A year and a half. It's been eighteen long, restless months since Hort's seen any of his friends, any of his old peers. It has been eighteen months since Hort last saw his boyfriend.

(Best friend. Former roommate. Soulmate. Whatever.)

And, okay, maybe he'd had Sophie to keep him company while working at the School for Good and Evil (though she spent most her free time blabbing about her girlfriend and fretting over her shoes) and, sure, he'd been trading letters with various different people to keep them updated and vice versa, but it wasn't the same. Now, he's stoked and somewhat grateful that Sophie's hosting this reunion thingy at as he stumbles into Good's grand hall.

The place looks fabulous — there's a chocolate fountain, there's pretty music playing in the background, and everyone's all dressed up like it's an Ever wedding — but Hort pays little mind to it. He has only one thing on his mind, and that's his True Love (both Ravan and himself think it's stupid to refer to themselves as that, even if their finger glows do match, and even if Ravan did save him from almost-death with True Love's Kiss. It's a long story). He scans the room and immediately picks out Ravan from the crowd, standing stiffly off to the side with Arachne, though they don't appear to be conversing. Or acknowledging each other's presence.

Hort doesn't hesitate to take off running towards them, shouting out Ravan's name. The man in question turns to face him, and he visibly relaxes when he sees who it is. He starts making way to Hort.

Out of nowhere, without warning, Dean Sophie of Woods Beyond decides to materialize in front of Hort. He almost runs right into her, hastily skidding to a stop.

"Hort," she snaps. She's wearing six-inch heels and a disapproving frown, and Hort wonders what tragic event he's somehow caused this time.

"Sophie. Hey," Hort replies with the amount of confidence and superiority first-year-him possessed when Sophie stole his room.

"Where have you been?" she spits accusingly, resting a hand on her hip.

"Uh… getting ready?" He indicates towards the flight of stairs behind him. Come on, Sophie, he hasn't got time for this.

"You were supposed to meet me by the front entrance so we could welcome our friends like the good hosts we are, and yet here I find you running through the halls like an uncultured tyke. Honesty, what has gotten into you?"

Shit, he'd forgotten all about that in the excitement of finally getting to see Ravan in the flesh again. He bites back a rude response that would surely get him fired and instead mutters, "It slipped my mind. Sorry."

Sophie glares down at him. The heels make her significantly taller than him (he's starting to realize why Evergirls wear them all the time). "Well, come on, then! Agatha isn't going to welcome herself!"

She grabs him by the sleeve and begins to haul him off, leaving Hort with minimal time to frantically glance back at Ravan. He meets his boyfriend's eyes briefly, and— oh. Oh, damn the smug bastard, he's laughing. Ravan's laughing, at him. It isn't some big, boisterous thing that grabs everyone's attention, but it's definitely laughing, and Hort swears his own face is on fire. Arachne turns to see what Ravan's going on about, and upon noticing Hort, she breaks out into small, (assumedly) quiet laughter, too.

At that very moment, while Sophie's blabbing about formalities and good posture, Hort concludes that this day will not go the way it's supposed to.

—

Contrary to what Sophie seems to believe, Hort did not want to spend his time listening to Tedros of all people rant about how "oh so hard" it is being king.

"—oh, and did I mention? They used monkeys for entertainment at the coronation. Monkeys. I'm almost grateful you two weren't there; it was beyond embarrassing."

Sophie puts a comforting hand on Tedros's shoulder and smiles. "That sounds absolutely dreadful, Teddy. You won't have to worry about such nonsense at your wedding, though, as I'm personally going to make sure it's the single best marriage the Woods have ever seen."

Tedros returns the smile and gives her a nod. "I'm counting on it."

Hort rolls his eyes. Normally, his distaste for the king of Camelot isn't quite this vehement, but he is not in the mood to listen to this with the knowledge that poor Ravan is all by himself with no one to keep him company whatsoever. "You two are friends again. Fantastic. Are we done here?"

"Hort!" Sophie hisses, whipping around to grimace at him.

Tedros laughs. "I have been talking quite a bit, haven't I? It's about time I find Chaddick and make sure he doesn't go to heavy on the alcohol, anyway. I'll be seeing you guys. Tell Ravan I said hi."

Tedros gives the two of them one final nod of approval before stalking off, finally allowing Hort a chance to breathe.

"Can I go now?" he whines to Sophie.

A pair of figures burst through the front door. Sophie turns to them a flashes a smile. To Hort, she says, "Of course not. We still have guests to welcome."

He almost lets out a groan, but holds it in when he recognizes the newcomers. Beatrix and Reena, walking hand in hand, are dressed in the most elaborate yet stylish gowns Hort has ever seen and it's kind of breathtaking. Camelot's power couple may have some competition.

"Hiya, Sophie! Hort." Reena chimes at the same time Beatrix says, "Hey, guys."

"Bea, Reena!" Sophie says as she kisses them on one cheek. "Lovely to see you, girls."

Beatrix meets his eye. "How's it going, Hort?"

He gives her a half-smile. While the two have become relatively close friends over the years, Hort, as mentioned before, is a bit distracted. "Hey, Bea. It's going pretty good."

The three girls chat a little longer before the couple sets off to join the rest of the partygoers. Hort waits a moment before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Now are we done?"

Sophie frowns. "Actually, I was expecting someone else. She should've been here a while ago."

Hort wonders what she Sophie's talking about before it occurs to him, that she hasn't shown her face once during this entire event. He's about to attempt to comfort her, when one final person comes dashing through the door.

"Sophie! Sophie, oh my God, I'm so sorry I'm late. Papa burnt the food and we had to wait an extra hour before we could have lunch, and then Gus got all emotional about me leaving so soon, and by the time I made it into the Taxi Carriage, I was already five minutes late." Clad in a brilliant black suit, Nicola flies into the arms of Sophie and pecks her on the mouth.

"Don't worry, love. A princess like you can never be late," Sophie coos.

"Oh, shut up," Nicola berates, laughing, before noticing Hort awkwardly standing by the side. She shoots him a grin and a "what's up?", though he isn't given the chance to respond before Sophie's begun dragging her off to God-knows-where.

"Toodaloo, darling!" the dean calls over her shoulder. "You go your boy, Hort!"

Hort lets himself grin like an idiot at this. Yes, Sophie, he was actually planning on it.

—

It seems Hort's plans have been foiled once again. While on the prowl for Ravan, he was (quite rudely) interrupted by Ms. Kiko of Neverland. Sigh. Why do all his friends only take interest him when he's not?

"I'm so glad I found you, Hort," Kiko stammers, as though in a hurry. She's got some hair falling in her eyes and her dress is a bit wrinkled, though neither match the frantic look of terror in her brown eyes.

"Yes, you found me. What is it?"

"It's just that Mona's here, and…" Kiko purposely trails off, like she expected Hort to catch on immediately.

And he does. Oh, Lord. No. Absolutely not. He is not doing this right now. "And… what? You want relationship advice? Look, Kiko, I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."

Kiko blushes furiously, shaking her head. "No, no, not relationship advice. Just some, you know, tips. On how to get her to like me."

"She already likes you. You guys are great friends."

"You know what I mean!"

Hort face-palms. God-fucking-damnit. Looks like he has to play wingman for Kiko. Again.

"Fine."

—

While Kiko and Mona (who is quite obviously interested in Kiko, mind you) blab on like the romantically awkward dorks they are, Hort can't stop thinking about Ravan. It feels like centuries since he's played with that gorgeous hair, since he's kissed those lips, since he's—

Kiko nudges Hort's shoulder. "So, Mona, I heard you like bad girls."

That's his cue. Much more dramatically (and somewhat insultingly) than he had originally meant it to be, Hort says, "Oh, Kiko's the absolute worst."

If looks could kill, Hort would be less than a pile of ashes right now. He doesn't have to be facing her to know that Kiko is pissed with him. Just before she can rip his throat out, Mona starts laughing.

Yes, that's right. Laughing. And unlike Ravan, it is the big, boisterous laughter that draws the attention of everyone in the room. But she's smiling at Kiko, and Kiko is smiling back.

"God, you guys are riots. You should definitely come hang with me and Arachne."

Kiko brightens immediately. "Yes, definitely! I mean, I'd love to hang out with you! Guys. You guys."

Hort chuckles. "Thanks for the offer, but I actually have someone expecting me. You two have fun." He doesn't want to waste anymore time, so as soon as he's said it, he's gone in a flash, searching for Ravan once again.

He feels pretty good, actually. It feels nice to help someone out, even if it gets in the way of his very important matters. Luckily, all that's out of the way now, and he's free to what he likes—

"Hi, Hort!"

No. No. Fuck no. No way. Not on his life. No way in hell. Insert another variation of rejection here. Hort does not have to and will not put up with a drunk Chaddick at six in the evening when he's been kept from seeing his lovely boyfriend the entire night. He is going to shimmy right out of this one, maybe even through in a few twirls as he rockets out of this room faster than Guinevere ditched Arthur for his best friend.

(Ouch. Okay, maybe that last one was a bit mean.)

"Hi, Hort, what's with the long face?" slurs Chaddick as he throws an arm over Hort's shoulder. Since when have they ever been this friendly with each other? In fact, Hort's ninety-nine percent sure Chaddick and Ravan still hate each other with a fiery passion.

"Hi, Chaddick, you are an absolute mess and I'm not dealing with this right now. Please, just go make out with Tedros or something, I'm not in the mood." Hort slips away from the knight and darts towards the secluded, dark-and-brooding corner as fast as his legs can carry him.

"Hey, where're you going?" Chaddick calls after him.

"Bathroom!" Hort yells back (a bit too loudly, because multiple Evers turn to stare at him). When will this night of torture end? Is there no rest for the loyal? The things Hort has suffered can never be rectified.

"Always have to be starting a scene, don't you, Hort?"

Hort is ready to manwolf the shit out of whoever the hell's talking to him right now, until he takes a moment to think and recognize the voice.

He spins around so quickly he almost falls on his face. Standing right before him is, thank God, Ravan.

"You," Hort almost-kinda-wheezes, "look absolutely stubbing. I mean stunning. I mean, fuck, this entire night's been ruined, I hate everything, can we please go home now?"

Ravan laughs, then hugs him. Oh. That's new.

"I missed you, too," Ravan mumbles into the crook of his neck before pulling away.

It takes a moment for Hort to straighten out his thoughts. He gives Ravan the biggest smile he can muster. "It's been too long."

Ravan nods in agreement, and the two are stuck in semi-awkward silence. Then Ravan chuckles a bit, and Hort flushes, because what has he done now?

"What?" he asks, somewhat quietly.

Ravan gives him one of those dreamy, thoughtful, I-go-to-another-dimension-when-I'm-with-you-because-I'm-actually-a-huge-sap-bluh-bluh-looks, before saying, "If you keep staring at me like that, we won't make it to a bed before this thing's over."

Wow. Wow. Wow. Imagine that o is multiplied by eight. That's how much wow-ing Hort's giving Ravan right now. "Shut up, you prick."

And then, before the snippy little bitch can get any other witty comments up, Hort kisses him because, take it from the romance master himself, that is the best and only way to get your boyfriend to shut up.

Ravan pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around Hort's waist while Hort brings them up to his hair, because he loves Ravan's hair so much (in case you couldn't tell). Hort's super duper glad that they're currently hidden in the shadows, because the last thing he wants is two hundred prissy Evers invading their privacy by staring at them. They kiss for a bit (Hort really likes kissing) before one of them needs to take a breath, and then they kiss some more, and then Ravan's backing him against the wall and moving his hands down, and then he's kissing down his neck to his collarbone—

And then someone's shouting at them.

"Hort, Ravan, could you guys— oh God, oh my God, guys."

Ravan pulls away from Hort and refuses to meet the speaker's eye. Goddamn you, Ravan. Hort is the one that must suffer the disgusted expressions of Agatha, Hester, Anadil, and Dot.

As though it will fix anything at all, Hort says, "Oh, hey, guys. It's… not what it looks like."

Hester scoffs. "Will you two get your hands out of each other's pants for one damn moment and help us terrorize the Camelot boys?"

"We're supposed to be helping Tedros track Chaddick down, actually," Anadil corrects in a very know-it-all tone, if Hort does say so himself.

"Yeah, right," Hester mutters under her breath, before leaning into Anadil's shoulder. Anadil isn't opposed to the gesture, it seems.

Hort catches Ravan's gaze out of the corner of his vision. His partner nods, smirking.

"Sure," Hort says, relaxing. At least he's got Ravan with him now. "Why the hell not?"