Boober Fraggle's valentine

Silent Admiration

Valentine's Day was coming up in Fraggle Rock, and everyone was excited. Well, everyone except Boober. Not that he hated the holiday as he still enjoyed letting his friends know he cared about them. But because he always had a hard time asking out a certain fraggle. The fraggle in question was none other than Gobo's cousin, Jessa. Boober sighed sadly while scrubbing some clothes in his washtub. He had been in love with her for years. Jessa was beautiful, witty, athletic, sarcastic, and as brave as Gobo himself. Boober wasn't the only fraggle who thought so. A lot of other fraggles were also crushing on Jessa.

But Boober's feelings went beyond infatuation. He knew Jessa better than anyone else in the rock. He knew what her music taste was, what dishes of his she liked and didn't like, how she preferred to style her hair, what her favorite color was, and what her hobbies were—all of that stuff. Since Jessa was a private person, Boober felt special knowing these things about her. He still remembered the moment he first laid eyes on Jessa.

They were small children, Jessa was playing frisbee with Gobo and Red while Boober had been in a corner reading one of his books. He was so invested in a chapter that it attracted the attention of bullies. Boober was too cowardly to defend himself, and the fraggles picking on him would have a field day. Jessa had noticed Boober's predicament and threw the Frisbee she caught from Red at one of their heads.

"Who let a gang of meatheads in this rock?" She asked them rather harshly.

Boober remembered how Jessa kicked them in the shins before any of them had a chance to insult her. Boober was captivated by Jessa while she made the bullies pay. She was a lovely dark purple fraggle with long, straight black hair. Jessa had asked Boober if he was alright, but he couldn't muster up the courage to even thank her. Gobo had witnessed the whole thing and came to check on his pal. Boober felt embarrassed that he couldn't speak, but Jessa was so beautiful.

From that day forward, they became friends, though Boober never stopped loving Jessa. And each year, his feelings grew stronger. Now, adults, they were particularly close. They knew each other inside and out and often hung out with one another. Despite this, however, Boober had his doubts about Jessa ever returning his feelings. She hadn't let on that she liked anyone in particular, much less which team she played for. This made it even harder to figure out, and Boober sighed again.

"This is going to be another year of unrequited love," he told himself solemnly.

Before Boober could feel sorry for himself, he heard Jessa and Red giggling as they walked back from the Great Hall. Boober felt his heart racing, his face heating up and his tail wagging. Red and Jessa had just gotten done sparring with each other in the Great Hall and were heading back to their room. Boober put his wet clothes on his clotheslines to dry and loaded the last of his clean laundry into his wagon before exiting his hole. At least the chore of delivering freshly washed clothes would take his mind off Jessa.

"You should've seen the way I threw that punch," Red bragged. "I almost had you."

"Good thing I was a centimeter from getting destroyed," Jessa replied in a rather chill tone.

Boober began his usual path, his laundry wagon right in front of him, as he strolled to where Jessa and Red were coming from in the other direction. Boober stared at Jessa's face and admired her smile, her silver eyes, and the way her hair swayed behind her in the form of her signature ponytail. Her sideswept bangs rested just above her eyebrows. Her outfit was, of course, her usual black sleeveless crop top, black ripped skinny jeans, and black combat boots. Boober blushed immensely the closer he got. No matter how many times he had seen that face, it never failed to make him melt. By that point, Boober's heart was dancing around in his chest, and his palms were sweating so bad he could hardly grip the handles of his laundry wagon. Aside from being attractive, Jessa was also tall. Not as tall as Mokey, who stood a good 2 inches above Jessa, but she was taller than Boober, Red, Gobo, and Wembley. Boober began to pick up on their conversation as he approached them.