The clock in the top center of the heavily wired room kept time perfectly, loudly, and accurately.
It irritated Sollux.
He was right in the middle of one of his Psionic headaches and his head felt like it was about to burst in pain. In fact, his skull might have very well broken open if it were not for him shoving his head between his couch cushions and putting his tech manuals above those. He didn't need those amateur books any more, but they sure were nice to have around for when situations like this arose.
His bedroom still was messy as ever, and had actually become even messier ever since he hooked up two more husk tops to his beenary hive frame. Live and loose wires were thrown everywhere. Sollux had learned where to step to avoid tripping on them, but even with Kanaya's supreme elegance, none of the others could safely cross without making fools of themselves. Sollux didn't notice though, he was always too held up in his own computer world to really pay attention. As always, his double bodied recuperacoon lay empty near the far wall, opposite of his bee hives. His desk, where he spent the majority of his waking time, set on the remaining third wall, across from his window. It had been a tough squeeze, but he had managed to put the aforementioned couch into his room, placed against his fourth wall.
"Ohh!" he groaned as another wave of pain hit. He wrenched his head from the couch as he felt it try to cave in. His books crashed to the floor and he landed on top of them. He crawled along the floor and writhed beside his beenary hivecomb. Sollux was somewhat heavier than the typical troll, as what would be expected with the lack of exercise that comes with being a gamer. His heavier frame had crushed several of the combs, and Sollux felt honey squish out from beneath his back. Sollux barely dodged as a single sneaky drop tried to fall into his mouth from above.
At times like this, Sollux wanted to end it. Sometimes he just wanted to eat the mind honey and end it all. Days like this when he was doubled over in pain from his useless thinkpan, when Kanaya wasn't around and Karkat was in a mood, he had nothing else to occupy his time with except to waste his life scrolling through Trollian.
Once, he had even tried to put an end to himself.
The only thing he had succeeded in was blasting a hole into his neighbors wall and tripling his headache. So today, like any other headache day, he was stuck on the ground wriggling around like a little blind wriggler.
"Ahh!" another moan escaped his lips as he drove his head down against the floor, breaking open one of his games.
With a "bing!" a new Trollian alert announced itself loudly, and threatened to give him an aneurism.
AA has started trolling TA
"Hey Sollux. I've found so many things at the ruins today."
"Sollux? Are you there!"
"AA, what is it?"
"Well, what's wrong Sollux?"
"I'm nook deep in the worst headache of my pathetic life."
"Do you know if anything triggered it specifically? Or if it's just another generic headache?"
"My human grand troll would be shaking in his psionic boots."
"Oh, I see…"
"Just go away."
"But I'm your moirail, shouldn't I provide some form of comfort?"
"No. Go away." Sollux hissed into his shirt
"Oh, okay Sollux."
AA has ceased trolling TA
Sollux moaned and threw his phone at the wall. It hit with a "Snop" and snapped in two. He couldn't get comfortable for the life of him. He could only lay still, or move as much of himself as possible. He decided to move about on his belly like a human slither beast.
This practice got him nowhere.
"Ahh!" Sollux was only halted in his unusual dance ritual when he realized he was tangled in a blanket soaked in mind honey. Sollux shuddered to think about the consequences of what would happen should he fall asleep and accidentally eat some of the honey. He shook his arms to free himself, but he simply couldn't manage the maneuver.
His head pounded harder, and he threw in the towel to curl up in the fetal position.
Across the room, Sollux's broken phone blew up with alert noises.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Crash!"
His front door burst open across the communal cell block, rattling Sollux poor think pan further.
"It's probably just rustblood telemarketers again," he thought to himself. "They can take anything they want, they won't know how to use it anyway."
Contrary to his expectations, the putrid blanket was pulled off of him, and a familiar striking rust blood stood before him.
His rust blood.
"AA, what are you doing? I thought I told you not to come."
Aradia gave a slight smile. "I know, but I knew you needed me here, so I came." She kneeled beside Sollux and pulled his hurting body into her lap. She rested his head against her breasts and began to stroke the bases of his horns, gracefully maneuvering her fingers around the four separate structures. Sollux moaned, and allowed himself to go limp in his moirail's arms. He relaxed as his horns distracted him from the throbbing headache he had. He curled up in Aradia's lap as her spelunking roughened hands lovingly caressed his horns, and with that, his soul.
As Sollux dozed off against Aradia's chest, she began to sing a slow quiet melody in a soft alto voice.
"I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my moirail you'll be…".