Chapter 17 – Moments at night.
At Swift’s home Gentle, Thief, and Cozy were chatting over some snacks as Swift walked in.
	“So…We…Have an issue. Remember the last time you were over, Gentle…” Swift rubbed the back of their head. “I…Um…Kind of forgot to restock?”
Gentle immediately paled and teared up, the last time she stayed was the night before Void Heart’s attack. Swift had promised to restock that day but the attack happened before they could. 
	“B-But Swift…you…”
	“I forgot Gentle, I swear! I know it goes against the earlier promise but all we have…well…” Gentle frowned as Swift tried to form their words. 
	“…Ok, how about a bet, Swift? A little game.” Thief leaned back in his seat as the three looked at him.
	“Explain.”
	“War. If I win, you’ll wear one with Gentle tonight.” Swift immediately looked shocked and slammed their hands on the table. 
	“F-Fine, but if I win, you’ll wear one instead!”
Cozy made a small whistle as she had a glint of mischief.
	“Then if I win, both of you will wear!” Thief raised an eyebrow in intrigue as Swift’s eyebrow twitched, until Gentle cleared her throat.
	“I…Want to put my bet in. If I win, all three of you will wear. And Swift, remember the pacifier Hugs forgot that we thought was lost, but after finding it Grams said Hugs had slept without it peacefully?”
	“…Why do I not like the—”
	“as addition, you have to use it tonight” Gentle smiled a bit shyly as Thief pulled out two decks of cards.
	“What do you say Swift, if you back out, you automatically surrender your fate.” Swift sighed and sat down.
	“Fine, I’ll play, but how do we even do this?”
	“Easy, two rounds. You versus me, while Gentle and Cozy go against one another. The winners face each other. So, if I won you’d already be wearing one either way, and if you won I’d be wearing one either way. Gentle and Cozy’s winner would make the final round stakes even higher. So, let’s go and say Gentle and I won. If I won, only you’d be in them Swift. If Gentle won, we’d all be in them and, well, you’d have a pacifier, which would look cute.” Swift glared at Thief and had a gleam in their eye. 
	“Prove the cards are all suits and all there.”
	“Fair enough.” Thief laid out the cards as he looked at them and turned them over after making 13 piles, showing it had all 4 suits, all 13 ranging from Ace to King. He proceeded to show it with the second deck after putting the first deck back together. He handed a deck to Gentle as they both shuffled. Thief then let Swift shuffle while Cozy shuffled the other. Afterwards he showed how to distribute the cards and explained the rules. Luckily, unlike earlier with the cubs, the cousins seemed to understand the rules quickly as the game began. After a few shuffles, Swift Heart eventually couldn’t do a war as they had too few cards. Their head hit the table.
	“Ugh…I lost…You win Thief…”
	“And as promised, you need to wear a diaper. I think that should start now~.” Swift Heart let out a whimpering cry of regret as they went up and came down a few moments later donned in a diaper with some race cars on the landing strip.
	“Oh I was right, that IS cute.”
	“Hehe…I knew there were a lot of unique designs on them. Um…You still look cool, Swift.” Swift walked over and ruffled Gentle’s wool a bit.
	“Alright you two, you’re up.” Gentle and Cozy shook hands as Gentle dealt the cards and they began. It barely took three minutes before Gentle had lost to Cozy. The Wars ended up in Cozy’s favor. Swift handed Gentle a diaper, Gentle bleeted pitifully as she went into the bathroom to get it donned. After she came out, shyly she looked at the group.
	“You look cute, Gentle. If I win, it’s just you two.”
	“Ha, you bet, Thief. I’ll win once again.” Cozy smiled. “And once I do, you’ll be joining them!”
	“Bring it, girl.” Thief shuffled and dealt the cards. After a bit, Thief hung his head in shame as Swift gently smacked his head with a diaper, chuckling.
	“Rules are rules.”
	“Yeah yeah…Least the strip has stars on it.” Thief walked into the bathroom and got himself taped on, after an event with Mend one time he learned the tactic and examined himself, his cloak hid it well but it was noticeable if his cloaked moved to show himself from the front. He sighed and walked to the main room, Cozy was chuckling but gave a small whistle.
	“We’ll have to play sssssssome time again, without sssssstakesssss.”
	“Yeah, it was…Fun…We just got unlucky, Thief.”
	“Well, it’s how War goes. Heck Tugs won four games total. I think Cozy and Tugs will need to compete for ‘war card game master’.” The group chuckled and watched a movie, near the end Gentle Heart had fallen asleep against Thief who used his cloak as a blanket for her. Cozy and Swift had fallen asleep in their seats and Thief turned the tv off and closed his eyes, slowing his breathing to fall asleep near instantly, a trick he picked up to combat Insomnia if he didn’t feel like wandering for the night. 

Meanwhile, during the same time, Grumpy and Mend were walking with Wonderheart to Grumpy’s place, Mend needed to pick up some of Wonderheart’s supplies so she could sleep comfortably. However due to the rain, Grumpy was holding the umbrella while they all walked under it. Mend and Wonderheart holding hands, eventually they reached Grumpy’s and he opened the garage, so they could get under it and close the umbrella.
	“Wow…Your garage is a bit of a mess, Grumpy.” Mend rubbed their neck as Grumpy gave a grunt.
	“Yeah, well, I like it how it is. My tools and gadgets are where I need them so—Wonderheart do NOT touch that! I haven’t tested the light projector yet, it’s supposed to be for concerts and festivals. I meant to test it but everything with Void Heart has put a wrench in that plan.”
	“Wow, it makes lights?! Can we try it Grumpy, please!” Wonderheart was hopping back and forth on a foot in excitement, Mend chuckled and mimicked her.
	“Yeah Grumpy, please~” They both giggled as they stopped, Grumpy sighed with a small grin.
	“Oh fine, but let me grab the remote, just incase.” Grumpy rummaged for the remote, which had a piece of tape to label it. He walked over and gave the other two some goggles.
	“What do we need these for, Grumpy?”
	“Easy Wonderheart, eye protection. If something goes wrong, say it exploded, we wouldn’t want anything in our eyes.” Grumpy flicked the switch and the lights started normally…before one shot past Wonderheart and scorched her arm a bit.
	“Ow! It hurt!”
	“Hey Gumpy…that’s not supposed to—Ow! My leg!”
	“Get down you two! It seems the laser lights were set too high! Ok look, follow my lead, I’ll get you two to a safe spot…The remote’s turn off button malfunctioned. I’ll need to have Bright Heart help me fix all this. Now…Follow!” Grumpy led the way, yelling go or stop as he counted the lasers timing. Even with his counting, all three of them still got scorched a few times, Mend making sure Wonderheart only got one more scorched fur area on her bottom area, which basically cleared the fur off her butt. Grumpy made sure the two got into the safe room, Mend looking very less fluffy, but both fine besides that.
	“Grumpy, get in here! You can’t go right toward it!”
	“That’s the issue, Mend, only I can get to the emergency shut off button!” Grumpy rushed around, ducking and rolling to dodge the lasers before eventually hitting the switch. After the lights turned off he was huffing and slid to his knees.
	“Oh thank stars…Why does this stuff always happen to me?” Wonderheart walked over after she was sure it was safe.
	“Thank you, for saving me, Mister Grumpy.” She hugged Grumpy as he looked at her and his frown turned to one of concern as he rubbed her head.
	“You ok, besides your arm and…well, bare butt?”
	“Ah…Yeah…”
	“I got scorched fur on my legs in like…5 places total and my top fur got scorched…I didn’t even need a cut.” Mend walked over as they complained before joining the two in a hug. “Still, thank you Grumpy. You were so brave, such a hero~” Grumpy blushed a bit.
	“Dork, I had to make sure Thief and Tenderheart didn’t get on my case if it got worse. But geez…My back is going to be warm for a while, feels like I was sunbathing for hours…” Grumpy mumbled as they all walked to his kitchen, he made some popcorn as they went to watch a movie, with Mend getting Wonderheart all set for bed, diaper and all. She held her stuffed animal as she cuddled near Mend. By the end of the movie, she was already asleep and Mend was dozing off, their head resting on Grumpy’s shoulder. He had already dozed off as well, the three of them sleeping on the couch, the adrenaline from the laser lights wearing off. 

Meanwhile, at Love-a-Lot’s place, Tenderheart and her were laying on the living room floor, heads near one another.
	“…So, Wonderheart already seems convinced?”
	“Yeah, she’s a silly girl but she seems convinced we’re together, and I’d feel bad if I told her it’s not true. She likes you a lot, Love-a-Lot.” Love-a-Lot sat up after Tenderheart’s confession and turned to look at him.
	“She does? I thought she’d be upset that I’m ‘taking her uncle’ away?” Tenderheart chuckled before sitting up and facing Love-a-Lot, taking her paws in his.
	“She says ‘If Love-a-Lot was my auntie, I would be happy because she’s really nice.’” Tenderheart chuckled as he thought about the pictures Wonderheart had drawn. “I think she wants me to have a special someone, especially since she’s come to live with me.” Love-a-Lot seemed to be thinking before she booped Tenderheart’s nose.
	“What DID happen to Wonderheart’s parents? You never said much.”
	“Oh…They were…Infected, by No Heart. They gave me Wonderheart when she was still young, not even two. They…They…” Tenderheart gripped his chest with one hand as the other stayed on his wrist to keep from shaking as he closed his eyes, tears slipping out. Love-a-Lot didn’t need to hear anymore, she just pulled Tenderheart close into a hug. They stayed in the embrace for a bit until Tenderheart finally calmed down enough to wipe his tears away.
	“Better?”
	“A bit, sorry, you didn’t need to hear all that with your monotone status.”
	“Tenderheart, it’s better you did come out with the truth, even if it’s just to me. Did…You witness it?”
	“Yeah, Wonderheart was asleep in my arms, my sister’s last image in my head was her smile as her and her husband fell backwards…I sometimes have nightmares of that moment, it’s why I am so careful with Wonderheart and care for her so dearly.” Tenderheart seemed to have a smile when talking about Wonderheart. Love-a-Lot wiped a tear from Tenderheart’s eye as she closed in gently kissing him. Tenderheart was at first surprised but gently put his arms around Love-a-Lot as the two deepened the kiss, the moon shining outside as they two shared their embrace, a secret between them both that Tenderheart had not revealed even to True or Noble. 

Finally, at Funshine’s place, him and Laugh-a-Lot were sharing stories and jokes, which Laugh didn’t always get with Funshine. 
	“Hehe, you sometimes make jokes I don’t understand, Funshine, but you’re still a funny guy. I do wonder, what your family would be like when you got married. How your kids would look like.” Funshine flinched.
	“Um…Laugh, you do know how transitioning works right?”
	“Yeah, kind of, but can’t you…ya know…get a woman pregnant?”
	“I can’t. Just because my body changed doesn’t mean I’m magically able to get a lady pregnant. I don’t have ‘semen’ to give, I still have eggs….” Funshine gripped the side of the couch. “I can’t have kids, if I adopt it’s not my blood, if we do artificial it’s still not my blood, no matter what I can’t have my own children, they’ll always see me as ‘dad’, but it’ll never be the blood. I don’t feel like a lady, but a male. If I was born a male maybe I’d never feel this way, but I was born—”
	“You were born in the wrong body, that’s all. Your soul is male, so what if you can’t have blood kids?! It’s not blood that makes a family, isn’t that obvious with everyone here in Care-A-Lot?!” Laugh-a-Lot was staring Funshine in the eyes, he started to understand what she meant as their eyes stared at each other. True and Noble raised everyone they brought over and even through some like Champ and Bright Heart got together, everyone still acted like family. It wasn’t blood that binded them, but their bonds. Funshine took Laugh’s paw as she pulled him into an embrace. She rubbed his back before they backed off enough, not letting go of each other’s paws.
	“Funshine, no matter what, you are you. Even if you had kids through a different way, why should you treat them any differently? Noble and True love you as you are, never treated you or the others in any other way but with true love, right?”
	“Yeah, I guess True Heart did TRULY love us.” Laugh-a-Lot snorted before laughing, that joke she understood, Funshine had long accepted he was never to have a ‘normal’ family. But why should he worry? His whole family wasn’t normal anyhow. He and Laugh turned on a comedy show to watch together, The two slowly starting to understand one another even more than before.