Your name is Cronus Ampora and you have a very angry matesprit.
You hear him come up the steps to the hive and fling open the door. You know from past experiences that he's had a bad day for one reason or another. Someone probably said something against his lectures. Last time is was Meenah, you weren't there, but apparently he fussed at her for a good hour then came home and was still mad after whatever it was that she said. Each time he comes home like this he tries to avoid you. He's really pissed and doesn't want to blow up at you. But each time you don't let him, and trying your hardest to make sure he isn't angry for long.
Kankri stomps through the living room, passing right in front of you and walks into the kitchen. He doesn't pause to look at you or even acknowledge that you are there. His hair is slightly a mess, probably because he grabs at it when he is irritated, and his face is slightly red. As he passes you he is grumbling to himself, huffing, and gritting his teeth.
Your eyes follow him as he walks by, frowning slightly to yourself. After he disappears into the kitchen you just stare at the door frame for about a minute. You guess you thought maybe he would come back out and sit with you, and talk to you, and snuggle against you telling you why he is so upset, but that hasn't happened yet so it won't happen today. You listen to him bustling around in the kitchen. He is probably trying to make dinner. He likes to pretend that nothing is wrong, even if he isn't acting like it.
After waiting for a moment, you sigh and take the guitar strap from around your neck, setting the guitar down on the stand beside the couch, stand up and stretch slightly, mentally preparing yourself. You walk toward the kitchen and stand in the doorway, leaning against it and crossing your arms.
Your kitchen isn't very big, there's a stove, a sink and a counter. There is a window over the sink with a small radio in the sill, a knife set and jars of different foods and ingredients on the counters, and then there is Kankri. He's facing the counter, angrily chopping up something on a cutting board. You wait a moment to see if he will acknowledge you.
He obviously knows you are there. When he turns to grab a pan and fill it to boil water he looks right past you at least three times, but he still ignores you. It's not until he starts adding some kind of pasta to the water before you decide to speak up, "Wanta talk about it?" It's a simple question and more than a bit vague, but he knows what you're talking about because right now, whatever it is, is the only thing on his mind.
He freezes for a moment, as if he wasn't expecting you to talk to him. Then, without even turning to look at you he responds, cold, quick and to the point. "No." That's it. That's all you get. You sigh for a moment and look around the room, as if an idea of what you should do is going to pop out of nowhere.
He's stirring the pasta on the stove when you finally walk over. You hesitate for a moment before quietly stepping forward and wrapping your arms around the smaller troll's waist to hug him from behind. You can feel him tense up in your arms. His face turns a bright shade of red like he is about to scream. Instead he takes a deep breath to calm himself.
You wait for what seems like a minute but in reality it is only a few seconds before he speaks, "Cronus…" It's a warning but you could care less. You rest your forehead on the top of his head and hold his back flat against your chest, "Yeah babe?" He shivers a bit but quickly regains his composure and sets the box of pasta down. "I am trying to make dinner for us Cronus!" He's really irritated and he's trying to shrug your arms away but you keep them in place. You aren't squeezing him, just holding on, he could easily pull away if he really wanted to. Right?
Part of you wants to back off. Back off before he decides that he's angry at you. But as long as you do not say something especially stupid you should be fine. You burry your face in your matesprit's hair and mumble to him, "Come on Kan, ya gotta talk ta me." Wrong. Remember that stupid thing we talked about? Well that's the wrong thing to say.
Kankri is immediately tying to squirm away from you now and he's going off on a rant. "I most certainly do not have to talk to you! I do not have to do anything that I do not wish to!" You cringe at the annoyance in his voice but keep your arms around him. "If I had wanted to tell you anything, I would have. So, as of now, I am telling you yet again that no, I do not wish to speak of my experiences today and I will not proceed to talk to you about it just because you vocalize that it is something I need to do. You cannot expect me to do something just because you insist that it is necessary! In fact, in other cultures there are actual laws that protect certain personal rights such as the right of speech. Meaning that if an individual decides to voice a certain opinion, they are entitled to do so BUT if they were to not speak at all they are also entitled to that right. At this point, I am considering my silence as a right that you should not impede upon and-!"
Okay. That didn't go so well. Nice going Ampora, you tried to calm him down and now he's pissed. He's trying to flail away from you but you're holding onto him tight now and he's fussing and trying to swat your hands away. But you keep your arms locked around his waist and stay quiet, resting your head against his shoulder, waiting for him to finish what he's staying and to stop squirming.
It's about 3-4 minutes before he calms down. Well, he isn't really calm at all, but he isn't throwing a fit anymore. Instead he is huffing quietly and mumbling to himself as he goes back to working on the food. You aren't really sure what to do now. Maybe all of this was just one huge bad idea. You'd leave. But then you know he'd be upset with you for not leaving when he told you to.
You press a few small kisses to the back of his neck and hear him sigh quietly. "Cronus… I am trying to prepare food at the moment so if you are going to stand there the least you can do is help me." He still sounds annoyed but at least he isn't fussing at you to leave anymore. You wait a moment before responding, "Yeah Kankri, what do ya need me ta do?" He gestures over to some chicken he had been cutting earlier. "Finish chopping that?" You stare at it for a moment, knowing that he just wants you out of his hair but you agree and kiss the back of his neck one more time before pulling away.
A few minutes later you are grilling the pieces of chicken over a griddle. Neither of you are talking, and you don't know how much longer you can take the silence. You quickly glance over at him then reach over and turn the CD player on. Its Elvis… You look over to see if Kankri will react but he doesn't seem to be affected at all except for his eye that that twitches slightly but you shake that off fairly quickly.
You're so absorbed in your thoughts and listening to the music that you don't realize when Kankri is trying to talk to you, "Cronus?! Cronus are you even listening to me?!" Shit. He sounds so annoyed with you. You sigh quietly against the back of his neck, "Sorry babe, I was zonin out. What did ya say?"
Kankri's eye twitches and he stutters a bit, his face bright red. "O-of course you weren't listening!" You try to step closer to him but he immediately reaches out and shoves you away by your chest. "Kanny, baby, don-" You reach your hand up to him but he quickly smacks it back down and steps back as far as he can. "Don't what?! You never listen to me Cronus!" You feel as though he just spit in your face. You must look like it too because he raises his voice, "It's true! You are constantly tuning me out when I talk to you! You know, maybe I could understand it every now and then when I'm rambling; it's expected, but now of all times?! Actually, no! Under no circumstance is it okay for you to do that! I pay attention to you! But no, the second the 'Insufferable' opens his mouth, let's just ignore him! Maybe if you paid attention you'd understand what I was saying half the time! But you don't because you're always being so… so… stupid!"
Kankri's face is red, he's panting hard from the yelling and probably giving you the deadliest glare he can. You should be angry. You should be mad or at least just a bit upset but you aren't. Instead you just stand in front of him, taking in every word he says because it's all true. You don't listen to him enough. You wish you did but you just don't. And you are stupid. He knows you are and you know you are, but he puts up with you anyway. He stays with you even though you are dumb so how can you be mad at him?
You are about to agree. You are going to apologize for being dumb and apologize for not listening. You are going to beg for him to stay with you. Swallow your pride and beg for him not to break up with you because that's all you can do. You will get on your hands and knees if you have to, but you can't live without him. You didn't have anything before him and you absolutely will not go back to that.
You open your mouth to apologize but when you look at him he isn't angry anymore. He's staring at you, looking horrified and covering his mouth with one hand. Then he is the one apologizing. He's tearing up now and babbling on and on about how he didn't mean it and that he's sorry and wants you to forgive him. He is tugging at his hair and crying and trying to wipe bright red tears away as he steps back against a counter.
All you can do for a moment is look at him, arms at your side, completely baffled that he could go from yelling at you to crying and apologizing in the span of a minute. But then he lets out a small sob and you don't care about any of that anymore, all you care about is Kankri, because he is your Kankri and you are in love with him and he needs you right now even if he thinks he doesn't.
You are immediately across the room hugging him. You kiss all over his face, as if you could kiss the tears away. Then you hold him to your chest and tell him it will be alright. That you love him no matter what and that you will both be fine because you love him and he loves you and you won't ever let him go. You aren't sure about some of the things that you say. Hell, you don't even remember half of them, but they seemed like the right things to say at the moment and he's calmer now even though he is still shaking in your arms.
Kankri is clinging to your shirt and has his face buried in your chest when he mumbles quietly, "Cr-Cronus?" You bite your lip, slightly nervous before answering. "What is it Kankri?" He doesn't speak for a moment and the only sound in the room is of that stupid radio that you shouldn't have even turned on in the first place and the shaky breathing of your matesprit.
Almost a minute goes by before he speaks up, "You... You won't leave me... right?" Your heart stops for a second. Does he think that you will? Why would he ask that?! "No of course not sweetheart, why would I?" You are looking down at him worriedly. He gives a small shrug then tilts his head up to look up at you with puffy red eyes, at least he isn't crying anymore. He clings to the front of your shirt with both hands and looks like he's trying hard to keep it together. You just want to hold him forever and kiss him over and over and tell him how beautiful he is.
"Cronus?" He brings you out of your thoughts again. "Yeah babe?" You tug his hand away from your shirt to lace his and your fingers together, then bring his hand up and kiss all over the back of it. "I still love you… I always will…" You freeze and blink down at him, slightly surprised. "I know Kankri... I know ya will. And I'll always love you." You kiss his hand again gently, "Forever…" He blushes slightly and you are just staring at each other and smiling softly.
You hear the music on the CD player die down again and yet another song starts to play. By now you are seriously mad at yourself for even turning the stupid thing on in the first place. But when the next song starts to play you aren't so mad anymore and you look down at Kankri, holding his hand in yours. You actually really like this song and so does Kankri. It's one of the few Elvis songs he can actually stand to listen to. When the words of the song start you hum along for the first couple of lines then start to sing quietly with it, resting your forehead against Kankri's. "If I can't help falling in love with you." He's blushing and holding onto you and it's just the cutest thing ever.
You start to sway with him softly as you sing and his face is so red, "Um... Cr-Cronus what are you doing?" … "Dancin with ya." "Why?" "Cuz you're beautiful, I love ya, an' I feel like it?" He doesn't say anything after that, just holds still, swaying just barely. As you lean down to sing quietly to him. It takes him a moment to relax but when he does he leans his head against your chest and purrs quietly, stepping with you and following your movements. "Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can't help falling in love with you." He melts in your arms and leans against you as you dance with him and sing quietly to him.
Once the song ends, you look down at him and he looks up at you. A moment goes by then he steps away and walks over to the CD player, starts the song over, puts it on repeat, then comes back and takes your hand again. You smile softly at him and kiss his hand then pull him closer and wrap your arm around his waist again. He holds your hand and rests his head on your chest again and you have never been happier.
After a while he mumbles quietly against your chest, "I love you, Cronus..." You can't help but smile and press your lips against the top of his head gently, "I love you too, Kankri." Neither of you care that the food you just made is getting cold nor that you both probably look extremely silly, dancing around in your kitchen. All that matters is that you are both happy, because you love Kankri Vantas and he loves you back. You end up spending the next half hour holding each other, not saying much and dancing to the same song over and over, and you sing the whole time that you dance.
"For I can't help falling in love with you."