Sollux couldn't sleep, yet again. His thoughts just kept spinning around and around in his head, not offering any kind of respite. Clearly, just laying here in bed wasn't going to be very helpful tonight. It rarely was. He sat up and sighed softly, assessing his options. He could just pull an all-nighter wasting time on the Internet, or even do something productive like write the English essay due next week or clean his room.
Taking a sip of water from the half-full bottle sitting on his nightstand, he glanced out the window. Sure enough, the window directly across from his own had the violet curtains drawn, but there was warm light leaking out into the night from the crack between them. He was awake. Sollux ran a hand through his messy hair, just staring out the window for a minute. It was just his side yard, with the familiar, sturdy tree, and then, a little farther away, the house that looked far too fancy to belong on this street.
There was a little gazebo in the huge, shared backyard. It had started out as two smaller yards, but no boundaries were ever drawn and over time they just melded into one. Quite a few amazing memories had been made behind the gauzy curtains hung around that gazebo the past couple of summers, and he was sure there would be more, now that things were warming up again for the spring. Thinking about the gazebo would do absolutely nothing for his sleeplessness though. He had to decide whether it was bad enough to warrant the daring maneuver he'd done so many times before.
Finally he decided that yes, it was.
The lanky teen got out of bed, tugging on a pair of soft, worn pajama pants, which he'd bought especially for these late night outings. Sneaking across the yard in just his t-shirt and boxers would be a bad idea, and putting jeans on at 1:00 or 2:00 AM wasn't usually appealing either, hence the comfy flannel pants. Sollux then shoved his feet in his sneakers and walked over to the window, opening it as quietly as he could and praying it wouldn't creak.
Getting the screen out of the window in the dark with minimal noise was something he'd gotten better at with practice, as was fitting it back in once he was outside, crouching on the rather precarious ledge just below his window. Tonight, Sollux did all of that with ease, going from ledge to tree branch, to other tree branch, and finally to the matching ledge of the house next door. He didn't want to mess with the ground or front doors; this was faster.
He gave the glass of the window three quick taps, code for 'I want to come in.' They'd never sat down and made up the window tap code, figured out what meant what. It'd just naturally evolved over time. At first, he worried that Eridan had fallen asleep and hadn't heard him. But then, the curtains parted, and a familiar face smiled at him, opening the window and helping him inside.
"Couldn't sleep?" Eridan asked quietly, almost a whisper. The concern in his voice never failed to tug at Sollux's heartstrings. When he acted sweet like this, it made up for every transgression done in the daylight.
Sollux just nodded, slipping off his shoes as Eridan closed the window and the curtains. This room was almost as familiar as his own, even though he'd only seen the rest of the house's interior a handful of times.
"I'm certainly not havin' any problems feelin' tired, but I only just finished my Physics homework," Eridan said, gesturing to himself, still fully dressed and public-ready. "It's alright though, I suppose. This way I was awake to let you in."
Sollux nodded and wasted no time in crawling into Eridan's luxurious, king-size bed, slipping out of his pants as he did. Meanwhile, the other boy padded between the bedroom and the attached bathroom, getting ready for bed. He looked so oddly sweet and vulnerable with all the gel out of his hair and the icy attitude disposed of. When he took off his shirt, Sollux couldn't help but stare for a moment, taking in the sight of that lean swimmer's torso that he ordinarily only got to sneak peeks of in the locker room before gym class.
Soon, Eridan was laying next to him, one hand sliding under his shirt to trace along his ribs with his fingertips as his other hand worked the TV remote, putting on some dumb house hunting show on low volume, just for background noise.
"I'm sorry about today," Eridan said softly, sounding almost like he was close to tears. Even as he did though, his fingers kept mapping paths along Sollux's skin, like it was as necessary as breathing. "I'm sorry you had to hear it."
It wasn't like he hadn't heard worse things about himself come out of Eridan's mouth. This time it was just some jibe about how he was some psycho freak. Nothing too detailed or personal. He knew they had to keep up appearances.
"I know," Sollux replied, pressing closer. "You know I just want you safe." He'd offered so many times that Eridan could just stay with him if his father kicked him out, but he'd had none of it. It was clear that being disowned by the Ampora family would break him.
"Someday it'll be different, Sol," Eridan said. "After graduation. Maybe it'll be easier after graduation." Sollux noticed his hands getting frustrated navigating the tangles of fabric, and he just took off his shirt, letting it drop to the floor.
"Right. After graduation." Eridan's hand rested over his heart, the Aquarius seeming to draw comfort from its steady beating.
"I swear it," Eridan breathed, lips dragging leisurely over his collarbone. "I wanna be with you forever. I just...can't come out right now. You know that."
Sollux made a soft noise of assent, arms wrapping around the other's waist, pulling him closer.
"Enough of that talk for now though," he urged lightly. "Tell me about your day."
"You were there for most of it," Sollux protested, muffling a laugh against Eridan's shoulder.
"Not really. I mean, yeah, I was there, but...as an outsider. It's not like I can lean over in the middle of History and make a joke about the stupid educational movie we're watching, or see the bruise on your hip in Gym and tell you how much I wanna kiss it. I'm just one of those rich jerks who makes your life hell." Once done with his explanation, Eridan just sighed.
"Well, what do you want to know?" Sollux's lips quirked into a smile, unsurprised when Eridan ducked under the covers briefly to press a tender kiss to the curve of his hipbone, just as he'd mentioned.
"Did you think about me?" Eridan asked that relatively frequently, so Sollux already had a reply prepared.
"Yeah, of course I did. All day, I was hoping I'd be here tonight. Plus, those pants you wore today make your ass look great."
That made Eridan grin, clearly thrilled at both the reassurance that he was on Sollux's mind, and at the compliment.
"I'm gonna buy us a mansion like that someday," he murmured sleepily, pointing to the house being shown onscreen. It was ridiculously ornate, and far more expensive than Sollux could ever reasonably hope to afford, coming from a family who just managed to scrape by.
"Oh, really? Are you going to get us a private island too?" Sollux teased, resting his head on Eridan's chest.
"My family actually does have a private island," Eridan replied. "In the Bahamas."
"Bullshit, no, you don't." Sollux refused to believe that the Amporas, as rich as they were, actually owned their own island. And at that, he had to wonder yet again why they lived here, in the same neighborhood as him. He'd never asked. It would feel like tempting fate. Just a few years ago, he would've dreamed of Eridan moving somewhere more suited to his wealth, so that he'd only have to put up with his torment at school, not at home too. But now, if they couldn't do this, he'd be devastated.
"Yes, we do. Maybe I'll take you there someday." From the tone of his voice, it was clear that Eridan was drifting off to sleep.
"Your alarm's set for early, right?" Sollux double-checked. Mornings were always a little scary, trying to sneak out and back to his own house before either of their fathers noticed.
"Mhm, 5:00, like always," Eridan said, kissing his nose. "That's just a couple of hours away, so get some sleep, babe."
"I don't know if I can...My thoughts just keep swirling around in my head..." He sighed, nestling closer to Eridan. "Can you keep talking to me a little longer?"
"Sure. Anything in particular you want me to talk about?"
"No, I just wanna hear your voice."
"Okay."
True to his word, Eridan kept talking softly to him, about what his plans were for after school the next day, how maybe if he framed it to look enough like a joke, they could be partners for their History presentation...After awhile, Sollux stopped fully absorbing the meaning of what the other was saying, just allowing himself to be soothed by the familiar voice.
By some miracle, he almost always managed to sleep soundly when he was next to Eridan, snuggled up under the violet duvet, and this time was no different. When the alarm went off at 5:00, he'd at least gotten a solid three hours of sleep, which was better than nothing.
"Mmh, too early," he groaned, burying his face in the pillow and silently willing Eridan to turn the incessantly chiming alarm off.
"Yeah, I know, Sol. But you gotta get up." Eridan ran his fingers through his hair, smiling sympathetically.
"Maybe we should just ditch school today," Sollux suggested. "So we can actually have some time together."
"I have a Latin test this morning that I really can't miss...I could probably make up some excuse to get out at lunchtime though, so we can have the afternoon," Eridan offered, hands wandering over Sollux's thin torso.
"Yeah, that works," Sollux decided. "I guess I'll go just for the morning too, and then we can leave together and go get lunch."
"Alright. We can meet up at noon or so outside."
"You know, it'd be a lot easier if you actually gave me your number," Sollux grumbled. "It's not like anyone will know."
"Fine, fine." Eridan sighed, passing Sollux his phone. "Put your number in, but then you have to go home, love."
Sollux did so, setting Eridan's phone down and giving him a kiss before getting out of bed and starting to get dressed again.
"See you in a few hours," he said sleepily before opening the window and crawling his way out onto the ledge, making his way back to his own room with no problems.
When he was back in his own house getting ready for school, his phone buzzed quietly with a text from a number that must be Eridan's, that said only "you should really remember to close your curtains wwhen youre gettin undressed. someone might look in your wwindoww."
"ii thiink you'd be awfully dii2appoiinted iif ii diid," he replied, looking up to see Eridan looking out his own window at him.
"im just lookin out for you, babe." That made Sollux smile, and he waved slightly before he left his room.
When he was walking to his first period programming class, which was coincidentally right across the hall from the Latin classroom, he nearly bumped right into Eridan.
"Watch it, Captor," he growled, shoving him slightly. His hand then slipped down from his shoulder to his ass, copping a quick feel before anyone could notice. Sollux almost laughed, simply because Eridan had never once dared to do that in public before.
In the middle of second period, Eridan chose Sollux to be his partner for the research project, striking the perfect balance between sarcasm and sincerity to not make anyone else suspicious, but also to not upset Sollux.
All morning, it felt like things had decisively changed for the better, like Eridan had finally figured out that just occasionally sneaking into each other's rooms at night didn't constitute a relationship.
When it came time to make their lunchtime escape, Sollux got his things and slipped out a back door between classes, completely undetected. He waited in the parking lot for Eridan, sending him a quick text to make sure he remembered. "ii'm waiitiing for you out2iide."
For a nerveracking few minutes, it seemed like maybe Eridan wasn't coming. Sollux shifted from foot to foot, glancing at his phone and hoping that nobody would come outside and see him there.
"Shit, I'm so sorry, I got held up by someone askin' about prom stuff, since you know, I'm on the committee an' all..." Eridan was out of breath, like he'd been running to keep Sollux from having to wait any longer than necessary. "Where do you want to go?"
Sollux shrugged, secretly just relieved that Eridan hadn't bailed on him. "I don't really care, anywhere you want is fine."
They wound up at a little diner on the other side of town, where there was virtually no chance of anybody recognizing them. Nobody even asked why they weren't in school. They ate lunch, chatting and laughing the whole time. It felt more carefree than Sollux had ever imagined something with Eridan could be.
"What do you want to do now?" He asked as they wandered out of the diner towards their cars, letting his fingers loosely interlock with Eridan's. Eridan reflexively tugged his hand away.
"I don't know..." He trailed off. "Bein' in public like this just makes me feel all antsy. Like someone's gonna see me."
"Eridan...You've been doing so good today, and you have to go back to worrying about that now? Nobody's going to see us."
"You don't know that!" They were standing in the middle of the parking lot right now, and Sollux hoped for both their sakes that nobody else would walk out and witness their argument.
"Fine. Whatever. I don't want to fight with you right now." He lifted his hands in defeat, unlocking his car. "Do you just want to go home and go back to pretending you don't love me?"
"No...no, Sol, you know I don't want that." Eridan grabbed Sollux's arm, stopping him from getting in the car. "There's a park near here, with a pond and everything...We could go there to be alone."
Sollux pretended to think about it for a few minutes, but really, he knew from the minute Eridan said it that he'd agree. "Okay."
Eridan actually held his hand as they walked through the lush grass towards the pond, not talking much.
"I used to come here with my ex-girlfriend," Eridan finally said. "She kinda tainted the place, so I thought maybe we could make new memories here. Better ones." His smile was so hopeful and innocent that Sollux couldn't resist leaning over and kissing him while they walked. Eridan froze for a split second, but then kissed back.
"Of course we can," Sollux said.
They sat down at the edge of the pond, but soon wound up laying in the grass in a tangle of limbs, just like in Eridan's bed the night before.
"This is nice," Eridan said quietly, carding his fingers through Sollux's silky, black hair. "I want it to be like this all the time as much as you do. I'm just scared...We don't know what he'll do."
"I know. I'm not gonna push you to tell him. But we're not going back to you pushing me around and treating me like trash at school. I shouldn't have put up with it as long as I did, but now I got a taste of what it's like for it to be different, and there's no way I'm going back." It felt like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest, but he had to say it. "If you're not willing to at least be civil to me in public, I can't do this."
It was silent for a long time, and Sollux actually started to fear that Eridan was going to end it. The fingers in his hair had fallen still. After almost ten minutes, he heard a tiny, stifled sob.
"I'm so sorry, Sol," Eridan breathed, voice cracking and tears starting to fall as he clutched him tighter. "I'm so sorry I hurt you for so long. I really don't deserve you."
"It's okay," he replied. "It's okay, I know." It didn't make all of those things hurt any less, but he really did know that Eridan felt awful about having done them. "Just promise you won't do it again."
"I promise. I love you so much, Sol." Sollux shakily wiped away Eridan's tears, feeling some well up in his own eyes. Before too long, they were both just laying in the grass crying and holding each other.
"We'll figure this out together," Sollux murmured against the soft skin of Eridan's neck.
"Do you really think your dad would let me stay with you?"
"Yeah, I do. He might make you stay in the guest room instead of mine, but he'd definitely let you stay," the Gemini assured.
"I think maybe I'll talk to him tonight, if that's okay," Eridan said hesitantly, playing with the hem of Sollux's shirt.
"That's...wow. Are you sure? I mean, it's okay, but are you sure?" Sollux had no idea how to react.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Like I said, I love you, and I haven't really been the best at showing that all the time, but I want to fix that as much as I can."
When the school day was officially over, Sollux texted his dad to ask if it was okay if he brought a friend home for dinner. At the same time, Eridan told his own father that he was going to a friend's for dinner, and would probably spend the night.
They picked themselves up from the cool grass and walked back to where they'd parked hand in hand. Eridan gently plucked a small leaf out of Sollux's hair, laughing.
"Honestly, Sol," he said. "What would you do without me? You'd constantly look like a wreck."
"I would not," Sollux retorted. "I just didn't know there was a leaf in my hair. I look fine most of the time."
"You go entire weekends without changin' your clothes," the other pointed out, raising an eyebrow skeptically as he unlocked his car. "But besides that, what are we gonna do about my car? My dad would notice if it was in your driveway or somethin'..."
Sollux hadn't even thought of that, but once Eridan pointed it out, it seemed pretty obvious. They lived next door to each other, so if Eridan's car was right there, there was no way his family wouldn't know he was at Sollux's.
"Oh, yeah, shit..." He frowned, unlocking his own car and opening the door while he thought.
"Y'know what, fuck it. I'll leave it here for the night," Eridan decided. He got the important things out of it and then got into Sollux's car.
The drive back to their neighborhood was surprisingly relaxed, considering. They chatted, sang along to the radio, and just didn't think about any of their difficulties. The thought of falling asleep with Eridan in bed with him for the second night in a row did cross Sollux's mind though.
When they walked into the house, Sollux's father was visibly surprised that Eridan was the friend his son had brought home. He didn't question it, however, beyond a bewildered "Um, does your father know you're here?" Eridan's downright frantic 'no' was apparently answer enough, since the man just went back to cooking then.
Sitting together doing homework and playing video games before dinner felt completely natural to Sollux, like this was a daily occurrence. The actual meal was uneventful too, with Mr. Captor treating Eridan like just another friend of Sollux's, and Mituna giving a couple suspicious looks.
A few hours after, when Eridan still showed no signs of preparing to go home, was when things got far less mundane.
Sollux heard the quiet sound of footsteps on the stairs and then in the hall just a moment too late to do anything like pause the movie they were watching or adjust his position into anything other than blatant cuddling with Eridan. They were a tangle of limbs splayed atop the bed, thankfully fully clothed, with Eridan's head resting on his shoulder, trailing idle kisses down his neck.
"I..." Eridan was completely tensed up as he searched for words, almost like he was prepared to flee.
Simon Captor was about as socially inept as his sons, so at first all he managed was a bit of a chuckle.
"Don't worry, Eridan, I don't mind," he assured. "I actually had assumed I'd walk in on a situation like this from the moment you two walked in the door this evening. But going by what I know about your father, I'm guessing he would be far less...accepting."
Sollux finally did pause the movie, sitting up a bit. He was tempted to chime in to move the conversation in the right direction, but he knew that he should probably leave that to Eridan.
"Yeah, um, you're right about that," Eridan agreed hesitantly. After that though, his words seemed to flow much more freely. "He wouldn't even like me bein' friends with Sol, much less...this. An' I thought I was okay with pretendin', even though that meant bein' completely awful to him at school and barely even havin' time to sneak around. But that's not fair to anyone, especially Sol, and I can't do that anymore. I know this is probably really sudden for you, since you didn't know anythin' about this 'til now, but...I love him." His voice cracked, and his hand crept towards Sollux's, squeezing it gently.
"Maybe this sounds stupid, 'cause we're just teenagers and all, but I really love Sollux, an' I'd do anythin' for him, but if my father finds out about any of this, he'll kick me out," Eridan finished, barely able to look Simon in the eyes.
"It doesn't sound stupid," he finally replied. "Honestly, I think you're pretty damn brave for realizing the situation wasn't fair and deciding to do something about it."
The conversation continued awhile longer between the two of them, with Sollux staying mostly silent and continuing to hold Eridan's hand. Finally, Simon said the words that both teens were hoping for.
"I'll do whatever I can to help you out," he said. "But for now, why don't you just stay here for the night, if it won't get you in any trouble?"
"Thank you," Eridan murmured, nodding. "I really appreciate it."
"I'd say I'd get the guest room ready for you, but I have a feeling you'd wind up back in here anyway," the eldest Captor quipped with a soft laugh. "Just remember that you two have school tomorrow, so you might want to get some actual sleeping done."
"Dad!" Sollux exclaimed, face flushing red at the implications.
"Well, I'll leave you two alone now," Simon said, still smiling as he left the room.
They were both rather embarrassed, but went back to cuddling and watching the movie pretty quickly, not talking about what had just occurred. Sollux leaned in and kissed Eridan, smiling.
"That went pretty well," he said, smiling. "I told you it'd be fine."
"Yeah, it did," Eridan said, nuzzling closer. "I'm really glad your dad didn't mind any of it, even when I admitted we've been doin' this since middle school."
"I think he really was a little surprised by that part, but whatever," Sollux muttered, unpausing the movie.
By the time they were laying under the covers together like the night before, it really felt like this could become a nightly sort of thing. Eridan's hands were wandering over his body, smoothing over any inch of exposed skin as he kissed him softly.
"I love you," Sollux breathed sleepily. "Love you so much, Eri..."
"Love you too," Eridan replied equally sleepily. "I hope it can be like this all the time."
"It will be," Sollux assured. "I wanna be with you forever."
Before the conversation could continue much longer, they both drifted off to sleep, without the alarm set extra early for one of them to sneak out the window. For the first time in almost four years, they felt safe together.