the thing about tigerheart is like. he meets dovewing as dovepaw when the group from all the clans goes on the beaver expedition. his FIRST interaction with her is after they run into dogs and he says "don't worry dovepaw, i'll protect you". and from that point forward he proceeds to seek her out.
jayfeather finds tigerheart lurking on the wrong side of thunderclan border. the next day, dovepaw recognizes tigerheart's scent during a patrol. she confront him out of earshot of the rest of their patrols, and he asks her not to tell anyone it was him, and that he'll explain it to her during the gathering.
during the gathering, tigerheart makes a point to get dovepaw alone. he then basically goes "we're friends right? if i trust you, will you trust me? :)" and proceeds to not tell her what he was doing. dovepaw extends physical contact because she can tell something's bothering him, and then he proceeds to get VERY VERY close to her.
"He seemed desperate for her to understand. She curled her tail to touch the tip of his. He stiffened at her touch, but didn’t
draw his tail away; instead, he leaned forward and rested his nose against her ear fur...The warmth of his breath on her ear made her shiver. It smelled sweet, for a ShadowClan cat's breath." (Fading Echos, 69)
Dovepaw pulls away after realizing how close together they are. the MOMENT another cat comes even somewhat close to where they are, tigerheart RUNS away despite them being at a gathering.
they bump into each other while dovepaw is on patrol again, and dovepaw accidentally wanders into shadowclan territory. she apologizes, and tigerheart says, "'It's okay. I trust you. We're friends, right?'" (Fading Echos, 123). he then once again gets very physically close to her, pressing his muzzle against hers. they talk casually for a little, but he keeps going back and forth from casual to intimate which makes dovepaw uncomfortable.
“I tried to visit Sedgewhisker, you know...But everyone got so angry with me!...But I was worried about her. We’re all Clan cats, aren't we? Is it wrong to care about one another?”
Tigerheart gazed into her eyes. “No, it isn’t.”
Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Dovepaw looked away.
“Do you remember when the dam burst?” Tigerheart’s mew was brisk, as though he could sense her discomfort and wanted to distract her. “The river nearly washed us to StarClan.” He stood up and began to knead the ground. “And we had to cling to nothing but branches to keep our heads above water.” He leaped for a low twig jutting from a pine trunk and swung by his forepaws.
Dovepaw purred with amusement. “What about trying to drag the logs out of the dam? That was like trying to pull the forest up by its roots!”
“I thought you were so brave!” Tigerheart told her.
“You were braver,” she argued.
“No way! I was terrified!”
“I couldn't tell.” Dovepaw found herself staring into his soft amber eyes. Words dried on her tongue. (Fading Echos, 123-124)
god sorry really quick aside im skimming to find the correct context and i fucking hate flametail's pov. anyway. they bump into each other AGAIN and tigerheart talks about how much he hates borders. he then asks to see dovepaw that night. when they meet, tigerheart takes her outside of clan territory. they play around, and all of a sudden, once again, he starts to get really intimate with her and asks to be her mate.
“Without you, I’d be dead now. You’re my hero. How can I possibly thank you?”
Dovepaw lifted her chin, playing along. “You must bring me mice,” she mewed haughtily. “And a fresh squirrel every day for a moon. And new moss for my nest. And . . .” She flicked his chin with her tail-tip. “You must follow me around all day and pick the burrs out of my pelt.”
The playfulness drained from Tigerheart’s warm amber gaze. Dovepaw tensed, wondering if she’d teased him too much.
“I’d gladly do all that for you.” His mew was as steady as his gaze. “You didn’t have to save my life first.”
Dovepaw stared back. “I didn’t really save your life,” she whispered. “It was just a tiny crack. That log could still hold your weight.”
“Maybe,” Tigerheart agreed. “But you were worried about me. That means you care, right?” Dovepaw saw doubt flicker in the young ShadowClan warrior’s gaze. “I mean, you care more than if we were just friends?” he pressed.
Dovepaw swallowed. For the first time she actually felt like she had the power of the stars in her paws.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I care.” Her heart twisted in her chest, half in pain, half in joy. “I shouldn’t, but I do.”
A purr rose deep in her chest as Tigerheart leaned forward and touched his muzzle to hers. Their breath billowed into a single cloud. He twisted his tail around hers, and warmth spread beneath her pelt.
Tigerheart sighed. “We’d better get back, before we’re missed.” He pulled away, but only far enough to let her get to her paws. Together they padded to the nest entrance, fur brushing fur.
They paused on the smooth rock, and Dovepaw stared out at the forest stretching down toward the distant lake. “This is going to work, right?”
“Yes,” Tigerheart promised. “No boundaries are ever going to be strong enough to separate us.”
Dovepaw blinked at him. “Really?” She wanted to believe it. She had to believe it. Nothing had ever felt so important.
“Let’s meet again before half-moon,” Tigerheart suggested.
“Tomorrow.” Dovepaw felt bold.
“Do you think we could leave camp two nights in a row?” Tigerheart’s eyes widened. “You’d take that risk?”
“It’s worth it.” She brushed his cheek with her nose. His scent felt warm on her tongue. He was hers now. He didn’t belong to ShadowClan. They belonged to each other. (Night Whispers, 57)
after this point tigerheart makes a big deal about how dovepaw's denmates would notice her absence, to which she replies that only ivypaw is in the apprentice den with her right now. anyway. they part. eventually ivpaw finds out about their meetings. she confronts dovepaw about it, reveals to her that tigerheart is training in the dark forest. dovepaw accuses ivypaw of being jealous of tigerheart's romantic interest in her.
"That’s not true! You’re just jealous!” Dovepaw shrieked at her sister. She couldn’t believe these lies. “You’re jealous that I’m a better warrior than you. I always have been and I always will be, and you can’t stand it. And now you’re jealous that Tigerheart loves me and not you! You want to destroy everything I’ve got because you’re jealous. That’s all!”
Ivypaw’s eyes gleamed. “Really? Why not ask Tigerheart?”
“Shut up!” Dovepaw scrambled up the bank. “If you tell anyone that I’m seeing Tigerheart, then I’ll tell the whole Clan you’ve been training in the Dark Forest with Tigerstar, and then you’ll have no friends. Everyone will hate you as much as I do!” She pelted through the trees.
“You forgot your catch,” Ivypaw called after her.
“You take it!” Dovepaw yowled back. “Then your Clanmates might think you’ve done something right for a change!” (Night Whispers, 82)
they meet regularly, though it doesnt say how often, in the middle of the night. the intimacy in their meetings increases, they rub faces against each other, get in real close. dovepaw off-handedly mentions jayfeather's herb patch, and she's suspicious of tigerheart's interest, but she offers to steal some for him. he tells her no, and she insists, and he tells her thank you. of course, he does this after making it very clear that littlecloud could die if he doesn't get treated, only to then back down so she can believe it was HER decision.
ivypaw happens upon the two of them during this and tries to get tigerheart to reveal his participation in the dark forest. a shadowclan patrol approaches, tigerheart shoves dovepaw into brambles, and the patrol finds tigerheart and ivypaw on the border, and they take ivypaw prisoner. tigerheart then immediately reveals the information about jayfeather's herb garden despite dovepaw offering to get some for him. after this tigerheart becomes cold, cutting dovepaw off completely. when she confronts him, he said he's been meaning to talk to her but hasn't been able to. dovepaw breaks up with tigerheart. this is the end of their relationship while dovepaw is an apprentice.
so first and foremost: even if tigerheart is a "young" warrior, HIS BROTHER IS A FULLY TRAINED MEDICINE CAT. he has to be at least a year and a half old, compared to dovewing's 7 months MAYBE when they met. and from that point, he has been going out of his way to initiate contact with her, repeatedly confirms that they are "friends" and that she trusts him, tests her by giving her little secrets to keep for him to make sure she won't tell anyone about him. the fact he goes on to take her to a second location and then ask if they can be "more than friends" WHILE SHES STILL AN APPRENTICE?????? is absolutely fucking insane. he's clearly manipulating her, fishing for information about goings on in thunderclan and the like, trying to get what he wants and mold her into someone that would be okay breaking the rules FOR HIM. whenever someone gets close to finding out about them, he runs, he tries to leave their meetings as quickly as possible. and then, when ivypaw discovers their relationship for sure, he turns cold and pretends like nothing was between them at all. he uses the information she gives him both with the dark forest and with shadowclan. and, the most poignant part, is the fact dovepaw is becoming too tired to focus during training while seeing him. her clanmates notice shes tired and comment on it, ivypaw notices. shes a teenager being groomed by an adult who is using her. when he gets what he wants out of her and when he gets it, he leaves. dovepaw believes she ends the relationship, but its evident that its over before that.
people hate thistleclaw. people hate dustfern. people hate hawkivy. people have noted the fact brambleclaw is so much older than squirrelpaw and how that skews the power dynamic, but even THEY don't start dating until theyre both adults. so the fact that tigerdove is still seen as a cutsey pure what the fuck ever ship is kind of disgusting to me. if you want to rewrite it, WHATEVER. i just think its interesting that every other age gap ship is rightfully criticized, but tigerdove very seldom is.
