"You're going to get owned. You know that right?" the man with messy black hair said as he allowed his friend to enter his small unkempt apartment.
"That's adorable that you think that way, Sol," the other man responded as he casually stepped into the warm apartment and shed his heavy pea coat.
"By the way, it's your turn to buy the pizza," the slightly shorter male reminded as he closed his front door to the cold winter chill and waited for his friend's coat to be handed to him. Normally he didn't give a crap about taking his guests' coats but he had learned early on that Eridan was a stickler for etiquette and proper hosting skills.
"Of course it is," Eridan said as he handed his coat over to Sollux. He removed his gloves also as an afterthought but kept his scarf on as it complemented the rest of his outfit. It would be a shame to remove such a fashionable accessory. Sollux stuffed the gloves in one of the coat's pockets and hung it all up in his front closet.
"Jeez ED you'd think we were having a blizzard with the way you bundle up. It's not even that cold out there," Sollux pointed out and led the way into the living room.
"It's thirty degrees out there! Fuck you, that's fuckin' cold!" Eridan protested indignantly as he followed his Asian American friend to the living room and took a seat on the couch. Sollux skimmed through his collection of video games to find the one they were going to be playing that evening.
"I keep forgetting that you aren't from this state," Sollux lisped without turning around from his search.
"Yeah I've only been here since college," the brunette huffed. "Where I come from thirty degrees is fuckin' cold."
Sollux finally found the game he had been looking for and turned around with a snort. "College is over ED. Either quit complaining about the cold or go back down south where you came from," he teased.
"I'm not movin' back, but I'm goin' to keep complainin' about the cold because it sucks," Eridan said stubbornly.
"Well why don't you call the pizza in and whine to them about how much you hate New England winters while I set the game up," Sollux said as he began working on unplugging one game system and finding the correct cords to plug back in to switch to another. Honestly, Sollux had so many cords and wires all over the place Eridan was surprised he hadn't set his apartment on fire yet. The former southerner rolled his eyes and pulled out his cell phone to dial the pizza place. He always ordered from the same one because they made the best vegan pizza he had ever tasted. It didn't take long for the order to be placed and for Sollux to plop down beside him on the couch handing him a controller. The pair had gotten incredibly used to the ritual of going to each other's apartments twice a month to veg out on gaming and catch up with the latest news in each other's lives.
Eridan and Sollux met their freshman year of college. Eridan was a pretentious hipster history major straight out of suburban Atlanta. He was still trying to get acclimated to his new life in Boston. Sollux had simply decided that having a paper certificate stating that he had a degree in computer engineering would convince more people to hire him for what just came naturally to him. When the two crossed paths in a shared core math class friendship had been the furthest thing from their minds. They both seemed to hate each other solely for the fact that the other existed. Sollux didn't think it was possible for one human being to embody every one of his pet peeves until Eridan came along. This one guy with his look-how-avant-garde-I-am purple streak dyed in his otherwise natural brown hair. The guy with those horrible thick-rimmed glasses that all the girls their age liked to get so they could take filtered picture of themselves with them on and look 'geek chic'. The guy that actually wore fucking scarves as accessories with his outfits nearly everyday. The guy that frequented the campus café and never ordered coffee but instead got a chai tea late then had the audacity to sit at a table in front of his Mac typing away at God knows what. That was the guy that sat beside Sollux in his math class and with every clink that his rings made as he twisted them around his fingers Sollux wanted to punch him in the face.
It wasn't until their junior year, after many events that had placed the two in situations together whether they liked to be in them or not, that a bond began to grow between them. Sollux was no longer bothered by the things about Eridan that had once made him want to repeatedly smash his head against a keyboard. He learned things about him that changed everything. He learned that Eridan's favorite color was the same purple that streaked his hair. He learned that his glasses were actually prescription and he had been wearing the same frame style since his first pair in middle school. He hadn't even chosen the style. His father was former military and picked the frames because they looked the most like military regulation frames.
Sollux learned that Eridan wore scarves because he had a skin condition on his neck that he preferred to hide. The condition was treatable but recurring due to the humidity of his home state. Sollux learned that Eridan never drank coffee because it gave him caffeine jitters and he liked to sit in cafes on his older brother's hand-me-down Mac to type up love letters for his crush that he never would send because he was too afraid of the rejection. He always hoped that being in a public place would boost his confidence somehow. Sollux also learned that Eridan had social anxiety and would twist the rings on his fingers as a nervous tick when he was feeling panicked in a situation.
By the time the two were seniors, they both felt pretty comfortable adding on "best bro" whenever speaking of each other to someone else. They still enjoyed ragging on each other quite often but had somehow struck up a pretty solid friendship which continued even after graduation. Eridan eventually decided to make a permanent move to Boston since he had spent the last four years building relationships there.
The doorbell rang and Sollux paused the game on the screen as Eridan jumped up to answer it. The delivery man on the other side traded off the food for Eridan's cash then left as Eridan turned back into the apartment balancing the large cardboard box in one hand and closing the door with the other.
"Please tell me you didn't just order your vegan crap," Sollux complained when he saw only one box. Eridan lifted his brows in amusement and placed the food on his friend's cluttered coffee table.
"What if I did?"
Sollux glared at the other man and leaned forward to flip open the box. There was half of a supreme pizza and half of a vegan veggie lovers.
"Fuck you," Sollux said as he grabbed a slice of his pizza and settled back on the couch. Eridan chuckled then reclaimed his place on the couch and took out his own slice to begin eating. A silence settled over the two as they chewed their food. Sollux tried to remain nonchalant as he swallowed and finally spoke.
"I'm thinking about proposing to AA this Christmas."
Eridan tuned to his friend in surprise. "What? Really? You feel like you're ready for that?" He hoped he wasn't coming off as sounding accusatory he was simply genuinely shocked by Sollux's news.
Sollux kept his mismatched eyes averted from the other man's thick-framed gaze. "Yah, I mean I've been with her for three years now. I guess it's probably about time I settled down or whatever." He took another bite of his pizza to avoid saying anything else.
"Oh," was all Eridan could say as he stared down at his food. He wanted to be happy for Sollux. He had been friends with the scrawny Asian before he even decided to ask Aradia out, but he couldn't help feeling jealous. All these years had gone by where Sollux had taken a leap of faith by asking someone out and had found happiness and was now ready to pop the question. Eridan, on the other hand, had still not worked up the courage to ask out the girl he had been crazy about since he had first laid eyes on her nearly six years ago.
"Better save some of that excitement for after I actually ask her, ED," Sollux lisped sarcastically.
"No! I mean, that's really great and all," Eridan amended quickly.
"You need to just ask her out dude," Sollux sighed.
"W-what?" the hipster stammered in surprise.
"You've been obsessed with FF for years to the point where it's just sad to look at," the Gemini pointed out bluntly. "Just go for it already. She's hung around you for this long already she clearly likes you." He took another large bite from his pizza and watched the emotions wash over his friend's face. Feferi was always a very sensitive topic with him.
"But what if she doesn't even like me that way? I'd rather have her as a friend than nothin' at all," Eridan defended weakly as he forgot about the food in his hand. Sollux shrugged and swallowed his food.
"Either ask her out or move on. Being this girl's stalker is not the same as being in a relationship with her."
"I'm not a-"
"ED. Come on," Sollux lifted a knowing eyebrow at him. Eridan huffed and nibbled on his vegan pizza. "You know I'm right," the computer nerd goaded.
"Fuck you," the Aquarius muttered around a mouthful which caused his friend to erupt into laughter. The two ate quietly for a few moments after that. Once Eridan had finished his slice he cleared his throat.
"I'll talk to her," he said quietly. Sollux glanced over at him as he reached for his game controller to resume the game. "Probably not immediately, but I will work toward it." Sollux snorted at him.
"Just make sure you do it before the end of next year," the lisping man suggested.
"Why?" Eridan asked as he picked up his own controller.
"That way she can be your date to me and AA's wedding."
"Oh. Right," Eridan allowed a small smile to pass his lips. "Now let's play this game so I can fuckin' beat you at it." Sollux laughed and unpaused the game so the two could resume their usual game night.