honey’s fingers. Her heart ached and she felt like her stomach was twisting as she finally let everything sink in. What the two of them had done. The things that they had said to each other. She was afraid that she might let Honey go, and that would break her heart. She knew nothing was perfect, and there was never any guarantee that any relationship, no matter how amazing it felt at first, would last. And she was additionally scared of building something up only to have it come down later. 

But something else that filled her at that moment was a desire to not shy away, to not get scared that she didn’t have things organized perfectly the way that she wanted and to drop everything and run because of it. She was here. Honey was here. And there was something there between them. And that was going to be enough.

She looked Honey in the eyes. The breath she took in was shaky, but her tone was resolute. “Honey Beagle, we’re dating, and we’re girlfriends. I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope that you’re in it. I love you.”

Honey felt her heart quicken at her words and that caused her to tear up a little as well. Honey took care to thumb the tears from Bluey's eyes gently before pushing their lips together for a while. It felt nice as her tail wagged behind her and when she pulled away she put her forehead to Blueys and spoke softly while huffing and panting between words. "S-say that again please!~"

Bluey laughed quietly despite the tears and she could feel her own tail wagging. She got down on her knees opposite Honey and embraced her in a crushing hug. “I love you, Honeybee! I love you, and I want to be with you!”

"I love you too Bluey but please don't squish me to death." She planted another kiss to Bluey's cheek and then her nose and finally her lips. "We should probably get back to work!~"

	Bluey giggled and eased up on the hug. She enthusiastically kissed her back and sighed with relief. “You’re right, Honeybee. What a way to ‘study.’ I’m sorry I’ve been all over the place . . . I don’t know what the hell is going on with me, and I’m sorry."

Honey spoke in a soft voice as she kept holding on as long as she could. "Don't be sorry Baby Blue, I've been enjoying it so it's all fine." She pulled back finally and picked up her next assignment before beginning to work on it. 

Bluey took another moment to just breathe and steady herself before getting up and sitting back down on the bed. She took her next piece of homework and worked on it while leaning her head on Honey’s shoulder. She felt like she had unloaded a lot to Honey in that confession, but she felt a lot better and lighter since she had. And it was a lot of being honest with herself as well, accepting that she had a lot of conflicting feelings about wanting things to be solid and permanent, but also being afraid of something happening after working to make something solid and permanent. In that way, she felt especially grateful for Honey because the Beagle was confident in the area that she wasn’t. Her desire for love and companionship turned into a much greater mess than she ever thought she’d ever get into, but Honey was soothing and comforting here, and it made her feel a lot safer.

Finally, the Heeler put away all of her school things and stretched her cramped paws. “Fucking finally,” she sighed. “That was such a pain . . . but it’s over.”

Honey pet Bluey's head while it was on her shoulder. She felt happy that she was able to pet and touch Bluey's soft fur in such a private environment and she couldn't stop herself from doing it. She wouldn't even if she could due to how much she loved her. It forced her to only use one paw which wasn't an issue due to her writing style. Blue finished before her but Honey had her last assignment now as she'd just finished literature so she reached into her backpack and pulled out a large packet of math work. "Well time to do the easy part."

Bluey snuggled up to Honey and returned to once again hug her around the waist, giving her a kiss on the cheek and then nuzzling and burying her face into the nape of her neck.

“I wish I was as good at math as you,” she said with a small laugh. “I see all the numbers and my mind just floats away and doesn’t want to come back, haha.”

"Awe I'm sorry. What I do is just focus on the main problem and ignore the rest until I'm done." Honey wasn't kidding when she said that math was the easiest for her as she was making calculations as fast as a calculator could, solving the problem as she read it and then putting down the answer. She was already on the second page while they were talking. "Thank you for holding me Baby Blue. It feels really nice."

“I really like holding you, Honeybee. You’re very warm and soft.” Bluey affectionately squeezed her for emphasis. “I feel like . . . like all of the contact is helping me to not overthink as much. I’m kinda reminded of my mum once telling me that part of what really made her appreciate my dad was that he’d be with her as often as he could, or he’d go out of his way to make it so she could be included in things, like taking her with him to gigs that his band had when they were younger and dating.”

She kissed the nape of Honey’s neck. “This is . . . solid. Maybe . . . that was part of why I probably made the rash decision to . . . ahem, well, tonight.”

Honey felt her toes curl at the feeling of that kiss, it was like a kiss there for her was more intimate. "Finger me? Thank you for that, Bluey. Cause I honestly really needed it… I haven't been able to complete myself for a few weeks…" She was glad that she didn't have to give all her attention to math so that Bluey and her could continue talking. Now on page three she looked over and kissed Bluey's head in between rubs. "It's cute that you can draw comparisons from what you've heard from your mother for our situation."

“I feel like I can’t help it, because I mean . . . I really, really love my parents and the relationship that they have. I want to have that same love with someone else, that’s why I feel like I’m torn between wanting order and structure but being afraid of putting all that energy and time into something that might not work . . .”

Bluey cooed softly over Honey’s pets and head-kisses, and buried herself deeper into her fur. “I think all of that is just me overthinking too much, but . . . that is how I honestly feel.”

"We'll work on all that like we work on being better. We'll take it little by little. If this first date works out we'll do another and if it doesn't… we'll see what happens afterwards. This might be new to you but you're my first girlfriend too." 

“Right, right . . . I’m sorry, we’re really both in the same boat.” She drew Honey into a warm kiss on the lips. “But I’m really glad that I’m in that boat with you.”

There was a soft knock on the door and Honey’s mum announced that dinner would be ready in a few minutes.

"Alright mum! Well be out in a few!" Honey looked back to Bluey and with a soft smile she pushed her lips against Bluey's for just a moment. "This is what I've wanted for so long. Thank you for giving it to me." Once she said that she got back onto her homework and zoomed through it doing each page faster than the last until she set it aside after a few minutes. "I um… I wanna use my tongue next time…"

Bluey laughed a little in a nervous-excited sort of way and she felt a blush forming on her cheeks. “Is, uh . . . is that you asking me to recreate that drawing of yours from your journal, Honeybee?”

Honey's face turned pure scarlet as she shook her head and let out a soft gasp. "K-kissing Bluey!"

Bluey suddenly felt her face alight and turn the same scarlet as Honey and she utterly stumbled over her words, “R-R-Right, k-kissing, yeah yeah yeah I knew that I was just testing you hahaha . . . fuck me.” She buried her face in her paws. 

Honey shook her head before petting her head once more. "Hey I mean it's fair that you made that assumption… I kinda wanna lick there eventually but for now how about we go eat?"

“Eat you out?” Bluey said completely without thinking, raising her head just long enough to realize her mistake too little too late and placed her face back in her paws with a groan.

Honey's paw slipped away and bit her lip. "M-maybe after dinner we can drive somewhere and then we could do… that…" Honey grabbed her paw and lifted Bluey to her feet and into a hug.

Bluey didn’t even say a word in response and followed Honey out of her room, partially hanging her head in embarrassment. The house smelled wonderfully of Italian seasonings, and peeking into the kitchen, Daisy was busy finishing up cooking some delicious-looking spaghetti and taking a tray of garlic bread out of the oven.

Bluey perked back up upon seeing the food, and had to catch herself before she almost forgot her manner. “Oh, f—uh, heck yeah, I love pasta. Garlic bread is a gift from the gods.”

Daisy laughed a little. “I figured you girls would like something nice and easy after all of your hard work studying.” She eyed them with a wry smile. “You did actually study, right, girls?”

Honey's tail wagged just about as fast as when she was with Bluey. She loved the smell and taste of her mother's cooking and now she'd get to have the best of what she had to offer. Honey took a seat next to her mother after having let go of Bluey's paw. There was quite a bit of it and that's because she knew that Honey really liked to eat her spaghetti.

Honey didn't wait for anything before she started to put her plate together, mountaining the plate with Spaghetti and then grabbed two pieces of garlic bread before smiling to Bluey. "Yeah mum we studied. We finished our work just before we came out here. Do you think that it'd be alright if we went out and got some ice cream after this?"

"If you can finish all that and not throw up I suppose that we could all go get some ice cream together." Daisy knew what she was doing teasing the two but she wouldn't keep it up for long after Honey shook her head. "No thank you mum. It's sort of a mini date…"

Bluey chuckled a little and rubbed her arm shyly. “It’s kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, I guess. Not that I don’t massively appreciate you guys, and thank you so, so much for the dinner offer, I’m super grateful and this looks and smells amazing.”

“I’d wager a guess that you worked up quite the appetite after your study session, eh?” came Marcus’ voice as he entered the kitchen.

Bluey chuckled again, her shyness worsening. “Y-Yeah, it was really intense.” She then bushed horribly after realizing she horrifically played right into the teasing.

At that moment, she got several text notifications from her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and checked who was texting her at this hour and saw it was the group chat with her parents and her sister.

Dad: Wow kiddo, when you make a choice, you sure as hell make a choice.

Mum: What happened to waiting until she came home, Bandit?

Dad: At least your mum and I finished our first date before we really got to know each other.

Mum: BANDIT!

Sis: LMFAOOOOOOOOO

Bluey’s face was now past the color scarlet. “You told my parents?!” she exclaimed.

“Your father had called me with a question about work,” Marcus explained simply. “He asked how you were doing. He already seemed aware of the whole crush situation, so I answered honestly and said that you girls were doing quite well catching up on all of your schoolwork.”

Bluey was staring at her phone screen in abject horror. “My dad is never going to let me live this down, my life is over.”

"D-dad!" Honey couldn't believe that her dad had done that. Her stomach tightened as a soft frown grew on her face. "That was so rude of you!" She pushed back from the table and then stood up. "Bluey do you want to go somewhere else?"

“N-No no, no no, it’s . . . it’s okay,” Bluey replied slowly as she watched Bingo fill up her family chat with too many laughing emojis to count. “I’m just . . . gonna drown myself in pasta, that sounds good right now.”

Daisy gave Marcus a dry look. “You really told Bandit just like that?”

“He had jokingly asked me how the girls were doing because he knew all about the whole crush situation, so I laughed and told him that they were definitely more than just friends now, and that led to questioning!”

“Wow, would you look at that, these tongs happened to grab so much pasta,” Bluey said with a plate that was comically piled high with spaghetti and garlic bread.

Honey let out a huff and sat back down. Everything was gonna be awkward now all because of Marcus. Dads were always such fools when it came to daughters. Honey began slowly eating, albeit slowly as her stomach hurt for Bluey. Her dad didn't know the stress that it caused her to even get this far and he just went and gave that information out freely. 

"I can't believe you dad. That was extremely rude of you!" Now she felt the dull pain of anger in her head and just wanted to finish her food so that she could get out of there. 

Marcus sighed and he said remorsefully, “You’re right, that was quite rude of me. I deeply apologize, Bluey.”

Bluey cleared her throat. “It’s alright, Mr. Beagle, you weren’t trying to be hurtful about it . . .” She sighed. “Plus, it’s not like I didn’t make my choices knowing full well that we weren’t alone . . . my family isn’t going to actually give me a hard time about it, it’s just going to be nonstop teasing.”

She put on a half-smile and held up her huge plate of food. “Let’s eat, that’s a much better thing to be doing anyway.”

Honey just continued eating. It wasn’t nice of him to do what he’d done and now she didn’t feel like eating that much. “Could I eat later mum? I don’t really feel that hungry anymore.”

“Of course, Honey, you don’t have to eat if you don’t want to,” Daisy replied. “I’ll wrap your food up and put it in the fridge and you can have it whenever you want to.”

Honey nodded to her mum and then pushed her chair back once more. She wanted to have a nice dinner with her family but she just couldn’t with how tight her stomach was knotting up. “Thank you mum…” She stood up and walked back into her room. Bluey was still her girlfriend and she still loved her dearly but now it was just too awkward to be around her parents. Once she cleared her bed and laid on it she wondered if this was how Bluey felt when she found out her parents had heard and smelt everything.

Bluey watched Honey leave and felt her own sense of conflict.

“If you’d like to go and be with Honey, you can, Bluey,” Marcus said with a guilty sigh. “I apologize again, that wasn’t right of me to do.”

“It’s alright, Mr. Beagle,” Bluey reiterated, keeping her half-smile from before. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it, you were just joking around with my dad. And his texting definitely sounded like he was laughing, not that he was angry with me, so don’t feel too bad.”

“Thank you, Bluey . . . but I do acknowledge that I’ve made things awkward with you and Honey. I don’t know if either you or her still want to, but maybe still going out on that mini-date would be a good idea since you’ll be out of the house.”

“I can try talking to her and see what she thinks,” Bluey replied.

Marcus got up from the dinner table and fetched his wallet. He took out some cash and handed it to Bluey. “Treat both of yourselves to that ice cream, or whatever you girls want to do.”

Bluey was hesitant to take the money. “You don’t have to do that, Mr. Beagle, there’s no hard feelings, not from me.”

“Thank you again, Bluey, but I insist.”

She slowly held out her paw and accepted the bills. “Thank you then, Mr. Beagle. I appreciate it.”

“Go and be with Honey.”

Bluey felt a little conflicted. “I . . . do feel a little bad about being invited to stay for dinner and I don’t eat any of it . . .”

“Don’t worry about any of that, Bluey, it’s nothing,” Daisy said firmly. “If you really want to, I can always box the food up and you’re welcome to take it home and eat it there.”

The Heeler smiled at her. “Thanks, Mrs. Beagle. That honestly means a lot.”

Bluey then got up and made her way to Honey’s room. She poked her head in, checking to see if Honey looked like she wanted to be left alone. She took a guess that she was okay to enter, so she made her way over to the bed and sat beside Honey, taking a hold of her paw.

“You okay, Honeybee?” she asked softly.

“I don’t really know Bluey… I feel really bad that your parents found out the way they did…” Honey let out a sigh as she squeezed Bluey’s paw and pulled it closer to her chest so that she could feel the heartbeat and heat that came from it. Honey didn’t know what she wanted to do anymore. She wanted to lay there and sleep but at the same time she wanted to get up and leave the house so that she and Bluey could take some time to actually be by themselves. 

They didn’t have to do what she’d first suggested before if they did, hell they didn’t even have to do anything more than holding paws or cuddling if Bluey didn’t want to. There were plenty of options for the girls around Brisbane at this time of night from sitting in a parking lot and talking to going out and doing any number of dating things but she wanted to leave those for Friday since that was the day they’d decided for the actual date. 

“Bluey are you okay with our parents knowing about us already? The way that both of them found out was without us telling them… I hate to think that you’ll shy away from me now because of my dad.” 

“No, Honey, don’t worry about it,” Bluey replied gently, leaning down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “It was really embarrassing, but . . . I mean . . . our dads have known each other for so long. They were probably joking around and then your dad thought to say something just because they’re so close. It’s just that the two of us aren’t little anymore . . . it’s a lot easier to feel awkward about things now.”

She smiled affectionately at her and placed a warm paw on her cheek. “But that’s not going to make me shy away from you. Like . . . we kinda skipped ahead to the big-girl stuff already, if that by itself isn’t going to drive me away, I’m pretty sure we’re fine, haha.”

This time, she kissed Honey on the lips. “I understand if you’re not feeling up for much anymore though. We can still go out for that ice cream and spend time alone if you want, but I can also let you rest and see you tomorrow if that’d make you feel better. We managed to finish all of our catch-up work, objectively speaking that was the most important thing we got together today for.”

Honey quite enjoyed the bits of affection that she got from Bluey though she felt wrong that she took it when Bluey could be enjoying some really good spaghetti. Honey let go of her paw and sat up while her lips still tingled from the feeling of her girlfriends against her own. She would always love that feeling as it meant that she had the one she wanted. “I dunno Baby Blue, I wanna go out and spend time together but what if someone else from school sees us and then the whole school might end up finding out and then it’ll be far more embarrassing.” 

	Despite what she was saying Honey was subconsciously getting dressed while she was talking. She sported a long tee and a bit of a short skirt while accenting it all with a jacket and a scarf. It made her feel somewhat cuter but she also was still slightly apprehensive. “If you wanna go we can go though.”

Bluey gave her a small smile. “I can’t resist saying yes to someone as cute as you . . . besides, if some dumb stuff is gonna happen at school, then that damage has already been done, we weren’t alone when I kissed you in the parking lot. I don’t see a point in trying to hide now, and I want to spend more time with you.”

“O-Oh yeah…” Honey grabbed her keys but then looked at Bluey. “Would you like to take my car or yours? OH!” Honey’s tail began to wag back and forth quite fast as she got an idea. “How about we go to an arcade? I’m really good at claw machines!”

Bluey perked up and her tail began wagging equally in excitement. “Oh, okay! That sounds like a lot of fun, let’s do that! And I’m good with taking either car, we’ll be together either way.”

Fuck Bluey was so cute! Honey grabbed her paw and ran out the door and through the kitchen, her face was plastered with a sly grin. “Bye Mum! Bye Dad!” She didn’t slow down until she opened the door but she didn’t close it behind her as she unlocked her car and then let go of Bluey’s paw as she got it. 

Bluey giggled as she got into the car with Honey, excited again seeing that Honey was in a better mood and thinking of the two of them getting to spend more time together. They may have agreed on the weekend being their first official date, but what did it matter, this was a mini-date, and that was good to her, too. It was exciting either way, and she wanted to get used to the idea of going out with Honey now that she’d said they were girlfriends.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to an arcade,” she said with a grin. “I’m excited to see what new things they have over there.”

Honey smiled as she started the car and pulled out of her driveway before starting on the way to her favorite arcade. “There’s one that I know about that not too many people go to. Would you like to go to that one or would you like to go to another one?” Honey had no preference as any time spent with Bluey would make for a delightful evening. 

“Whichever one you think would be the most fun! Oh! Whichever one is closer to that ice cream shop we had gone to before, we should definitely go there, that stuff was amazing!”

Honey gave a soft giggle and nodded. “Alright then Baby Blue. Where would you like to go first? Ice cream or arcade? The one that’s closest to that ice cream shop is the most popular one in town though.” Honey didn’t want to sound biased but with all those people that might be around it might cause Honey some issues with her social skills. She wasn’t completely introverted but her ambiversion only went so far towards it. “I guess that one is alright as long as you’re by my side.”

Bluey’s smile faded a little and she placed a comforting paw on Honey’s shoulder. “Hey, I just want to be by your side, Honeybee. We’re also doing this so you can get out of the house for a little bit. If you want things to be a little more private for us, then by all means, let’s go to the other one.” 

She paused for a few seconds as she thought of something. “At . . . at the same time . . . I know you had also said that you would be better if you could just go along with things more, sooo . . .”

Honey gave a slight nod as she recalled it… Seems that it was time to start coming out of her shell more so she started on a new course towards the arcade and the ice cream shop. “Alright, social butterfly teach me how to flutter. But ice cream or arcade first?”

Bluey’s grin returned. “As much as I love ice cream, let’s hit up the arcade first! The ice cream will be like the ultimate treat after you win it big at the claw machines.”

Honey gave a soft smirk and giggle. Being great at math helped quite a lot as she was able to do quick calculations on the fly and that was what helped at claw machines the most. It was a little bit of a drive before they pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car with a soft sigh. “Are you ready to be the talk of the school Baby Blue?”

“Because I have the smartest and cutest student as my girlfriend? You bet!” Bluey laughed as she hopped out of the car. She went around to Honey and took her by the paw. “It wasn’t supposed to happen today, but whatever, things change! It’s a mini-date!”

"Bluey you announce it like it was one of your games when we were kids." Her paw in Bluey's no longer felt strange in the slightest. There were so many things that they could do at the arcade but Honey was contemplating just letting Bluey go around and try somethings while she scouted out the Claw machines and what prizes that they could get. "I think we should split up. Do you have any cash?"

“Oh yeah, your dad even gave us extra for the ice cream,” Bluey replied, taking her wallet out. “How about yourself, do you have cash? Do you want any?”

Honey patted her skirt pocket and nodded. “I have enough to be able to win  a good prize for you and me. Is there anything that you’d really like, like a stuffed animal or a like ball…?” 

Bluey tapped her chin contemplatively and shrugged. “I dunno, let’s take a look at what’s available!”

The two of them navigated their way over to the prize corner, weaving in and out of a decent amount of fellow arcade patrons. Bluey recognized a few here and there as students that went to their school, and she periodically waved and said hello. They got to the prize corner and the Heeler took a moment to slowly browse the selection. It was rather exciting, because while there were a few things that could be considered staples of arcade prizes, there were quite a lot of things that looked brand-new from the last time she had been there.

Bluey’s eyes eventually caught sight of something and she pointed it out to Honey, her tail wagging. “Look, look, Honey! Aren’t those the cutest things?!”

The object that she was pointing at were a pair of plushies that appeared to be a successor in the Polly Puppy toy line that the Heeler had absolutely loved when she was a little girl. They were holding paws, stuck together via a little hook-and-loop fastener patch on them.

“If we can get those, we can both have one each!” Bluey said excitedly. “And when we’re together they can hold paws!”

Honey followed along with Bluey but she was eyeing the actual claw machines looking from plushy to ball to candy and even mystery eggs. So many options to choose from. Then they went to the prize counter and were looking over each and every prize until Bluey pointed out what she wanted. 

The prize was adorable and Honey would have loved to have it but that would take playing other games and that was a bit more tricky but for Bluey she'd do it. "Alright I have a few tickets saved up but that's still gonna be a bit more before we can get them. Are you any good at the games around here?"

”

“You’re lookin’ at a ski ball champ,” Bluey said with a silly grin. “My Uncle Stripe taught me when I was little, and he’s a boss at it. I bet I can get a good amount of tickets from that, especially if I’m really trying.”

	“Alright!” Honey looked ready to play a few games but she didn’t know what she was good enough at that she could win lots of tickets at. “You get some quarters I’m gonna try to find something that would be easier for me to win.” Honey left Bluey with a kiss on the cheek before dashing off to go look at different machines though she kept getting distracted by a few different claw machine prizes until she stopped before one that had golden eggs with mystery ticket amounts in them. She wanted to try but she didn’t wanna waste her money and cause Bluey to get upset with her.

	Bluey giggled to herself as the excitement of being back in the arcade filled her with a good amount of positive energy. She definitely wanted to try and win those paw-holding plushies. The nearest coin machine was at the other end of the prize corner. Taking out her wallet, she extracted a few bills that felt like a good amount to start off with and inserted them into the feeder. As the sound of coins clinking down began to fill her ears, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

	Bluey turned around to see the familiar faces of Judo and her younger half-brother, Casper. The elder Chow sibling wore a vintage-style long-sleeved blouse and skirt, while her brother wore a dress shirt and pants.

	“Judo! Casper!” the Heeler greeted with a grin. Her tail wagged at recognition. “Fancy seeing you here on a Wednesday night.”

	Judo chuckled. “I could say the same to you! Casper and I were about to head into the Chinese place a few spaces down to get some dinner when I spotted you and Honey walking in here, so I just wanted to come and say hi.”

	Casper grinned at Bluey but he had a mischievous glint in his eye and said in a faux-shocked voice, “I didn’t know you and Honey were lesser-beans.”

	Bluey gave a snort of a laugh. “We’re what?”

	Judo face-palmed and groaned. “That was unbelievably cringe, why the hell did you say that?”

	Casper laughed and immediately switched back to his usual tone. “Literally just to annoy you, sis.”

	“Ugh.” Judo rolled her eyes and shook her head to Bluey. “I can’t take him anywhere, seriously, what a grub.”

	Bluey giggled. “Younger siblings, am I right?”

	“That’s for sure.”

	Casper looked around the arcade for a few moments before looking back at Judo. “Hey . . . I mean . . . since we came in here, do you think I could play a few games before getting dinner? Please?”

	Judo made a show of seeming annoyed, but she did it with a smile and she took some money out of her purse and handed it to him. “Yeah yeah, just don’t take too long, I want to get that food before it gets too late.”

	Bluey collected her coins from the machine and then stepped aside so Casper could convert his own money into coins. Once he wandered off to check out some of the games, Bluey went back to addressing Judo and smiled. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, he’s grown even bigger. He starts secondary school next year, yeah?”

	Judo nodded and returned the smile. “Yeah. It sucks that he’ll be starting right after I’ve graduated, but that’s okay, I promised to help him if he ever needs it.”

	Bluey’s smile became warmer. “That’s really sweet of you. You’re a good big sister.”

	Judo matched the smile. “Same to you . . . congratulations, by the way.”

	“For what?” Bluey asked with a tilt of her head.

	Judo snickered. “C’mon, if I saw you and Honey coming in here, did you really think that I didn’t notice the two of you holding paws?”

	Bluey chuckled in response and rubbed her arm a little. “Ah . . . yeah. Things have been . . . a bit of a wild ride lately.”

	“Like you being absent from school yesterday?”

	“Nothing gets past you, does it.”

	“Ehh . . . I figured something was up, and I heard from Coco that they and Mackenzie weren’t on the best of terms at the moment, so . . . I had my guesses. I wanted to text you and see if you were okay, but . . . I was worried that it’d either make you more upset or just that you didn’t want to talk about it, so I decided against it.”

	Bluey gave her a small smile. “I appreciate the concern, Judo, thank you. It’s been wild like I said, but I’m doing better, and, well, as you can see, I’m trying something new . . .”

	Her smile then faded to a look of curiosity and she tilted her head. “Say, Mackenzie and you have both stopped referring to Coco as ‘she.’ Is something going on?”

	“Oh. I guess Coco hasn’t told you yet then, they’re experimenting with different pronouns. They’re using they/them at the moment, they’re thinking they may be trans.”

	Bluey blinked in surprise. “Whoa, really?” She paused, and her expression changed to appear crestfallen. “Oh . . . yeah . . . she–er, they, sorry . . . never told me . . .”

	“Don’t feel bad, Bluey, I don’t think it’s because of any sort of negative thing against you, Coco literally just made this decision a few days ago. They’re probably trying to feel it out and see if they really like it before committing to it longer and then letting everyone know.”

	Bluey sighed. “Oh . . . okay, that’s more of a relief, thanks . . . I was afraid that they hated me now or something . . .”

	Judo gave Bluey a very sincere smile. There was a look in her eyes that Bluey couldn’t quite place at the moment, but it seemed to calm her.

	“It’s hard to imagine anyone just hating you, Bluey,” the Chow said. “You’ve always been a spectacular friend and everyone who has ever been your friend knows that. I know it’s hard, but try not to let it bother you. Mackenzie and Coco both . . . well, you seem to already know, so yeah, don’t worry about it. They have their own thing that they need to sort out. As for you and Honey, good for both of you. I hope you’re happy together.”

	Bluey couldn’t help but return the smile. She felt a lot better. “Thanks, Judo. That means a lot.”

Honey flew past them both to the coin machine and deposited some cash before quickly dashing away once more after collecting her coins from the trough. She had found a claw machine that she really wanted to try and she was gonna win at least once before she stopped. She put in the coins for her first try and despite thinking it all through she didn’t win. It didn’t stop her though as she got another turn ready and put her brain to the text which gave her a win. She’d figured out the way to win and now that she had she’d win as many as she could.

She looked down into her paws and then inserted the coins for her next try which won her a second egg. Her tail wagged as a few other dogs gathered around her to watch as she navigated the claw to the right spot and let it drop which earned her one more egg. She collected them all before deciding that she’d won enough. She returned to Bluey and waved at Judo softly. “H-Hey Judo… Bluey I won a machine a few times and got three eggs. Would you guys like to open one of them?”

Judo smiled politely and returned the wave. “‘Sup, Honey. Already draining this arcade out of everything they have?”

Bluey giggled. “Honey’s a beast at claw machines, it’s not surprising she’s already won several times.” She then eyed the eggs that Honey was holding. “And hell yeah, I’d like to open one!”

	Honey held one in her paw and then the other two in her other paw before extending the paw so that they could each take one. “Wanna open them all at the same time?” Her tail was wagging fast and she was smiling quite a lot as she gushed. “I’m only good because I work hard!”

	“That still makes you a beast, Honeybee,” Bluey said with a laugh as she took one of the eggs.

	“Aww, that’s such a cute little nickname you call her,” Judo remarked as she took another of the eggs.

	Bluey giggled some more. “I literally started using it this evening, haha.”

	Honey blushed and looked away as she cracked open her egg and pulled out the slip of paper. “I-I’ll have to get used to it in public… I got 50 tickets. What about you guys?”

	Judo and Bluey had cracked their eggs as Honey did and looked at their own slips.

	“I got 50 as well,” Judo replied.

	Bluey on the other hand squealed and excitedly hugged Honey. “200! You really are a beast at these!”

	“Well that is an extra 300 towards the goal…” Honey gave a lip bit as she took the slips and put them into her wallet. “Well, do you guys think that I should go back and try for more? There were quite a few eggs left over.” Honey had been contemplating getting a few more before she walked over and honestly she wouldn’t mind winning a few more times as the praise that she got from her girlfriend and one of their other friends was honestly pretty uplifting.

	“Honestly, with how good you are at those claw games, I’d say go for it,” Judo remarked. “Like . . . you’re the math whiz, right? Even getting the lower prizes from those eggs, if you’re able to consistently get them they’ll ultimately be giving you more value per the cost of playing the game than if you were playing something else that you’re not as skilled at.”

	Bluey grinned and nodded. “I think Judo’s right, you should definitely give it more tries since you’re likely to win them!”

	Honey looked over towards the machine and nodded but after a few steps she looked back to the two. “Would you guys like me to teach you how it’s done?” 

	“Oooh, okay!” Bluey said enthusiastically, wagging her tail. She looked at Judo. “C’mon, let’s watch the master at work!”

	Judo looked over her shoulder to check where Casper was. After noting which game he was playing and seeing that he was okay, she looked back with a simple smile and a nod and joined them.

	Honey smiled at having two of her friends watch. She walked back over to the claw machine with the golden eggs and pulled out some change to do another round. “It’s really easy, the claw can only handle grabbing one at a time or it’s too heavy and it’ll drop it. Other than that you really just have to angle it over the eggs.” As she spoke she did exactly as she said to do. It caused her tail to wag as the claw picked up another egg and moved it to the dropper. “You guys wanna try?”

	“I’m not sure I can be that confident, not when it comes to picking up those eggs,” Judo remarked with a small chuckle. “Like, the shape of the egg and how smooth it looks keeps making me think that it’ll just slip out of the claw.”

	“Right?” Bluey said in agreement. “It’s honestly kinda wild seeing you do it, you make it look so easy! It’s not something like a teddy bear where there’s ‘more’ for it to grab on to.”

	“You guys don’t think you could do it? Here come take the controls and I can teach you better.” Honey moved out of the way and motioned for Bluey to step up to the machine. 

	Bluey’s tail wagged a little from excitement. “A-Alright, I’ll give it a crack.” She stepped up to the machine and placed her paws on the controls. “What do I do, master?”

	Honey’s cheeks warmed from what she was about to do but it was the perfect chance for it. She moved behind her and placed her paws over hers before helping her lead the claw over an egg. “Like this.”

	Bluey smiled at the contact, and she felt her heartbeat just a little quicker as a tingle went up her spine. “Alright . . . I think I’m getting it?”

	Honey’s voice hushed just a little. “Would you like me to keep showing you? I wouldn’t mind, your fur feels really nice!~”

	“Y-Yeah, let’s get this egg together!”

	Judo gave a small, good-natured snort of laughter. “Aren’t you two just the cutest, goodness, how is anyone else supposed to compete, eh?”

	Judo’s words caused more and more embarrassment and made her waver just a little on if she should continue or not but despite that she held strong and helped Bluey position the claw once more and then before dropping the crane she gently kissed her cheek. “Yeah Baby Blue, let's get it.”

	The crane arm came down and successfully snagged the targeted egg. “Hooray!” Bluey cheered, craning her neck back so she could return the kiss to Honey. “We did it! You’re a great teacher, it worked!”

	Judo glanced over in Casper’s direction to make sure he was still okay, and found he had moved one game over to shooting hoops. He looked over back in her direction and made an overly-derpy face at her and silently quoted the old “Lesbean? I thought you were American?” Vine.

	“Don’t make me come over there,” Judo called to him, giving him a smirk. “I’ll kick your butt.”

	Casper laughed. “I’d make a joke about you not being able to do that while in heels . . . but you could totally do that in heels, so.”

	Bluey laughed a little at their banter and then picked the egg out of the prize drop. She turned to Honey with an excited grin, tail wagging. “We got this together, we should open it together!”

	Honey giggled while calming down a bit. She leaned against the machine and nodded as she took one end of the egg and pressed down to pop it open. “You did all the work so you tell me what our love won.” She turned her gaze to Judo and smiled a bit to her as well. “I guess since I’m the master I could show you how to win them as well… don’t expect the same treatment as Bluey though.”

	Judo gave her an exaggerated pout of disappointment. “Aww, we don’t get to hold paws? Shucks, I was really looking forward to that, what good is it without romantic tension?”

	Bluey squealed as she looked at the ticket. “500, Honeybee! At this rate those plushies are as good as ours!”

	Honey’s tail slapped the glass over and over as she looked at the sticker and her smile grew wide. It was incredible that they’d gotten so many already. “800 tickets added… That means that we just need a little over one thousand five hundred tickets.” Her gaze turned to Judo once more as she motioned with her head to get her to come and try as well. “I’ll teach you in a way that I think you’ll get more than how I showed Bluey. If you don’t want to though I can do it.”

	Judo chuckled and walked over. “Nah, I’m just teasing, I’m interested in learning. Let’s give it a go!”

	“Alright sure.” She slotted another round into the machine before standing next to Judo with her paw gently on her shoulder and slowly guided her through the process though instead of how she did it with Bluey she explained it by using special items she knew Judo liked as examples for how things worked. Shoes for accuracy and jewelry for weight and so on and so forth. 

	Judo listened attentively to what Honey told her, and she gave the Beagle credit, her accessories analogies were honestly pretty helpful and she understood what everything meant. After making sure she listened to Honey’s full explanation, the Chow concentrated on the machine and navigated the claw around, judging a good egg to try and shoot for this time. Selecting one she believed she could snag, she positioned the claw over, pressed the button, and watched as the egg was narrowly captured.

	“Aw, sweet!” Judo said, clapping once in celebration. “Wow, Honey, that was really good advice, thank you!”

	“No problem Judo. It’s fun helping others and since they all have tickets in them we all win no matter what. Open it and see how many you won.” Honey stepped back and waited. After this she was going to go a few more times so that they were certain to get the prize.

	Judo popped the egg open and grinned as she read the ticket. “Another 200, sweet! Keep getting tics like that and you’ll get those plushies with just the claw machines.”

	Bluey giggled. “Damn, and here I was thinking that I’d have to lay down the law with some serious ski ball.”

	“Pfft. Lay down the law anyway, trick my brother into playing you and destroy him.”

	The giggling turned to laughter. “Wow, you went from loving sister to wanting him dead in 10 seconds flat.”

	“He’s a grub, he deserves it.”

	Honey’s eyes rolled before she weasled her way between judo and the machine before smiling to her and putting in another couple coins so that she could take another turn. Honey was proud that she could teach her two friends and now she could use her skills to win again. “You go have fun Bluey I’ll be here destroying this claw machine and winning all the eggs.”