(( So to make up for no new chapter of Pieces, I'm posting this here.

I wrote this for my amazing friend Mazz/vviolentprince on tumblr. She wanted an AU/doomed timeline where everyone died, Erisol, and Sollux making the first move.

So I tried my best to deliver.

She liked it too, if you were wondering. I am so happy kesdfkjsuj;

Anyways, this is an AU/doomed timeline where everyone dies in an unknown explosion and then are in dream bubbles. This is before anyone kills anyone, but a bit after Eridan gets his wand from Kanaya.

Also, I have a headcanon where people on doomed timelines can develop different feelings/relationships with each other different from ones on the winning timeline so I tried my best to include that HC here.

This was also posted on my side blog on tumblr: .com

Enjoy! ))

It started with a nice, healthy kismessistude.

You both hated each other – that was for sure. He lived to provoke you, and you lived to make him shut up. Every other day – fighting. You could tell everyone was fucking fed up with you and him, but neither of you cared.

It was the middle of one of your infamous fights with him, when he suddenly stopped. You took this chance, slamming a fist into his face. He stumbled back, but still didn't fight back. His eyebrows furrowed, and he wiped the blood from his chin as he slowly stood.

"Something's wrong," he whispered, his purple-tinted eyes darting around suddenly.

"Yeah, it's this fight. You're usually weak, Ampora, but this is just embarrassing," you hissed, swinging again as you stepped forwards. He ducked and stumbled back, and you repeated your previous action. Pretty soon you two were doing a dangerous waltz around the lab you were currently in, him yelling at you to stop.

"Sol – Sol – Sol – Sol. I'm serious. Something. Is. Wrong. An' if you don't fuckin' stop, I have a nagging feelin' it'll just get worse," he finally yelled, and the level of his voice made you stumble a bit when you moved again.

"Stop overreacting. You're probably just scared I'll knock you out again," you replied, your voice heavy with annoyance. Thoughts of swinging again ran through your mind, but you couldn't help but feel a bit… unnerved. Your opponent's voice was urgent, almost. Scared.

Suddenly, a glass tube that was sitting on a desk nearby started rattling, and the two of you turned to glance at it as it clattered to the ground.

"What the…" You started to move towards the shattered pieces on the ground, when someone burst into the room. You promptly turned to the familiar face of your best friend. You were about to speak, but your words were caught in your throat as you noticed tears on his face, scratches over his body, a large rip on the sign on his shirt.

"We fucked up," Karkat yelled, his voice cracking. "Oh, God, we fucked up so bad."

Your thoughts snap back to reality as your previously stated best friend yells at you, his white eyes narrowing dangerously.

"As I was saying," he seethes, crossing his arms as he leans forwards. "I'm getting real pissed off about all of these other doomed us's dying off and interrupting our fucking dream bubbles. God, these things are annoying. They have their own bubbles, don't they? Why do those ass-licking douchebags have to jump into ours? I thought that past and future me were fucking annoying little shits but fuck, the other doomed timeline me's are so whiny-"

"KK, they're you. They're exactly you. You're them. You're the same people. So unless you're calling yourself whiny-"

"But I am! I'm a whiny little bitch, boo-hoo, I fucking died. Get over it."

"Listen, as much as I'd like to stay here and listen to you call yourself a whiny bitch – because, trust me, I totally would, it's the most entertaining thing ever, and it's not like I could be doing something more productive or anything – I have some business to attend to," you interrupt, holding your hands up.

Karkat groans, running a hand through his untamed hair. "What the fuck is up with you lately? All you want to do is hang out with him. Not even your best fucking friend, it's just – all him. Ever since the explosions, ever since we all died, it's like he's suddenly your life. And you don't even have one."

You purse your lips, crossing your arms tightly over your chest. "He isn't my life, thank you. Or my death. Or my anything. Except my kismesis," you mumble, trying to hide the untruthfulness in your voice, before promptly turning around and stomping off.

You run into him a few minutes later – quite literally. He glances up at you and growls lowly in his throat, clutching the wand Kanaya made for him tightly.

"Oh, it's you. I was hopin' I'd run into someone who could actually fucking pay attention to where they were walkin', but, oh wait – I wouldn't run into them if they were doing just fuckin' that," he hissed, narrowing his blank eyes behind his stupid hipster frames.

You're tired. You're tired, you're kind of angry, and, frankly, not in the mood for a fight.

But you still are glad to see him. You are glad to see him, but you don't want to fight. Or even argue. You just want to be around him.

You'd never admit it out loud, but Karkat is right – ever since everyone died you found yourself starting to want to be around him. You want to be around him, but not in a… black manor. At least not all the time. You just want to be in his presence. Hear his stupid accented voice, see his stupid face.

But maybe, you think, neither of those things are really all that, well, stupid.

"Listen, ED, I'm not in the mood to argue. Or fight," you groan, lifting a hand up under your glasses to rub one of your empty eyes.

His expression drops. Softens, even. "Oh. Well. Then I guess I'll be on my way," he says slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, that's fine. I mean, like, why can't we just talk? Do we always have to hate each other?" you question awkwardly, leaning your head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"…Well, we do hate each other, don't we? We may as well act it."

This is where you become conflicted. Part of you hates him – hates his voice, his features, his clothes, his personality. But another part of you is fond of him – fond of his voice, his features, his clothes, his personality. You're conflicted, and you wish you could explain this to someone, but you don't know how, and you don't know who would understand.

Well, you do. Equius would, you guess, since he and Aradia were in both a black and a red relationship when they still were in each other's quadrants. But, frankly, you don't talk to him all that often and you think it would be weird to just walk up to him and ask him for advice.

So, here you are, left all alone to deal with this stupid fucking love-hate problem all by yourself.

"…Yeah, we do. But we're still friends, kind of. Aren't we?"

Eridan furrows his eyebrows, giving you a confused expression. You decide that that look is absolutely adorable.

Wait, no you don't.

Or, maybe you do.

No, you definitely do not.

…Maybe just a little bit.

"I… suppose," he replies, his voice still slow, careful.

You two stand there in silence for what seems like forever, but was probably only a few minutes. Finally, he breaks the fragile piece of glass that was the quietness.

"I actually needed to talk to you about somethin'," the sea dweller croaked, his voice sounding strained.

You raise an eyebrow, your curiosity at its peak.

"Well, you see, I know that we are in a steady black relationship at the moment, and that's great and I guess I'm pretty thankful for that. Or, well, I am thankful. And you're a great kismesis an' shit and don't take this as me sayin' I don't hate you because I think part 'a me still hates your stupid low blood guts, but… well, after havin' a conversation with Kan and Kar about it, I've come to the conclusion, that –"

You've come to the conclusion that he talks too much.

Quickly, before he can utter another word, you lean forwards and capture his chapped lips in a gentle kiss, contrary to the normal tough, rough, bleeding kisses you're used to giving him.

You feel him tense up, and all you can think is, shit, please tell me this is what he meant, and he didn't want to break up or anything, because that would be really awkward.

But after a moment Eridan presses back, tilting his head ever so slightly.

You finally pull away a minute or so later, your lips leaving his slowly. He blinks up at you, and you blink down at him, your dead eyes locked in a gaze that holds no emotion.

Finally, he speaks.

"I've come to the conclusion that while I hate you, I also… really, really like you, you stupid idiot. I like your stupid voice, your stupid facial features, your stupid horrible clothing choices, your stupid, annoyin' personality," he mumbles, looking away after he speaks, breaking the gaze.

You snicker, your lips forming a smirk. "I knew all along," you declare, crossing your arms.

He plants his hands on his hips, swiveling his head to look back up at you. He narrows his eyes, and purses his lips. "You did not, you fuckin' liar."

A small chuckle escapes your throat and you bring your hand up, ruffling that dumb purple streak that he insists is natural.

"No. I totally knew."

And when those dark lips of his finally twitch up into some kind of minuscule, crooked smile, you conclude that, even if the Sollux from the winning timeline doesn't feel this way about his Eridan, you don't really care.

Because this is your doomed 'line, and you'll enjoy it, even if you're dead.

And, you also conclude, that you hate your Eridan.

You hate him so much, you love him.