Gladiator's jaws audibly clicked shut, killing the end of whatever they'd been saying when Zora told them to wait. They couldn't even recall what it was, so it must not have been very important, anyway. She just stared, quietly, obediently, her head tilted down and her nose trailing lightly through Zora's fur.

I love you, too.

She swallowed. Her throat was dry, all of a sudden. She couldn't why remember why. She nodded, sucked in a breath and released it with an Okay, numb and buzzing all at once. It would hit them soon, probably. The weight of the admission, their mutual feelings. It would find them after they'd had time to process all they'd seen and experienced in a dark, little cave in an unsuspecting corner of the woods where a dark, little cave should never have been. It would sink it after they'd had a chance to breath, because oh my god holy fuck what the shit oh my god.

But right now it felt like they were underwater. Uh, no, they responded, distantly. Yes. Maybe. I don't know. That, too, would find them soon.

Probably.