Michael the Platypus was running, running as fast as he could. Away from the suspicious looks and horrible abuse coming from the agents who were supposed to be looking after and training him. The worst had been Cassie the Cat; she had called him a LOVEMUFFIN spy. Considering LOVEMUFFIN was the organisation who had terrorised, beaten, and tortured him, being accused of being a spy for them, AGAINST his own parents, was heartbreaking. What was even more heartbreaking was that her accusation was completely valid; Michael had been raised by LOVEMUFFIN for the first nine years of his life, taught that LOVEMUFFIN was good and OWCA was bad. It was hard to undo nine years of indoctrination in just a few months, but at least Michael was TRYING. That was the one thing nobody seemed to grasp.

As he fled past the infirmary, he heard muffled whimpering and crying coming from nearby. He skidded to a halt, confused, and followed the sound until he got to the back door of OWCA. He pushed it open and immediately spotted a small figure lying on the ground several hundred metres across the grass. Suddenly sick to his stomach with worry, Michael took off across the field.

As he got nearer, two details came into focus: the fact that the figure was a young cat, and the fact that she was being pinned to the ground on her front by thorny vines which had somehow grown over her body, trapping her. Her face was being pressed up against the soil, hence her muted cries and screams.

Michael picked up speed, pulling out the dagger that his best friend from LOVEMUFFIN had given him, and dropped to his knees by her side, beginning to cut through the vines. They were tough to cut, even with his sharpened dagger, but he was managing it. He got a few nicks in his paw as he worked, but he didn't care; this poor cat had horribly painful thorns digging into her ENTIRE BODY. He had to help her.

Finally, all the vines were cut away. Michael helped the cat turn over onto her back and sit up. She had many small, bleeding cuts over her body, but none of them looked too bad. She winced and her paw flew to her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked concernedly.

"I…I…" The cat coughed, before looking Michael directly in the eyes.

As soon as her deep green eyes met his brown ones, Michael felt something stir in his chest. Something sparked in his heart, making him feel like fireworks were going off above them. He couldn't stop staring into her eyes, and it seemed she couldn't either. They were inexplicably drawn to each other, like two magnets of different strengths. And when Michael finally managed to look down, he spotted small heart-shaped flowers sprouting around them, right in front of his eyes.

"U-Uh… A-Are you okay?" Michael asked again lamely.

"I…I'm fine," the cat replied awkwardly. "Thank you. I'm Gypsy."

"I'm Michael."

To his surprise, Gypsy's face lit up. "Oh, you're Perry the Platypus's son!"

Michael was wary to confirm this, since the next step was recognising him as the "LOVEMUFFIN spy" or "LOVEMUFFIN puppet", but he reluctantly nodded. "Yes, I am."

But again to his surprise, Gypsy continued smiling. "My mom and your dad are really good friends. I've heard a lot about you from them!"

"But I've only been here five months," Michael said confusedly.

"I know," chirped Gypsy. "Perry's been singing your praises to me and Mom, and I don't care what ANYONE else at OWCA says about you."

Michael was so touched that he felt his eyes begin to mist. "Th-Thank you, Gypsy. That means so much to me."

Gypsy reached out and clasped Michael's paw, making both of their hearts skip a beat. "You rescued me from the vines, so I know at least that you're not an unfeeling robot."

Is THAT what Cassie's saying about me? Michael wondered despondently. Aloud, he asked, "If I may ask, where DID those vines come from?"

The cat bit her lip. "Well…I created them."

Michael stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"I was born with powers," Gypsy confessed. "Earth powers. I can make plants grow at will, manipulate vines and flowers, and create little spurts of water that are only powerful enough to water plants."

"Wow…" Michael blinked a few times. "That's amazing…"

"Well, the one con to this power is that if a plant dies in my vicinity, I feel the pain," Gypsy said. "The bigger the plant, the more pain I feel. So if a tree falls in my area, it'll be really painful. If lots of trees are felled at the same time or within a short amount of time, I could be put into a coma or even die."

"That's…not so amazing," Michael admitted. "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

"Yeah," replied Gypsy, glancing down at her paws. "There was a fire in Danville Forest about three years ago. I felt like I was being burned alive, even though I was about a quarter of a mile away from the fire. That was the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

Michael sympathetically squeezed Gypsy's hand. "I'm sorry. The worst thing that's ever happened to ME was watching my best friend being punished for something I did."

Gypsy wiped her eyes and blinked up at Michael. "W-What?"

"My best friend at LOVEMUFFIN was called Courtney. She and I did everything together. But one day, I made a mistake while out on a mission and we failed. When we got back, Courtney took the blame. I was punished by watching her getting whipped and electrically shocked with this…this shock stick that Professor von Roddenstein had. Hearing her screaming and watching her writhing in pain, while also knowing that I should have been the one enduring that, was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. It's a miracle Courtney even survived, and I had absolutely no idea how to thank her. I should have been the one to…"

Michael trailed off, but Gypsy knew what he was about to say. She leant forwards and hugged him tightly. Michael wrapped his own arms around her, enjoying the hug. In nine years of his life, he had never been hugged, except by Courtney on a few occasions and his parents in the last few months. He knew he'd never get tired of it.

When Gypsy pulled back, she smiled kindly. "I think you're a wonderful person, Michael. Don't listen to anything those OWCA meanies say; they don't know the real you."

That was when Michael decided to do something risky, crazy, and possible wonderful: he leant in and kissed her on the mouth.

While seemingly shocked at first, Gypsy took a few seconds to relax into it. They edged closer and wrapped their arms round each other, appearing like a seasoned dating couple instead of a not-even-dating couple experiencing their first kiss.

When they finally stopped, both of them were blushing. They gazed at each other in silence for a moment, before Michael attempted a smirk. "The heart flowers are back."

Both of them stared down at the ground, and, finding that Michael's statement was true, Gypsy grinned and kissed him again.

In truth, they knew it was a LITTLE too soon. But it didn't matter; they both knew it was affection at first sight, and neither of them could wait to see where their relationship went in the near future.

For the first time in his entire life, Michael felt like he belonged.

...

Michael and his mother (Pixie, for future reference) belong to Nightflame203. Anyone else you don't recognise belongs to me.