Gen woke with his traditional splitting headache and groped immediately for the bottle he kept beside his bed for such instances. Some men swore by medicine, but he found that drunking enough that he couldn't see straight made a better incentive for getting out of bed.

He searched for the bottle and while he did so, his hand encountered something unfamiliar. Was that... fur?

Suddenly concerned, he searched the covers with one hand and found more fur. Green fur. Sticky green fur.

"I'm not drunk enough for this," he moaned aloud and groped again for his bottle. Thus armed, he stumbled out of bed and down the hall to his kitchenette.

Riki was there, tails wagging happily as he fried up some sausages. "Hiya, Gen," he said, beaming toothily. "I bet you're huuuungryyyy!"

"Dog-Boy," Gen groaned. "What're you doing here?"

Riki looked confused. "I'm making my husband breakfast?"

Gen stared at him. "Husband."

"Yes?"

"When exactly did we get married, kid?"

The young monster appeared to consider this. "Well, um, I gave you a ring, and then you jumped me and mated and it was a lot of fun and isn't that like your marriage and our mating put together?"

Covering his face, Gen couldn't bring himself to look at Riki's earnest smile. "And let me guess... Lummox mate for life?"

"Yep!" Riki dropped to all fours to bound over to him. "You're stuck with me forever!" There was a pause and Gen still couldn't manage to look. Riki's voice, when it came again, was tiny. "...is that no good? Did I... was Riki wrong?"

Gen sighed, dropping a hand to Riki's hair. It was coarse under his hand, not quite human, but didn't feel bad. Nowhere near drunk enough. "You're fine. It's fine."

Riki perked up at once. "Yay! Okay! What do you want to drink with breakfast?" he asked. After a moment he added, shyly, "...darling?"

Gen stared at him. "...Get me a whiskey," he said.

He was going to need it.