Everyone was dead.
All of your friends were dead. Any person you cared about – and even those you didn't – were dead. Heck, even you were dead! But worst of all, he was dead, too.
You watched him die.
You watched his face become twisted in horror. You watched him scream in half-hearted hope that you, or anyone else, could save him. You watched that scream to a wail of agony when it was completely apparent that it was too late. You watched the light leave his eyes. You watched him fall to the ground and lay still as everyone ran over and around his corpse in panic and fear.
And you just stood there; didn't move a muscle. You just stood there and watched the man you love slip away from you.
What made it worse was how tense and ruined your friendship was with him when he died. You were just about to say you were sorry and make everything better, too.
You'd almost given up hope that you ever would. Sure, he was dead; that didn't mean he was gone. You were dead too, after all. So you searched: dream bubble after dream bubble. So many dream bubbles, you often forgot what you were doing and found yourself just floating along with no direction or purpose. Every time you ran into him, it wasn't him. It wasn't the Eridan you poked fun at and shared a good laugh with and then saw murdered right in front of you. It was always the asshole who hated you for your inferior blood color and "landwweller' status. Or a pathetic version of him wallowing in self-pity and wearing a ridiculous outfit that made him look like a quackbeast.
You were done. You decided if he wasn't in the next one, you'd settle down and wait for him to find you instead. After all, he'd look for you too if he cared, right? So you entered the nearest dream bubble and skipped over the whole memory bit of it.
TA: hey ED.
CA: sol
TA: ii2 iit really you?
CA: wwater you talkin about a course its me
CA: wwho else wwould it be
TA: ii gue22 what iim tryiing two 2ay ii2
TA: do you remember?
CA: remember wwhat sol i cant read minds like some people
TA: mevermiind. you would know.
Your heart sank. Looked like you had quite a bit of waiting ahead of you.
TA: 2orry for botheriing you
The ping of Eridan typing out a hasty replied stopped you from closing out the window.
CA: wwait
CA: I do remember something
CA: if you wwere talkin bout the kiss
Your mind blanked. Joy overtook you, but was squashed by panic and uncertainty. It was really him this time! But, it was him.
CA: sol?
CA: you still there?
TA: uh yeah. iim 2tiill here.
CA: is that wwhat you wwere referring to
TA: yeah
TA: yeah 2orry
TA: iim 2o 2orry ED ii shouldnt have
Your reply was cut off by a sudden change of scenery. You were no longer tucked safely away in your hive. You were no longer seated in front of your computer. Instead, you found yourself face-to-face with the bonehead you'd spent your entire afterlife looking for. And you appeared to be on the beach somewhere. Stinking seadweller and his water.
You started to lisp out the apology you didn't get the chance to send just moments before but found a ring covered finger stopping your lips.
"What are you do-mphh" Eridan had foiled your attempts of mumbling around his finger by surprising you. Surprising you with his lips, that is. They were softer than you thought they would be, fucking highblood. He ended the kiss before you had the chance to recover from your shock and kiss back like you had been waiting to do for so long.
"Don't ever think a apologizing for kissin me," he scolded.
"But you- I- You ran away and wouldn't thpeak to me for monthth!" you yelled. Eridan glanced away and scowled.
"I wwas in denial. My feelins wwere confusin me an I didn't like it."
"Tho you waited until you died to come to termth with your emotionth and left me to agonize over how much I fucked up?! Thankth. Thankth a whole lot, ED." The bitterness refused to stay out of your voice and you sounded a lot harsher then you meant to.
Eridan looked torn between yelling back at you and bursting into tears. You forgot how sensitive he could be. "Wwell I didn't exactly knoww I wwas goin to die, noww did i?" His anger faded to nothing and only the look of regret remained. "Cod, I'm so sorry Sol. I'm so, so, sorry." He buried his face into your black shirt as he started to sob. Soon there was a good-sized wet spot near the middle of your shirt from his tears and snot.
You put your arms around him and tried to shoosh him but it didn't sound very comforting with your lisp so you went with talking. "Don't cry, ED. I'm thorry, okay. I shouldn't have gone an confuthed you like that." He still cried. "It'th okay. We're together now, aren't we? That'th all that matterth."
It took a while but finally the choking sobs stopped and Eridan wiped at his face with his sleeve. He blinked up at you and sniffled a bit. Even with the solid white eyes of the dead, and puffy eyes and purple nose form crying, he was breathtaking.
"So wwhat now?" he croaked.
"We have an entire afterlife to do what we pleathe. Which ith pretty much eternity. We could do anything we thet our mindth to," you said.
"Can wwe just stay like this for now?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way."