By: Doragon no Mizu

Ahiru nervously toyed with the hem of her oversized shirt. Rue would be here any minute with their snacks, and she was not ready to tell her roommate the thing she most definitely had to tell her tonight. Did she tell her before the movie? After the movie? During? Did she pick a good movie to keep the mood light? Or should she have picked a more action-y movie?

No, no. She couldn't doubt herself now. She picked a light-hearted ride-or-die best friends story to help remind Rue that that's what they were: best friends.

But what if Rue didn't want to be friends after she told her her secret?

Ahiru squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will away such thoughts. Rue wouldn't abandon her. They had been through so much together. Besides, they had the best room in the dorm, so she wouldn't want to leave it—unless… she would want Ahiru to leave after she found out… She had seen what Rue could be like if she didn't like you. In fact, when they first started college Rue absolutely detested Ahiru.

But they were best friends now—inseparable, even—and Ahiru needed to stop thinking this way, because it was only going to psyche her out like it had last week, and she needed to tell Rue before she found out some other way.

"Why does—"

Ahiru squawked in surprise at Rue's voice coming from their dorm door.

Rue stopped her line of thought to chuckle at her friend's antics. "Oh, come on, it's not like I was being particularly quiet coming up the hall! How did I scare you?!"

Ahiru tried to shrug nonchalantly, but everything she did just felt awkward and out of place with her secret weighing on her mind.

If it had been strange, Rue didn't seem to react to it. She set her canvas tote bag on her desk as she started shedding her outer layers. "It's so cold out today! I was half tempted to call escort just so I didn't have to walk in the cold."

After pulling her gloves off she walked over to Ahiru with her hands outstretched, "Here, feel my hands!"

Ahiru obediently reached out for Rue's fingers and crinkled her nose in response to how cold they were. "Eugh!"

"I know, right?!" Rue's eyes gleamed devilishly as she reached out for Ahiru's cheeks.

"Noo~!" Ahiru screeched as she tried to flail away from her assailant's icy fingers. She inhaled sharply when they pressed into her cheeks and waved her arms wildly in the air in an attempt to push Rue away.

"But my hands are so cold, Ahiru! I need your warmth!"

"Noo!" Ahiru cried again, giggle-screaming as she tried using her leg to push Rue away.

Laughing, Rue pulled her hands away from Ahiru's decidedly squishable cheeks and rubbed them together to try and generate some heat. She walked over to her dresser and began pulling out some warm pjs.

"They were out of those super spicy chips you like," Rue called over to Ahiru as she changed.

"Aw."

"So I bought a bunch of these rice crackers that are supposed to be good, and—" she paused to pull her shirt down over her head, "I ordered sushi!"

"Oh. Cool."

Rue frowned at her friend's lack of enthusiasm. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh? No. Just… yeah, sorry! Sushi sounds great! You didn't have to do that, though. Delivery is so expensive!"

"Maybe… but I felt like it." Rue shrugged as she picked up her tote bag and plopped it on the ground next to the area under Ahiru's lofted bed she had dubbed the 'Cuddle Cave.'

The Cuddle Cave had a large futon mattress on the ground with a plethora of large overstuffed pillows and thick, fuzzy blankets. Thin, wispy curtains were carefully hung from the lofted bedframe in a way they could be open and closed from the front for privacy. The final touch—and Ahiru's favorite part—were the fairy lights that strung along the bed frame and the wall, giving the Cuddle Cave the perfect fairytale-esque ambiance.

Wasting no time, Rue fell to her knees on the futon and scrambled the blankets, scooching as close to Ahiru as possible.

Ahiru squirmed, letting out a cry of surprise. "Your feet are so coooold!"

"I know! And yours are so warm!"

Ahiru pouted as she tried to wedge part of the blanket they were under between them.

"Did you already set up the movie? Because I'm not getting back up."

"Yeah…" Ahiru nodded absently.

Rue looked at her briefly before reaching for the remote control. "Alright, let's see what cheesy trash you picked for us this time."

Ahiru made a face at her but snuggled into the warmth and tried to remember the words she had been practicing for the past few weeks now. When they sounded clunky and awkward in her head, she kept running through them again and again, making tweaks with every pass.

After a good half hour of this, Rue's phone buzzed, eliciting a whine from her. "I forgot about the sushi. Damn it. I don't want to go get it."

"Do you want me t—"

"No, I'll do it." She paused the movie as she grudgingly crawled out of the blankets. "Pause the movie, will you?" Rue asked as she pulled her coat on over her pjs. She wouldn't be out in the cold for long, but she wasn't psyched about a stranger seeing her in her comfy clothes. "I'll be back in a minute."

Ahiru stared into space as she listened to Rue's retreating footsteps. Should she tell her when she got back? What was she supposed to say again? Curses. She forgot… again. Ahiru tried to swallow the growing lump in her throat.

It seemed like forever had passed before Rue came back—but it also paradoxically felt like no time at all had passed.

"Ugh, the delivery driver didn't come up all the way to the building, so I had to walk out to the street to get the sushi! Ridiculous." Rue kicked her shoes off before shrugging her coat off and handing the bag of their sushi to Ahiru. "I got you your favorite spicy tuna, of course," Rue hummed after climbing under the blankets and taking the bag back.

"Thanks." Ahiru took the offered tray of sushi and the two wordlessly ate as they continued the movie.

The movie was a little past halfway over by the time Rue finished her sushi and took Ahiru's nearly untouched tray from her. "Alright, that's enough."

"What?" Ahiru frowned at her tray being taken from her.

Rue carefully maneuvered out of the blankets to put the sushi on the floor in front of the futon, then sat back down and patted her lap. "I'm going to play with your hair."

"Huh?"

Rue made an unamused face and patted her lap more demandingly. "I'm going to play with your hair so lay on my lap."

Ahiru scooted over to her and did as she was told. Trying to ignore that lump that was still in her throat, Ahiru focused on the feeling of Rue undoing her braid and running her fingers through Ahiru's long salmon-colored locks.

"So what's wrong?" Rue finally said after a few moments of silence.

"What? N-nothing."

"Oh, come on. I know I'm not the best at noticing others' emotions, but give me some credit. I've been friends with you long enough to know when you're acting weird. First you barely even reacted to your favorite chips being sold out, and you didn't even get excited about sushi—which I know you love. You haven't laughed at a single dumb joke in the movie, nor have you spoken a single off-topic word! And, frankly, your flailing when I touched your face with my cold hands was, frankly, half-hearted at best!

"I tried to wait for you to tell me, but I'm not a very patient person, and you know this! So, what's wrong?"

Ahiru bit her lip before sitting up and Rue watched her expectantly.

"I just… I have to tell you something."

"Okay."

"And I just… I don't want you to be mad."

"Alright."

"Like… I know you wouldn't—but like, maybe—and you—just, promise you won't hate me, okay?"

Rue gave her an unamused look. "You're acting like you framed me for murder or something. I doubt it's that bad. Just tell me."

"Okay…" Ahiru breathed deeply, inhaling until her lungs could expand no more. She held it for a moment, trying to mentally prepare herself to confess her sins on the exhale, but she ended up losing her nerve and lamely let her chin fall to her chest after exhaling.

Sensing her need for a pep talk, Rue sighed. "Ahiru, come on, I know you. I know it's not that bad. Even when I was being a total bitch, you'd never done anything mean in your life."

"Don't say that!"

"Oh, please. It's true. I was being bitchy. But you were always kind to me, so I highly doubt you've done something so terrible I wouldn't be able to forgive you."

Ahiru bit her lip contemplatively. Dragging it out wasn't going to make it an easier. She tried to steal her nerves again.

"mmdaingmmen," she mumbled quickly.

"What?"

Ahiru inhaled deeply again before exhaling. "I'm… dating someone."

Rue raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be mad at you for that?"

"It's… Fakir."

Rue stared at her stoned faced, and Ahiru anxiously avoided her gaze and busied herself trying to separate the clumps some of the fibers of the fuzzy blanket had made.

A moment passed before Rue broke out laughing. Ahiru stared at her in surprise. This she was not expecting. Did she break her best friend?

"… Rue?"

"Oh, god, sorry," Rue tried to quell her laughter and wiped at a tear forming in the corner of her eye. "I just—Fakir!" She laughed again.

"I know you hate him, but he—"

"Okay, okay," Rue took a couple deep breaths to try and calm herself. "Okay. Don't… You're right. I don't particularly like Fakir. I think he's a controlling, self-important asshole."

Ahiru made a face at her.

"But, listen. I mean, I've spent a lot of time around him—unfortunately—y'know, because Mytho, but… Listen. I've known that idiot has liked you for months now. He was so sickeningly lovestruck whenever you were around and just after you'd leave. I just—I never knew you liked him back."

"I mean… I didn't… not until recently. We spent so much time together working on that project for Dr. Cat's class, and he's been so nice to me, and I just… I don't know…"

Rue took both of Ahiru's hands in hers. "Ahiru. I would only object to him if you weren't happy or he wasn't treating you well. I didn't like him being around you because I knew he liked you, and I was under the impression you didn't like him back, and I didn't want him pestering you and making you uncomfortable. But if you want to be with him, I want you to be happy."

"He's liked me for months…?" Ahiru shyly asked.

Rue snickered. "Probably longer. He was like a lovesick puppy. It was kind of hilarious."

"Did he… ever say anything about me?"

Rue smiled. She was still learning how to have friends—especially girl friends. She spent so much of her life pushing everyone away, but she loved Ahiru with all of her heart and would do anything for her. And dishing on all of Fakir's awkward pining that she had observed or Mytho had told her about was definitely something Rue could do.

"I'll tell you what, you actually eat your sushi and let me play with your hair, and I'll tell you everything. But! You have to tell me everything, too."

Ahiru grinned. "Okay!" She grabbed her sushi and they adjusted themselves so Ahiru was sitting between Rue's legs, who was perched up on a couple pillows.

The movie had long ended and it was well into the night by the time both girls had shared their stories and Ahiru's hair was done up into an elegant messy braid, with multiple smaller braids weaved in and hugging the crown of her head. Cuddled side-by-side under the blankets, they giggled over their interpretations of the various stories they shared.

"Are you happy?" Rue asked sleepily.

Ahiru nodded and, just as sleepily, replied, "Yeah."

Rue smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "I'm glad."

Ahiru lazily squeezed her hand back. "Thanks for being there."

"Always," Rue whispered before they both drifted off to sleep.