Author's note:

Obviously, I don't own Homestuck. I would very much appreciate critiques on this, thank you for reading!

It was over as quickly as it had begun. Now Eridan Ampora was staring into Roxy Lalonde's eyes, his cheeks burning, biting his lip. He was speechless. She just grinned up at him, her light pink eyes boring into his own. She was holding on to his arm lightly, leaning on one foot.

"You're so beautiful," he blurted out, immediately feeling stupid and adding, "I'm sorry if that's too forward." For some reason, this caused her to giggle, which caused him to feel even more indignant. He pulled away from her and crossed his arms defiantly across his chest, frowning deeply.

"I'm not understandin what's so fuckin funny," he muttered dryly. He was in the process of working himself into one of his 'moods' when she did something unexpected.

She grabbed his arm, more firmly this time, and pulled him close. He felt his pulse begin to race. The smile on her lips had gone from giggly to seductive, and she slowly moved in, placing those beautiful lips on his again.

This was such a strange development. His internal organs were doing back flips as he places his arms around her gingerly, pulling her closer. He had expected her to spurn his advances, to laugh at him for kissing her in the first place, to turn him down like so many other girls had. He was obviously mistaken, however, because here he was, holding her, kissing her, inhaling her intoxicating scent.

After a few moments of passionate smooching, she pulled back.

"So, Eridan…" she began, arching her eyebrow, "Where do we go from here?"

It took him a moment to respond, because in all honesty, he wasn't sure. As previously stated, Eridan was used to being rejected – he really didn't know what to do now. Was he supposed to ask her out, or should he play hard to get and wait for her to ask him? Should he take her on a few formal dates before bestowing the title of girlfriend upon her? And what would his 'friends' say? There were a few human-troll relationships, but for the most part, interspecies relations were looked down on.

"I don't know, Rox." At least he was honest. He swallowed hard, opened his mouth again, and began to pour his mushy, fickle heart out. "I really like you an all, obviously, I mean you're gorgeous an you like science an stuff just like I do, an we always have a ton of fun when we hang out an all that…"

"…but you think we should get to know each other better?" she finished for him. He nodded silently, scared this would upset her; to his surprise, it made her smile even wider. "I think so, too." She stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek. "But, for the record, I do like you. Quite a bit." God damn she was straight forward. It was one of the many reasons Eridan found her so attractive; in spite of their similar interests, she was kind of his polar opposite. It was refreshing.

"So, uh…" he cleared his throat, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "Do you…wanna go out sometime? Whenever's good for you, a course." He didn't want to seem too desperate or too excited.

"Yeah, I'm not busy tomorrow. Do you want to meet up after we get out of school?"

Eridan's face immediately lit up. "That works out perfectly, I ain't got nothin goin on tomorrow either. Do you wanna go out and do anythin in particular?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing in particular. Let's just see where we end up." Another mischievous grin lit up her face, and he nodded his agreement while his heart skipped a beat. Roxy Lalonde was most certainly intriguing, he couldn't deny that.

He gave her a quick hug goodbye, deciding against smooching any further, and exited her home. His mind was racing, his pulse was pounding, and he felt both elated and like he was going to fuckin vomit everywhere.

He had not seen this coming. He had not been mentally prepared for this. He had gone to Roxy's house after school to play video games and read the latest installment of her wonderful wizard fanfiction. He had done this quite a few times over the past three years of their high school career, and, while he found her attractive, he had not detected the faintest trace of those feelings being returned. He had expected to be moirail zoned at best.

But this was good, right? He just had his first real kiss. He had been waiting to have that experience for about four years now, ever since his first awkward, fumbly attempt at a smooch with Feferi Peixes in eighth grade (she had dodged the kiss at the last second, turning it into an awkward cheek kiss-hug combo from his end).

He opened the door to his hive and entered, tossing his school things down on the floor and taking a seat on the couch. He pulled out his laptop and decided he needed to speak to someone about this, someone who was well versed on the subject of the heart. Someone like…yeah, you guessed it. Karkat Vantas. One of the only people who could stand Eridan, though Karkat was kind of a giant asshole. Oh well, as the saying went, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Eridan messaged Karkat the second his computer connected to the internet, and the conversation went as follows:

CA: hey kar

CA: wwhats up
CG: OH, IT'S YOU.
CG: MY FAVORITE FUCKING PERSON ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
CG: I AM, OF COURSE, BEING FACETIOUS. IF YOU WERE CURIOUS AT ALL.

CG: ANYWAY, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT? MAKE IT QUICK, I'M KIND OF BUSY.

CA: wwell i just needed some advvice

CA: if youvve got the time a course
CA: dont let me keep you if youre doin somethin important

CG: GO RIGHT AHEAD.

CG: NOTHING IS AS IMPORTANT AS YOU, ERIDAN.

CG: THESE TALKS ABOUT YOUR FUCKED UP ROLLER COASTER OF A LOVE LIFE ARE THE REASON FOR WHICH I DRAW BREATH.

CG: (THIS IS MORE SARCASM IF YOU CAN'T TELL.)

CA: wwell ill take that as permission to go on

CA: alright this is gonna be pretty shockin so be prepared
CA: you might wanna sit down for this
CA: tell me when youre ready
CG: I AM PREPARED FOR THIS MIND BLOWING REVELATION YOU'VE GOT IN STORE, WHICH I'M SURE WILL BE BOTH MIND BLOWING AND REVEALING.

CA: wwell

CA: i had my first kiss

CG: WELL HOT DAMN.

CG: YOU DON'T FUCKING SAY.

CG: GOOD FOR YOU, AMPORA. I'M FUCKING PROUD.

CG: WITH WHO?

CA: thats kinda the problem, i think

CA: it was wwith rox

CA: not that rox isnt great or anything
CA: i just

CA: i dont know kar i just expected to feel different

CG: WELL, HOW DO YOU FEEL?

CA: im happy an all but i also feel

CA: i dunno i feel kinda really sick to my stomach an like im gonna vomit

CG: I THINK THAT'S A PRETTY NORMAL THING?

CG: WHEN I HAD MY FIRST KISS I FELT THAT WAY, TOO.

CG: YOU'RE JUST OVER THINKING SHIT, AS USUAL.

CG: JUST TAKE HER OUT AND SEE WHERE THINGS GO, AND STOP STRESSING YOURSELF OUT OVER SOMETHING THAT'S FUCKING POSITIVE.

CG: I'M PRETTY MUCH AN EXPERT ON THE INTRICACIES OF QUADRANT FILLING, AND I PERSONALLY THINK ROXY WOULD BE GOOD TO FILL YOUR FLUSHED QUADRANT WITH. SHE'S PRETTY FUCKING COOL, FOR A HUMAN, I MUST ADMIT.

CG: PRETTY MUCH, MY ADVICE TO YOU IS CHILL THE FUCK OUT AND BE HAPPY FOR YOURSELF.

CG: AND DO YOUR BEST NOT TO FUCK THIS UP IMMEDIATELY LIKE YOU DO WITH PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING ELSE BY BEING AN OVERDRAMATIC DOUCHEBAG.

CG: ANYWAY, AS I STATED PREVIOUSLY, I AM BUSY, SO I'LL TALK TO YOU LATER.

CA: later kar

Eridan sighed as Karkat signed off. That was fuckin helpful.