Eridan walked grandiosely into his violet abode. The countless artifacts of his interests littered his room, but he had no time for talk of science or great historic battles. He had insisted his room be painted purple, much to his father's scrutiny. He liked it though, and felt royal purple suited him. Such a brilliant young mind required an equally brilliant place of rest to contemplate science and love. And by "love", he meant "Feferi". President of student council and budding marine biologist, she had captured Eridan's heart. He knew that she was perfect for him, as both a beautiful creature among the lackluster faces of Skaia Secondary School and as his undoubted intellectual equal. She floated from place to place in a bubble of serenity and love, and the minute he set eyes on her bright pink lipsticked lips and curly ebony hair, he knew she was the girl for him.
However, such a boundless love as he felt was bound to end in tragedy, and unless he did something fast it surely would. Under the "best friend code", she had told him that the loser with the insufferable lisp and the dual- colored glasses had captured her heart. He knew the odds were slim, but the great conquers of the world weren't great because they gave up right? No, he was going to succeed. He knew that he could just talk to her tomorrow during Science, and everything would be alright. But now, the matter of his appearance.
With a confident stride, Eridan relocated to the closet, trying to determine the perfect outfit. He gazed into the mirror on the wall, practicing his best smile and fluttering his eyelashes. He removed his purple demin jacket and shimmied out of his blue and black striped skinny jeans. He feverishly tore outfits out of his closet, holding them up to his modest frame and turning from side to side to see how they looked. The silver sequined shirt was too flashy and his favorite violet scarf clashed with the blue of the pants he had chosen. Nothing was matching, and our lonely hipster was going into crisis mode. Oh god, he'd pick something in the morning when his head was clearer. Standing in just a black turtleneck and boxers, he gazed at his reflection in the mirror. He adjusted his thick- framed glasses and ran his hand through the violet streak in his hair. Oh god, was that a pimple on his otherwise perfect face? He had to look perfect for Feferi. The clock in his room chimed the hour, and he reluctantly stopped his preening session in favor of getting ready for bed.
As he pulled the covers up around him and nestled into his plush bed, Eridan let thoughts of tomorrow run through his head. His plan was perfect, and there was no way he could ever fail in his mission to win his best friend's heart. Hopefully by tomorrow she wouldn't be just his best friend.
…
The next evening, Eridan walked into his room, looking visibly defeated. His hands were at his sides, shoulders slouched. Hot tears welled behind his glasses and his lip quivered. He'd been dutifully holding himself together the whole day. This torturous withholding of emotions had begun in fourth period when the love of his life had turned him down for that asshole of an amateur computer programmer in her math class. She told Eridan that she didn't return his feelings over the corpse of a frog in science class, and he bit his lip until he tasted blood and clenched his ring- adorned hands under the desk. He had spent the torturous bus ride home analyzing the situation; how his voice had shaken as he told her the truth, how that pimple was glaringly bright on his forehead, and her tinkling laugh as she made a joke right after she finished breaking his heart cleanly in half. If only he was the guy she wanted, he would love her and take her out on dates and kiss her and make her fee like she was the most wanted and loved person on Earth, but for now she was in love with a spiky haired asshole and there was nothing he could do about it. Resigning to a night of sadness and a life of loneliness, he sank down to the floor and cried into his hands.