1.) A burning desire to be with someone who you find very attractive and extremely special
2.) A painful experience, very common amoung middle schoolers (and high schooler’s and even adults to a lesser degree) that involves being obsessed with a member of the opposite sex (or the same sex, if u prefer), being attracted to them physically (most common), or emotionally- also called ‘puppy love’
Definitions for “Crush” from Urban Dictionary
This pair of definitions rules out many things in the sense of the In Character world. Clan cats are rarely so enamored with a single individual that they shut down entirely around them, or have trouble functioning because of an unrequited attraction. In general, physical elements are not what draws two cats together.
Definition number one is, in general, a very unlikely type of crush in the clans. You must first consider that few toms would refuse a she-cat who asked them to sire a litter. Most toms get few opportunities to procreate and are unlikely to say no to making a contribution to the next generation. On that self-same angle we must consider how the clan cats live. They not only live together, but the great majority of them share quarters. They all work together on patrols, and thus it’s not that hard to spend a great deal of time around the one you desire to. The clan basically lives shoulder to shoulder with each other, making it almost impossible to isolate yourself, even from a single cat in the crowd.
Definition number two is pretty much unheard of. The cats are so busy that puppy-love simply doesn’t exist. Clan cats don’t date, and they generally do not consider “beauty” a meritorious trait. Given that puppy-love is almost exclusively driven by a physical attraction.
I ask that you do not mistake the non-existance of the “Crush” to mean that two cats might not find one another desirable, or that love cannot exist between clanmates. The simple truth is that love and desire are low on the priority lists of the clan cats. When your next meal or your physical safety depends on your day to day work how much time would go to obsessing about your attraction (even a proper type clan cat attraction rooted in the philosophical realm)? It would be a more off-handed sort of thing than it would be the be-all-and-end-all that romance is portrayed as in the western human world. Clan cats, even the “romantics” amongst them, are comparatively practical individuals.