You haven't seen Rufioh for a few days and damn are you worried.

The first day, you sort of hung around your usual meeting place, wondering if it would be okay for you to go over to his hive. The second day, you stayed home. The third, you went through your usual routine of hitting on trolls and getting rejected.

Now it's the fourth and you're standing outside his hive, trying to work up the courage to knock.

There's nobody else around, and even if there was you shouldn't be feeling so weird about it; after all, he is your 'moirail.' You have just as much right to be here as anyone else. More right, really.

Except, what if Horuss is over? You really don't want to have to deal with that. You're pretty sure that you'd die of anxiety if you knocked and Horuss answered the door. So, you're actually not going to knock. You're just going to go home and watch Grease. Yeah. That sounds like a much better, much saner plan that wouldn't get him hurt.

But… if Rufioh was alone…

Screw it. You'll knock. And if nobody, or Horuss, answered, you'll leave. Immediately.

Swallowing and wondering how the hell you'd gotten into this mess, you knock.

Weirdly enough, Damara answers. You're too surprised to flee and, as a result, stand there staring for about five minutes.

She says something that you don't understand, and you try to look past her. Is Rufioh in there? Probably not. But you should probably check anyway.

"Hey, kitten, mind movin' over a bit?" you ask, placing your hands on her shoulders and trying to shift her. Her stupid psychic powers kick in and she shoves you a few steps backward. "Hey, not cool. C'mon, just let me see if he's here."

"No!" she says. Finally, a language you can understand.

But it's not really what you were going for, so you'll just have to keep going. "I just want to see if my moirail's here! I don't know why you're here, but if you don't move-"

She shoves you back further with her mind, sending you toppling over. You land hard and, after getting your breath back, prop yourself up on your elbows and scowl. She stands with her arms crossed just inside his hive, looking triumphant.

You have never been so similarly frightened, angry, and turned on in your life.

Thankfully, Rufioh shows up then, hurrying out of Horuss's hive and stopping when he sees Damara. "Doll… what are you doing here?" he asks, and she pushes past him to leave. He turns to you. "Hey… haven't seen you in a while…"

"Yeah," you say, standing up. "Decided it was time to come see you, you know? But then she answered the door and it was really weird, like, wow, I thought the two of you were done? And apparently you are, because you were over at Horuss's place and apparently she was just being weird and staying in your hive while you were gone?"

"Something like that…" he says, sighing. He glances around. "Want to come in?"

"Yes," you say, and you follow him into his hive. You haven't been here since that double paledate the two of you had with Horuss and Meulin. The one where the two of you nearly got caught making out in the bathroom while the two of you were supposed to be doing pale things, not flushed things.

Well. All moirailships are different.

At least, that's what you'll try and use as an excuse when the two of you are found out.

As soon as the door shuts behind you, you try and kiss him. He shakes his head and moves away.

"I… I need to talk to you… then we can do whatever… but…" he takes a deep breath and, after a few more minutes, continues. "Porrim… she might… she knows."

"Didn't she see us that one time?" you ask. You figured that she knows; her and Kurloz both, though you're a hell of a lot more worried about Kurloz. Mostly because you're pretty sure he hates you. And you have no idea why.

"Yeah… she thought it was black… but…" he sighs. "I told her…"

"Why the hell would you do that?" you ask, and he shrugs. "This day just keeps getting worse, I swear. First that psycho East Beforan wannabe instead of you, and then it turns out you told her? She's going to tell Kankri or something, and I'll never hear the end of it. Ugh. I hate my life."

"I think… It'll probably be fine, I dunno…" he says, and you sigh. "Sorry about that…"

"It's fine," you say, even though it's probably not fine and you're probably going to die again soon. You just… you just really don't want to lose him, especially over something stupid like this. "Just don't slip and tell Horuss."

"Haha, right…" he says. Then he kisses you, and all thoughts of being even slightly mad at him are gone. You kiss him back – you've been getting better, you think – and then he has you up against the wall and his hands on either side of your face, pulling it down to meet his.

It's probably the best kiss you've ever had in your entire life. And death. The two of them are basically the same thing, anyway. The only difference is you're way hotter now that you've ditched the stupid magic stuff.

And then someone knocks on the door and Rufioh pulls away from you faster than you would've thought possible.

"Kitchen," he hisses to you, and you head for the kitchen. He answers the door, and from the screeching, you figure it's Meulin. You wonder why she's here, then figure that it has something to do with Horuss and die a little inside. Like, there's this part in you that's even deader than the rest of you.

After a while, you get bored and poke your head out of the kitchen. Yep. It's Meulin, and she is having a very animated conversation with Rufioh. You can't hear what he's saying over her screeches about how lonely and sad Horuss is. It's probably a bad idea to let her know that you're here, but you do anyway because you're an idiot.

"Hey, kitten!" you say cheerfully, and she whirls around and glares at you. Rufioh just gives you a look. You grin at her. "What's up?"

"You need to stay out of this, Ampurra," she hisses, jabbing you in the chest with one finger. You back up, raising your hands defensively.

"Alright, alright," you say. "Just wanted to see what was going on. "I mean, he is my-"

"You're stealing him away from Horuss!" she says. "I don't want one more word out of you, you pathetic excuse for a troll."

With that, she turns around and stalks back to Rufioh, who looks shocked.

You slink back into the kitchen, opening the fridge and sighing. From the sounds of it, she's going to be here for a while. Might as well make some food or something for you and Rufioh to share when she leaves.

Even though he's not one of the characters that's so easy to write it's ridiculous, Cronus is always so much fun to write.