AN: Okay! The wheels start turning here, yay!

Dylas had learned that Doug had walked out of the clinic the next morning. Not that he cared, but for some reason he had to go see how the red haired dwarf was doing. It didn't take long before the horse found himself terribly annoyed. Doug seemed fine, just walking around and chattering to the towns people like he was fine, only with a slight limp. Apparently there was some damage to his leg where the knife was, but his torso had recovered fully. Dylas followed him around for a while, just to see if he really was fine. No it wasn't spying, not at all! And Dylas didn't care about what that dwarf was up to! No, he was just concerned about- well, maybe he just wanted to make sure he wasn't talking about the incident at the clinic.

Only after a few minutes of his not spying mission, Dylas felt something akin to fury and frustration. How could Doug possibly be so calm? Look at him, just hobbling around town like nothing happened! Showing off his scars like he was some kind of hero! It was enough to make a stallion sick to his stomach. So sick in fact, that Dylas ended up following that dwarf around all day. Occasionally he'd overhear what Doug was saying, which was all horrible exaggerated lies. And he was telling everyone! So infuriating! He'd have to set the record straight afterwards.

At dusk, Doug left the village in the direction of the Yokmir Forest. Dylas had no choice but to follow, since that dumb dwarf was in no condition to defend himself. At the entrance to the forest, Doug stopped and turned slightly. "You can come out now, nag." He said as if he knew Dylas was there the whole time.

So the horse stepped forward looking as confrontational as possible. "What are you up to?" He asked in a suspicious tone. Clearly he thought his red haired nemesis was up to no good.

"Nothing much. Why have you been following me all day?" He had a snide grin on his face as if to say 'gotcha!' Sure he knew he was being followed all day, but he wanted to know what motives were behind the stalking.

The horse appeared to be caught off guard by that comment, which only served to make Doug's grin snider. Dylas grit his teeth and answered, "I saw you leaving the clinic." His face flushed red and he turned away. "What have you been telling people?"

Now Doug was confused. "Relax dude. I'm not telling anyone what happened at Leon Karnak." That was the only thing Doug could think of. Why else would Dylas be so concerned with Doug's conversations? What made even less sense was that Dylas seemed like the hero in that situation, and surely everyone saw him carrying Doug back. If anything, that could only help him.

"That's not what I'm worried about." Dylas said, his voice getting lower as if he were trying keep what he was saying a secret. Either way, it seemed like Doug was being evasive, so he's have to be direct. "Have you been telling anyone about what happened at the clinic?"

"What?" Nothing unusual happened there right? All Doug could think of was Dylas giving him breakfast. He hasn't mentioned that to anyone, but he didn't think it should be a problem. "I didn't think any of that was important enough to mention. But don't worry, no one will have to know that you gave me breakfast." He seemed genuinely confused as he said this, prompting Dylas to blush even more deeply. What was going on?

"I'm not talking about that." His voice was now little more than a whisper. "I'm talking about…" There was a very long, very awkward pause. Actually, it was only a couple of seconds, but it felt like forever. He took a deep breath and said in a barely audible voice, "when you kissed me." He was hiding his face by now, so Doug couldn't see the blush. Why was he even getting so worked up about this? It was all Doug's fault!

Doug stood looking dumbfounded for a second, but then he started snickering. "I kissed you?! You wish!" He said that as sarcastically as he could, and then snickered some more. Actually, it was kind of admirable of the horse to express his feelings so freely. Was this some kind of confession? What a weird way to confess.

Of course Dylas didn't take kindly to that comment. The flood gates opened and all of his frustration came out at once. "You stupid dwarf! Why would I ever want to kiss you?! You were on painkillers and saying all kinds of weird things! The you told me you wanted to tell me a secret and kissed me out of nowhere!. His face was still red, from anger or embarrassment, he didn't know. There was a heavy silence that fell over the two . What a sudden change of atmosphere.

After a while, Doug cleared his throat. It took a few more seconds for him to start speaking. "I don't know why you'd bother brining that up. I was clearly out of it when I did that." He spoke with a mostly calm voice, even if he was clearly uneasy. He certainly didn't want anything awkward to become of this, so for now he'd blame his odd behaviour on the painkillers. That seemed to be a reasonable excuse for what happened.

There was another pause. The situation seemed to have diffused completely, leaving both parties feeling awkward. Neither wanted to say anything after that, but it would also be too awkward to just walk away. It was like a continuous trap that kept them both locked in place.

Dylas broke the silence. "So, is that it?"

Doug smiled awkwardly. "Yep, you got worked up over nothing."

As annoying as ever. Dylas scoffed, but left after the dwarf was done talking. Now that everything was resolved, Doug started hobbling back to town too. No one in Selphia knew of this meeting or what was said there, and luckily no one overheard what was said.

-Later-

For the next couple of days, the awkward levels between the two were off the charts. By now the tensions had become so tangible that even the other residents of Selphia could feel it if ever the two came close to each other. Every time the eternal rivals would meet on the street, they looked like they just witnessed some kind of world destroying catastrophe, followed up by both parties walking (or running) the other way. There were no more exchanges of insults, no more on the spot competitions, nothing. It roused suspicion from everyone. Doug ended up staying in the shop, and Dylas barely left the restaurant.

Granny Blossom was starting to worry about her grandson. He had fully recovered already, but still refused to leave the shop. She was going to take action. "Dear, why don't you take the rest of the day off? Go take a bath and relax."

That sounded like a good idea. "Thanks." He said. "I'll make it up to you sometime." And with that, he was off. He took the shortest route possible to the inn, and made as minimal small talk as possible with Lin Fa and Xiao Pai. Lucky for him, the bath was extra hot today, just the way he liked it.

-Meanwhile-

"DYLAS!" Porco said from behind the counter. "What's on your mind?"

The horse tensed, but it was obvious that he'd been distracted all day. "Nothing! Just passing out dishes." That alone was a full time job. Making sure the food actually made it to the customer was no easy task, and today he'd let a higher number of dishes get eaten by Porco than usual. For the last hour he literally was passing out dishes, as the food had already been eaten.

"Don't lie to moi! I know something's troubling you!" He spun around once. Just then Meg returned, but Dylas didn't even know she'd gone. "Excellent! Dylas, I want you to take the day off. You'll get wrinkles if you work with so much stress!" The horse looked unconvinced, so Porco continued. "I had Meg make a SPECIAL request at the inn. Go take a bath. I know you like it hot!"

That was true, Dylas did like his baths hot, so how could he refuse such a kind gesture? "I guess I could take the rest of the day off."

"MARVELOUS! Off you go!" He said, running out from behind the counter and shoving his waiter out the door. Once the horse was out of sight, Porco sighed. "Meg, did you speak with Blossom?"

"Yeah." She replied with a blush. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

There was a mischievous glint in the chef's eye. "Perhaps. We'll have to see!"

AN: Are they in cahoots? Who knows? I don't know if there will be a chapter up tomorrow, but stay tuned anyway~!