AN: Woah, sorry about the delay everyone! School buried me under a mountain of things I had to get done, but I think it slowed down for now. Anyway, on with the show!

In the morning, Dylas woke in horror to find a still naked Doug sleeping on top of him. The dwarf's head rested on his chest, which was now marginally damp with drool, and the dwarf's arms and legs were tightly wrapped around the horse's torso. What if someone saw this?! Wait, Granny Blossom surely seen this! And what would Proco think when he woke up and Dylas wasn't there? What a bad idea this was! How did he let Doug talk him into this? The horse had to get out of here before more suspicions were aroused.

As carefully as he could, he gently peeled Doug's limbs off of him and slowly pushed the dwarf to the side. The sleeping Doug mumbled something but didn't wake up. Carefully, he got up and got himself dressed. He didn't want to wake his sleeping lover, on the off chance he'd want him to stay for breakfast or other crazy things like that. No, he had to get out and he wasn't listening to anything Doug had to say on the matter. Of course, the floor had to be unusually creaky just to spite him. After every step he'd turn nervously to see if Doug woke, but luckily he stayed asleep. Trying to keep as quiet as possible, Dylas crept down the stairs and exited through the front door. Then he came face to face with Leon.

"Good morning." Leon said with a victorious grin. "Fancy meeting you here."

Dylas froze in place. How was he going to get out of this? There was nothing, he was trapped. So he stood there looking horrified, trying to come up with an explanation.

"Three, two, one…" Leon said out of nowhere.

The horse had no idea why the fox started counting down until he heard a loud "Hiya!" and felt a fashionable boot collide with his chest. He was knocked to the ground, too confused to be angry. "Ah ha! Caught you red handed!" Illuminata said, standing over the horse. "Thought you could get away, but nothing escapes me!"

Dylas thought she was talking about his night with Doug. His face had gone completely red, from anger ore embarrassment, or both, he didn't know. For one thing, what he did wasn't even illegal, for another, Doug was the one who orchestrated their meeting, and most importantly, this was none of her business! He stood and got ready to contest her accusation, but she continued, "Return the bath salts you stole!" She stood before him with her finger outstretched.

"What?" it was a relief to hear her get the actual situation so wrong, but also annoying to be accused of something so ridiculous. "Why would I steal bath salts?"

She adjusted her monocle with a look in her eye that said a long story was coming. "You think I wouldn't have figured that out already?" She paused for dramatic effect. "It all started when Lin Fa turned down the temperature when you were in the bath. From that moment, you swore revenge!" Dylas rolled his eyes. Leon appeared to be quite amused. "So you formed a truce with your arch nemesis Doug so you could get into the general store after hours." The horse flushed red again, causing Leon to snicker and Illuminata to smile triumphantly. "So you snuck in and stole the salts, your ultimate goal, put the Bell Hotel out of business!" She pointed her finger again, so close to Dylas that it was almost touching his face. "Ultimate revenge!"

It was easy to tell that Dyals wasn't taking this accusation seriously, he didn't want her to discover the truth of why he was there. "That's ridiculous." He mumbled in a low voice. He didn't feel the need to further explain himself.

"Silence criminal!" I'm taking you downtown!" There wasn't even a jail in Selphia, so it was an empty threat. She unstrapped some cuffs from her belt, dead serious about using them.

Just then, Doug came out of the shop. He'd heard the commotion and came to see what was going on, and also to chastise Dylas for trying to slip out undetected. Illuminata turned her attention to the sleepy dwarf. "Ah ha! The partner in crime shows his face at last!" Doug's jaw dropped because of course he thought she was talking about their meeting last night. How did she know, and why was she even making a big deal out of it? Doug was ready to call her out on it, but instead his face turned red with embarrassment and he shot a glare at his lover. Illuminata continued, "but why would Doug want to steal from his own shop? I've got it all figured out." She paused for dramatic effect again, then continued. "You want to take over the shop! And then, you and Dylas will own Selphia, and you'll buy out everyone and own everything!" She readjusted her monocle, looking pleased with herself.

Doug stared at her in disbelief, then looked to Dylas. "What is she talking about?"

Dylas shrugged, "I have no idea."

Leon, who had remained suspiciously silent the whole time, stood. "That's enough now." He said to Illuminata. "I'll take it from here, you go alert Lin Fa to their diabolical plan."

She nodded, then took off. Leon turned to the two lovers. "So, congratulations." He said with a sly grin. They both went red. Apparently the grilling wasn't over yet. Leon was amused. "I don't know why you're being so shy about it, everyone already knows." His smile broadened after he said that.

Dylas was the first to react. "What are you talking about?!"

"I told Kiel yesterday." He said bluntly. "I'd say everyone already knows by now." The dumbfounded look on both of their faces was the most satisfying thing the fox had seen in a while. He closed his fan with a look of accomplishment. "Looks like my work here is done." He slowly walked away then, mumbling "I think I''ll go torment Forte now." There was an almost childlike elation on his face as he said that.

So the two were left to make sense of their convoluted situation. Apparently Leon had known about their little tryst the whole time, but it was Leon so it was understandable. Dylas cringed at the thought of Kiel telling everyone his personal business. Doug seemed a little more confused than his equine companion. "Do you think we should go around and tell everyone Kiel is lying?" He horse said with his hand over his mouth.

Doug thought about it. No one else would believe them even if they did say Kiel was lying. He also thought about how nice it would be to finally be able to date his lover out in the open and not have sneak around. If it were up to him, he'd come out in an instant. How would Dylas react to that though? He was so shy, he might not appreciate everyone knowing their business. Best to just go direct, Doug thought. "No one would believe us." Doug said with a defeated grin.

Even if this was their reality, Dylas didn't like it at all. He wasn't ready to be outed, especially since he'd gained a reputation for being Doug's arch nemesis. Still, he couldn't fight the fact that what Doug was saying was true. There would be no point in trying to deny it. What a bind. "Are you okay with people knowing about- us?" It was almost painful to say, but also sort of freeing in a way.

"I guess." Doug said. Even if he wasn't entirely okay with the situation, and even if he wanted to fist fight Leon to the death for making their personal affairs public, he'd say he was okay with it for now. Really he was more worried about how Dylas was taking this.

There was a long silence, until Doug took the horse by the hand and said as casually as he could, "Oh well, what's done is done. Whataya say we go fishing and then take a bath?"

Dylas nodded nervously. Today was their first day as an official couple, so they might as well make the most of it.