I've had this stored and uncompleted for a very long time now and I think it's about time I force myself to finish this.

Rumble is my favourite character and I kind of wrote this as a little appreciation story, since I don't see too many stories about him and he deserves more love.

Prologue

Rumble P.O.V.

I woke up suddenly, remembering where I was. I'd fallen asleep in Tristy again, but, this time, I'd done it on purpose. I groaned, covering my eyes with one hand and sighed. My whole body was in pain, and I hadn't really slept much…or at all well. My neck was stiff, and the fur around my mouth was damp, which I tried to wipe off with the back of my paw.

I got up, stretched and winced as I felt a sudden pain in my back appear. It took a few seconds for the discomfort to subdue, and when it did, I managed to relax my tense shoulders. I clambered off my mech and put on the clothes that I'd been wearing the day before, as I'd slept in my underpants.

I walked out of my "lab" and headed towards the League's canteen. Everyone was already seated at their places, and I walked as quickly as my stubby legs would let me to the yordle table.

"Guess who finally showed up!" Ziggs yelled, making more people turn to stare at me.

"Who did you sleep with, Rumble?" Tristana winked at me, giggling.

"What." I said plainly, grabbing a chair and sitting next to Kennen. They all had their special yordle-sized breakfast, and were eating it hungrily. Somehow, I wasn't feeling in the mood to eat. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of food and tried to not look at it.

"You're wearing the clothes you were wearing yesterday." She smirked. "Plus I went to your room to get you up, and you weren't there."

"You went into my room!?" I glared at her. "How dare you…!?" She cut me off.

"Are you sleeping with Poppy?" She giggled again, amused.

"Not that I know about!" The aforementioned yordle butted in quickly.

I grumbled in annoyance and disbelief at the whole scenario. Not what I was hoping to endure.

"So, where were you?" Asked Ziggs, truly intrigued.

"Working." I snapped.

"Yeah, right." Tristana said, smiling still. She really was enjoying torturing me.

I was feeling exasperated. I scoffed in her general direction, not wanting to get too angry that early in the morning. At least the rest of the yordles had lost interest in the conversation.

I decided to grab some food, so that I had something to do while I was there. I prodded at it with my fork and looked at it miserably. I regretted having entered the canteen in the first place. I wasn't hungry, or in the mood to be with other people. I just wanted to work on my mech until I passed out.

I looked up occasionally from my plate to have a look around me. Ziggs met my gaze, grinning wildly at me. He threw his head back and tossed some cereal into the air, trying to catch it with his open mouth. When he succeeded he looked at me, munching on it happily. It was almost as if he were keeping an eye out on me. I then turned to stare at Tristana. I'd had this huge crush on her for ages now, and all my attempts to get her closer to me had failed miserably. Especially after the new rumours that had reached my ears…

I couldn't help but look at her pretty little face bashfully, knowing that I couldn't stay annoyed at her for long, even if she had intruded into my room… where I had everything… in a mess. Dammit! I frowned at the thought that she'd seen just how disorganized my living space had been. I shrugged the idea away, knowing that we'd known each other for years now, and she didn't care if I was like that.

I needed to leave the canteen. I couldn't take the crowd and my thoughts any longer. I didn't think I would be able to last much longer feeling alone in such a place. Without warning, I moved my plate away from me, while getting up abruptly.

"Not hungry." I muttered while walking away. I heard someone calling my name out, but I just ignored it.

I decided to go to my room. It was in a special building that had been made for us yordles so everything was our size. My apartment was on the third floor, and luckily enough, no one else lived there, something that made me very glad. I went up the stairs and reached my door, opening it up quickly. I stepped inside and looked at it strangely. When was the last time I'd been there? I looked in the kitchen, and found filthy bowls and plates in the sink, waiting to be washed. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and moved over to my room, gingerly opening the door. My bed was unmade, but that was basically it. I thought it was going to be much worse. Had Tristana bothered to put my clothes away? No, probably not. I found all my dirty things in the bathroom, pilling up in the dirty linen basket, where I'd left them who knows when.

I decided I had to sniff what I was wearing at the moment. It reeked. I smelt myself. When was the last time I'd had a bath? It seemed like ages ago. When was the last time I'd had a decent meal? When was the last time I'd slept enough? Or well? My life was a total mess at that particular moment. And it had been like that ever since Tristana unknowingly friendzoned me.

It had been one night when Ziggs, her and I had gone to drink at Miss Fortune's bar. I'd had a few and he nudged me, encouraging me to do it and I asked her out on a date. Her response had been clear: "Silly Rumble, friends don't go on dates!"

I wasn't in the mood for a bath, even if I knew I needed to have one. I just didn't want to take care of myself. I didn't feel like I deserved it. I didn't want to feel clean, either. But I started to strip, a sigh escaping my lips, discarding my dirty clothes roughly. I even removed the goggles off of my head, and lightly put them on the basin before I got into the bath, turning the water on. I flinched as soon as the really cold liquid fell on my fur, but closed my eyes and resisted the urge to run away from it. It started warming up slowly, and by the time it was a nice temperature, I was already soaked. Turning the water off, I got some shampoo and rubbed my whole body with it, making foam appear quickly. I patiently ran my fingers through my mohawk, undoing the knots that formed and then letting it loose, covering my eyes. I pulled it back, annoyed, and continued washing the rest of my body.

I finished quickly, rinsed myself and got out, wrapping my body with a towel. I started rubbing it furiously against my fur, to dry it as much as possible. I didn't bother to put clothes on and walked towards the living room, in search for something to do. I placed myself on the sofa, grabbed a book and skim-read through it for a bit, while noticing I was getting cold because I hadn't really bothered to dry myself completely. I didn't care if I got sick. I just couldn't bring myself to care about anything anymore.

I heard a low knock on my door, which made my ears prickle to attention. Annoyed, I got up, holding the towel to cover my obvious nudity from the visitor as I walked over to open up.

"Hey Rumble" Ziggs grinned, leaning on the doorframe. "Can I come in? Or are you… busy?"

"You can enter if you want." I answered, turning around and leaving to let him walk in. I knew he was behind me because I heard him snickering, which only made me want to growl some more.

"Look, man, I wanna talk to ya." He then said, now serious, a rare trait in him. "I'll wait while you get some tog on."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that he hadn't seen me as I had my back turned, but I went over to my bedroom, grumbling lightly. I was guessing that it was going to be some sort of intervention, and I was in no mood for it. I quickly put on the first trousers I found and struggled to get into an old t-shirt. It was comfortable enough. I dried my fur a bit more before leaving my wet towel on my unmade bed, then I walked back into my living room to face Ziggs.

"Look, Rumble, we're very worried" he started but I cut him off quickly.

"Who's 'we'?" I snapped, unable to control my harsh tone.

"I'm not the only one who cares for you, buddy. Tristana does too." When I heard that name, I was unable to stop a snarl escaping my lips. He frowned at this, but continued talking. "Poppy cares, too. And others, look, I'm not the only one, okay?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, but kept silent, waiting for him to resume his conversation.

"We're worried about you. I just… wanted to know if you're alright."

"I am. I'm fine." I shrugged off his intense, worried gaze, but it still made me uneasy, even slightly guilty. "There is no reason for any of you to fret."

"Yes there is, buddy. We've noticed that you've stopped eating properly. And, where were you last night, huh?"

"Of course I'm eating." I scoffed, trying to hide the fact that it was an obvious lie. 'But I haven't been feeling hungry.' A voice moaned inside my head, as if to justify my behaviour.

Ziggs was silent for a moment, just looking into my eyes. I stared back at his, noticing the emotion in them, making my chest feel tight. 'This isn't right' I had told myself. 'It's my fault that he's feeling this way. I'm making him feel bad.' I blinked, but remained silent.

"It's Tristana, isn't it?" He whispered, taking a step towards me. I looked at the floor, avoiding his intense gaze, biting my lip uncomfortably.

"I heard she's with Teemo." I whispered, staring at my bare feet. "Is it true?"

He took a deep breath before answering, and then. "I don't know. Just… don't listen to it, okay? They're just rumours."

"They spend a lot of time together. A lot of time. Every time I see her, she's with him. How can I not think that they're sleeping together?" I was speechless then. My tongue fumbled with the words, so I closed my eyes and tried to relax. "C'mon, let's face it. Tristana hasn't really shown any interest in me. She doesn't care for me in the same way. She…" My voice cracked. Why was it so hard to express what I felt? My eyes watered as I fought back the tears trying to emerge from them.

"But ya don't wanna let her go. I know, buddy." Ziggs nodded, walking up to me and patting my back awkwardly. It was as if he didn't know what to say. And there I was, breaking in front of him, and not even caring that I was.

"I just…" I sucked in some air, and, without hesitating, said, as convincible as I was able to master. "I'm fine. Really." To add to the lie, I smiled at him. His answer was a positive one, his posture now more relaxed.

"Great, buddy. Wanna go do something?"

"Nah. Imma do some work on Tristy if ya don't mind."

"Nope. Have fun on your boring work!" He waved as he turned and walked away, chuckling.

As soon as he was out of my apartment and the door had closed behind him, I collapsed onto the sofa, letting out a sigh of relief. I was glad that he had bought it. I didn't want him worrying about me, it just made it worse on myself.

I hated this. I just wanted to get away from everyone and stop being a burden. I closed my eyes as a saddened sigh escaped my lips, making me pause. There was a knot in my tummy, but I ignored it as I put some shoes on and headed to my lab, to do something useful for once.