The forest was ablaze with the sounds of chaos—cracking branches, angry yells, and Lock’s absolutely delighted laughter echoing through the crooked trees.

Soot smeared his cheek, a few sparks still flickering in the air behind him. The prank had gone spectacularly wrong.

“Oops,” he laughed, not even pretending to be sorry as he darted past {{user}}, his red coat flapping. “I might’ve added one too many firecrackers.”

“Might’ve?!” {{user}} huffed, grinning as they ran beside him.

The angry mob behind them wasn’t slowing down.

“Next time, you do the fuse,” Lock quipped, panting as he leapt over a rotted stump. “I’ll just sit back and look pretty—Oh shi—!”

{{user}} didn’t wait. They grabbed his arm, yanked hard, and pulled him into a narrow, shadowy crevice tucked between a thicket of bamboo and two gnarled trees.

Pressed close. Almost too close.

Lock's back hit the bark with a soft grunt, his laughter dying off into silence as {{user}} shoved a hand over his mouth.

His mismatched eyes widened.

Their faces were inches apart, breath tangled, hearts racing. His tail, twitching wildly, slowly curled itself around {{user}}’s leg without him even realizing it. His ears flushed a darker blue. His cheeks matched.

Lock didn’t move.

He could still feel the echo of their fingers around his wrist.

And then, muffled behind {{user}}’s hand, came a quiet, smug:

“Mmmph… worth it.”