It all started with that stupid god damn horse in the middle of his right forearm one morning in Grade Nine, Sollux remembered that day perfectly. It sort of felt like if you pricked yourself with the thorn of a rose and next thing he knew... there was a small horse on his arm that wouldn't come off. The natural thing he did was demand an answer in the so-very-nicely way he ever would and was only told that it was only the tattoo of his soulmate. Seriously, what the fuck was a soulmate? The thought that some poor soul would love his sorry ass was something to laugh at.
Though the years, the tattoo didn't look half bad. His brother told him how colorful it was just to piss him off, and that was the fateful day he got into college, flipped his brother the bird as well as a few choice words in a few different languages before driving off with his things in his truck. Finally he was free. Okay, well, sort of free. He still had to put up with whoever he'd be sharing a room with for a few years to come.
Once Sollux pulled up to the place he was supposed to be at, he discovered he was actually late. Well, the area was fairly empty anyways, so that gave him a better time to be in peace as he could get through the place... and then he realized that meant his roommate was probably already moved in. Great, how was he going to plug in his gaming consoles in peace now? With a groan, Sollux slowly got out of his truck and took out his boxes and suitcase to put onto a trolley. Step one was done, how about we just skip over the boring process of listening to the lady at the front desk and how slow she was to grab his key, tell him the room number, and the name of his roommate... what kind of a name even was 'Equius Zahhak'?... and he made his way to the elevator.
Skipping ahead a bit more to go over his struggles with his suitcase and trolley to now him being in front of the door. With enough politeness, Sollux knocked at the door in case this 'Equius' was decent. "Hello? Uh, Equiuth? I jutht want to be thure that nothing crazy'th going on in the room before I can come in and make mythelf comfortable and would rather not walk in on any thexual activitieth that could happen in a room in college." Sollux said loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door could hear him before he'd put the key in the lock, preparing to unlock it with permission.
Equius remembered the day the start of his tattoo formed in the middle of his arm. It all started off with a small bee and just escalated from there. The Zahhak had to admit he rather liked the design that continued to form across his skin. He always found himself looking back at the tattoo to try and see what he could work out.
When he wasn't working out what his tattoo meant or writing down notes on it, Equius had been busy moving himself into his new place of residence. The Zahhak had gotten there early so he could sort things out as soon as possible. The few potted plants he'd brought were set up on a cupboard in the room, the latest of his robotics project was sat on his desk ready to be worked on and his notepad containing all the notes and preliminary sketches for both new robotics and circuitry designs as well as a few of the tattoo he had.
Everything was going pretty well as he busied himself with building a small side table to sit beside his bed before he had to pause upon hearing a knock to the door. "You may as well come in. I'm only constructing the table I purchased for the room. Nothing even remotely lewd is going on in here." Equius always did speak very formally and now was no different.
Sollux nodded to himself and let out a soft sigh of relief before unlocking the door, using his hip to open it properly as he wheeled in the trolley with his boxes to have it stay clear out of the way of Equius as he worked to just let the trolley sit by the TV, going back to close the door by simply nudging it shut with his foot. Yeah, he wasn't up for closing the door with his hand, apparently. Even though he was perfectly capable of closing it by himself as done a few minutes ago. And that he was probably going to set up all his gaming consoles first to occupy himself if he wasn't busy.
Adjusting the sleeve on his arm, he glanced over at his roommate and muttered something before going over to him. "Thhould introduce ourthelveth though, I guethth... I'm Thollux and if you can manage to hear patht my lithp... then congratulationth, you earned a gold thtar." He started off and held out a hand for a mostly proper handshake despite his personal dislike of them. Well, as long as the guy wasn't a hugger like the guy he almost had ended up with... they'll get along just fine.
"And to think I thought tableth and thhit came with the place. And do you mind me hooking up my gaming contholeth to the TV? I'm not athking for help, jutht mothtly permiththion to do tho." He shrugged and looked at his three gaming console boxes, then to the TV to try and figure out how many of them he'd be able to set up anyways. Knowing Sollux, he'd find a way to make it all work.
He shook the other's hand before going back to building the small table. "Equius. It's a pleasure I suppose. Go ahead and connect up the various consoles if you want. I know I probably won't be using the television, I'll be busy with other things I suspect. As for the table most things were provided but I thought having a little extra furniture would be good."
After a while he finished off the table and moved it into place beside his bed, making sure every last thing was neat and tidy. "I suppose you're the one I'll be sharing this room with. I'm not going to lie but you're not exactly who I was expecting to arrive." Along with his formal attitude sometimes the Zahhak could be a little blunt. It wasn't his fault really, it was just how he tended to be for the most part.
He ended up sat on his bed and working away on the half finished robotics project before his phone...meowed. A quick look to the screen told him his best friend had texted him, asking if he'd settled in alright.
He just let out a snort and muttered something under his breath in a different language. Possibly Russian, one of the many languages he's learned over the years despite not knowing anyone who was Russian. He just had a side attraction to different languages. Even knew sign and binary. But binary would only really be used if he wanted to pass notes to his friend or something along those lines.
"Like meeting me would ever be a pleathure. But yeah, pleathure to meet you too I guethth. And yeth, I will be the one thharing a room with you." Sollux shrugged and went to start fiddling with the TV and his consoles, easily hooking them all up with the exception of the Wii, but he could do without it and could easily just replace the PS4 with it if he so wanted to. "But who did you expect to thhare a room with? A perthon who'th not a nerd?" Sollux chuckled, going between wires and screws as he set up everything.
Once that was done, he turned on the TV and switched between inputs to make sure they all worked properly. And they did, just as he expected. After all, he was known to be a technie genius. The instant he turned off the TV again, a buzzing came from his pocket. Very likely to be a text from... yep, his best asshole of a friend asking if his roommate was as much a douchebag as his was. Luckily for him, he was the lucky one not dealing with loud music and he only ended up with a guy who built stuff. "Your phone jutht meow?" Sollux asked after a moment with a smirk, getting off the floor with a stretch.
Equius perked up when he heard the Russian. With his father being able to speak the language, he was somewhat familiar with a few of the words and phrases used. "Well I don't know who specifically I was expecting but I don't think you would fulfill the quota. Though don't get me wrong, I shall be giving you a chance at least obviously. And yes, my phone did just meow. A very close friend of mine set it as the tune that plays whenever she texts me. It's very fitting really considering the bright blue cat hat she's always wearing."
He placed his robotics down a moment to start answering the message. Things were going rather well to say the least. He'd met his roommate and made himself at home in his new room. Once the text had been answered the Zahhak turned back to his robotics, occasionally making a note or two in his notebook.
Sollux just raised an eyebrow. "That'th tho thweet, giving little old me a chance at the leatht. Jutht tho nice. Thuch a gentleman." He chuckled before dragging yet another box off the trolley to drag near his bed with a few grunts. Fuck, why'd he bring his mini fridge? Oh yeah, paranoia over if his roommate would take anything out of it. In other words, steal his energy drinks or other sugary drinks. The essentials to keep himself awake at night. Bad for him? Yes. Good way to stay up hours on end for projects? Absolutely.
Once that was done, Sollux rubbed at his back a little to help ease that bit of pain it put on his back. And that was followed by moving his laptop to his given side table , placing it down like it was the most precious item he's ever owned. Which it was, in a sense. Now the trolley's empty, he wheeled it back out to the hallway before going back to setting up his books. Though decided to leave his clothes in the bag so he could just flop backwards onto his bed.
"Fuck, thith ith tho much more comfortable than anything elthe right now." Sollux grumbled, taking a few deep breaths, sitting up long enough to toss off his jacket to go back to just staring at the so-called 'soulmate tattoo' on his arm. Damn, if he could see colors a little better, this might be so much easier.
Equius continued to work away on his project, giving a nod as he listened to what the other had to say. After a while he glanced over, catching a glimpse of the other's tattoo. "You're right...and I must say the tattoo for your soulmate is particularly intricate. If it's not too forwards of me to say could I possibly take a look at it? In return you could perhaps look at mine or something." Towards the end of his sentence he got a little quieter, that was because he wasn't sure if his words were coming over too strongly. The last thing he wanted to do was scare off his new roommate already. That really would be a bad move to say the least. Equius wanted to make a good impression on this Captor or at least try to anyway.
Sollux just raised an eyebrow at Equius' question about looking at his soulmate tattoo and took a moment to think. Well, it wasn't as if he was going to ask what colors there were, right? Yeah. "Yeah, it'th pretty cool. Too complicated to really make out though... Oh my god, doeth thith mean I have to actually thtand up again tho thoon? Fucking damn it..." He grumbled before slowly sitting up with yet another stretch to pop his back. He did that too often, not his fault that he was stubborn when it came to carrying his own heavy things.
That being said, Sollux got up and walked over to Equius and sat in a chair. "I feel like we're looking at each other'th Dark Markth..." If he caught the Harry Potter reference, they'd get along really well.
Equius definitely caught the reference as he moved his jacket sleeve out of the way to show the entirety of his own soulmate tattoo whilst also reaching over to shut the notebook he was writing in, the page it'd been open at showed a rather good sketch of the design Equius had with all the bees, honeycomb, binary and such.. He had to admit complex designs were always something that appealed to him so seeing such a lovely design for Sollux's tattoo made him give a little smile. "It certainly is, although with this tattoo you can't exactly call death eaters with a wand touch. I have to say though I think I prefer the design to the Dark Mark, there's more to it and far more to analyse and more to look at. Especially with the complex design of yours. I'd say whomever your soulmate is, they may have an eye for detail. Although that is a guess, of course I don't know for sure."
Sollux simply hummed and nodded as he leaned in a bit to examine the tattoo on Equius' arm, looking mostly at the binary code for the moment. After a few seconds, he let out a soft chuckle. "Fuck, I wath tho hoping to thummon a Death Eater, you have dathhed my dreamth." He joked with a fake pout to boot before going back to his more serious self, letting out a snort. "Well, whoever thith ith could definitely thpeak binary very well. Unlethth they jutht enjoy the numberth one and zero at a random order. And the bee... hm... either they like beeth or alwayth buthy. You know that thaying 'buthy like a bee'." Okay, shit, he was starting to take random guesses as to who his soulmate was. Fuck no, couldn't be him. "Quethtion. Ith your tattoo in black and white or doeth it have color?"
He answered honestly, since he didn't see the point in lying to someone he'd just met. "Black and white. I find it rather different to what I've seen around with other people. Everyone else always seems to have a splash of color here and there. Like for example, yours has plenty of blue and grey tones. Mine is completely void of all color apart from black and white. I suspect that may mean something about who my soulmate is. Perhaps they're color blind or something. It'd certainly make sense to say the least. I also think they probably enjoy some form of gaming too with the small space invaders around the edges here. Though again both of those are just guesses."
He nodded slowly and clucked his tongue, making a face at one part of Equius' tattoo where it had a needle. "Yeah. The reathon I athked wath becauthe I could only thee it all in black and white. Though the lack of color could be thaying that they enjoy black and white movieth." He said with a small chuckle, smiling a bit as he saw a few other familiar things. "Ah, thpace invaderth. Clahthic game... I think my thoulmate liketh to build thtuff with the thteel and thcrewth and printth for a robot. I thought we'd get along well becauthe I could code all thortth of thingth with their robot or whatever elthe they're building." He hummed and adjusted his glasses, starting to move a hand towards his arm. "Can I take a bit of a clother look? Jutht wanna feel if there'th any thort of braille there too. If tho, well, they really do know every fucking language in the world and have too much time on their handth."
Equius offered up his arm with a nod so the other could really get a good look at it. "Go right ahead. You know I wouldn't say whoever this person is would have too much time on their hands for learning all those languages. Really it's rather impressive. I've only ever picked up a few Russian words and a little French from my father and best friend respectively. Both have attempted to teach me more but on both occasions I've not done very well. I'd rather focus on the work I have to do." Since he was finished working away with both the robot he had and putting the table together he reached up and pulled his hair down from the pony tail he'd put it in earlier before he started to work.
Sollux nodded and took his arm to examine it a little further, moving his fingers up the arm a moment before chuckling and nodded slowly. "Braille in the honeycombth. That'th cute..." He muttered, nodding a little. Looking up when Equius let his hair down, literally, he raised an eyebrow. "That'th a lot of hair. You look almotht like a horthe donated it'th mane to you." Sollux said, gesturing to the horse on his own arm.
The comparison to a horse just made him chuckle before he nudged his shades up his nose a little more. "Well I suppose that is one way to put things. Oddly enough a horse is one of my favorite animals if it makes any difference." He shrugged. "As for my hair, I just prefer it longer. I feel it suits me a bit better than having short hair like some of my friends." With his free hand, the Zahhak reached up to run a hand through his hair to move it out of his face a bit better.
"Yeah, well, beeth are probably my own favorite creatureth. Then again, that could jutht be becauthe I grew up on a bee farm. The horthe on my arm ith thtarting to make thenthe now, actually. I alwayth thought that it meant my thoulmate wath grounded to the earth, having looked up what a horthe could reprethent becauthe, jutht liking the horthe ath an animal in general. I really look into thingth too much thometimeth. Although a horthe ith a thymbol in the Chinethe zodiac that equatth with Gemini, and representth practicality, love, endurance, devotion and thtability... I am a complete nerd, I apologize." He chuckled and watched the other attempt to move his hair out of his face. "About your hair length... I can't picture you with thhort hair anywayth. Longer hair lookth better on you."
"Oh don't worry about being a nerd. I actually rather like that. It shows that you've put some effort into deciphering what the tattoo could mean. I did that with mine...I've actually made quite a few notes and sketches and such in my notebook since I prefer to keep everything ordered like that. Then again I do just enjoy trying to work things out and discovering something new. Like for example I've noticed that sitting beside the horse on your tattoo is also a rat which is equal to the Sagittarius zodiac. That could possibly mean something or it could not. Who knows. I just thought it was a little interesting. The only real reason I know is I was looking these things up in an effort to try and decipher my own tattoo. Unfortunately zodiacs and these tattoos aren't so simple."
"Really? You enjoy colorblind nerdth, per chance?" He teased and nodded slowly with a hum, letting go of his arm. "Mind if I take a look? I never wrote down any noteth, I jutht thort of memorized it all and if I do forget about it, I uthually jutht give it another look. A frethh thtart and all, you know? Oh thhit, I never noticed the rat before." His brother had often called him a rat, but he never thought he'd be referring to the rat on his arm.
"Well intelligence certainly is attractive in someone so we'll see." There was some initial hesitation before he offered over his notebook but that was more down to the fact usually people either weren't interested in his notes or Equius felt as if the notebook were too personal to him to just let anyone see it. For some reason he felt as if he could somewhat trust the one before him to not be too judgmental of what he'd wrote.
"Aww, I'm tho flattered." He chuckled before taking the notebook, opening it to a page so he could read it carefully with his one hand, leaving his other hand out just in case Equius wanted to study his arm further. "Hey, you ever notice the roman numeral for the number two? Could mean that there'th two of the thame thoulmate, though that'th highly unlikely, tho maybe they like the number itthelf or poththibly a Gemini." Come to think about it, he was a Gemini. "Why are there tho many thimilaritieth..."
He glanced to his arm upon mention of the roman numeral, as if to just to have a look and confirm it was there before he spoke. "Well I don't know really. It could mean something just like everything else. I have to admit your tattoo seems like something that could probably be used to describe me and even with the rat, that matches my star sign too." Equius had to pause for a moment and note all the similarities in his head a moment before he asked a question, trailing off a little. "You don't think...?" If they were soulmates, they'd be able to tell by a small portion of both their tattoos that, when their arms were placed together, would match up. On most people both soulmates had half a heart.
He just cleared his throat and put the notebook down to rub the back of his neck with a heavy sigh. "If it ith what we think... I'll jutht tell you what the needle there meanth, it meanth I have had a thurgery on my tongue and I have a fear of them from that alone. And... I am altho colorblind. If it'th really... then you know that there'th really only one way to find out, right?" The possible moment of truth? They were also somewhat complete opposites, but sometimes opposites attract or something? Or was that just to do with magnets? Fuck, his brain was scrambled. Half of him wanted to find out, though that was probably from watching his friend's rom-com movies all the time, and the other more sane half didn't want to find out.
There was a short moment of silence before he gave a nod, once again offering up his arm. If they were truly soulmates, the symbol that joined when their arms were together would easily show it. If it turned out they weren't soulmates, Equius didn't really mind. He rather liked Sollux already and would be quite happy just being friends or something simple. "If you want to find out, I'm willing. Although if you'd rather leave it for some time until we've at least gotten to know one another a little better that's also fine. Whichever you feel more comfortable with."
Looking between their tattoos, Sollux gnawed at his bottom lip a moment in thought while he debated the pros and cons of finding out. So far they were getting along, yes, but what would happen if they ended up not getting along because of one of his mood swings? What if he wakes up to him screaming bloody murder if he sleeps and gets one of those extremely realistic nightmares? "I think we thhould leave that for another time. I mean, what if we are thoulmateth and end up not getting along anywayth?" He replied with a shrug.
"Well I don't really know about not getting along. So far I'm really enjoying talking to you and I'd certainly like to perhaps learn a little more about you if you're willing to share anything." Equius decided to move things on somewhat from the tattoos and finding out if they were soulmates or not for now. After all if the other didn't want to find such a thing out right now, why should he force him into it? It wasn't right and it just wasn't in his nature to do anything like that.
"Uh... let'th thee... I obviouthly enjoy video gameth and coding and learning languageth but you probably now know all about that." Sollux started and gestured towards the tattoo on his arm. "I am thtarting to go blind in my blue eye, tho don't be too thurprithed if I have to go to the hothpital every thix monthth or tho. I am altho what you might call an inthomniac and addicted to energy drinks, thus the mini fridge by my bed. If I do thleep and you hear thcreaming in the middle of the night, that'th jutht me having a real bad nightmare which I get often. Oh, and I'm not alwayth tho nice with otherth and might end up biting off your head now and then." There was a light teasing tone in the last bit of his monologue as he began to play with his fingers, leaning back a bit with a sigh. "Tho... what thhould I know about you that I might not know already?" He added, nodding to his own tattoo.
Equius nodded a little to show he was paying attention to all that was being said to him before he spoke. "Well from the tattoo, I'm sure you're already aware of my interest in robotics and engineering. I also attempt to code various programs for my robots but I've not been very good at it so far. Though I am still trying. Another thing I suppose I enjoy doing is tending to the various plants around here that I brought with me. Back where I lived with my elder brother and my father, there was quite the garden I always enjoyed tending to...I suppose I'm rambling a little here. I should probably stop so you don't become bored with listening to what I'm saying."
Sollux nodded as he glance at his tattoo adjusting his glasses a little with a light smile. "Well, I mean, if you ever need help with coding a program or thomething, you can feel free to athk." He shrugged and leaned back, shaking his head. "And you have nothing to worry about when you ramble, my older brother doeth it nonthtop and I am more than uthed to it. And it calmth the voiceth in my head, thuth the thmall thcribbleth on your tattoo." He added, leaning over to trace a finger over the few scribbles that outlined the tattoo.
"I might have to ask for some help. That is if you don't mind assisting me in such a thing of course. I'd hate to be a bother." He soon glanced down to the tattoo and to the small scribbles around the edges. That detail had always confused him since he could never work out quite what it meant. "So that's what that means. That's actually been one of the trickier details I've found. I haven't been able to work it out until now after you mentioned it of course."
"Trutht me, I won't mind helping you in coding. It ith my perthonal duty to the human world to help everyone with codeth... well, if I'm not hacking into the thchool thytemth and getting paid to do so. Fuck, don't tell anyone about that pleathe and thank you and think nothing different of me." He said with an awkward chuckle and jumped slightly when he heard someone knock at the door, quickly darting over to peek through the eye hole before grinning, opening it.
"Hey KK, thankth for bringing me my beanbag chair. I can't believe you took it from me, you dick." He snorted, giving his friend's hair a ruffle before taking his yellow beanbag chair from him. "KK, thith ith Equiuth. Equiuth, thith ith my aththhole of a betht friend Karkat, altho known ath KK becauthe he'th got two K'th in hith name." While introductions were poorly done, his friend came marching in grumbling something under his breath to toss the beanbag chair right in front of the TV. "He'll come in thometimeth to play gameth, but I'll warn you beforehand and athk your permiththion becauthe he'th a thore lother~"
"Fuck you, I am NOT a sore loser, you fucker." Karkat huffed, shooting him a glare before rolling his eyes and going towards Equius, sticking his hand out for a similar handshake. His tattooed arm already had half a heart on it, so that must mean he's already found his soulmate.
"Ath much ath I love you, you know I'm athexual and will not do the deed ath proven by when Ampora..."
"We will not be talking about that because it makes me sick to this day." Karkat snarled.
Equius was pretty much just silent throughout the introduction, just giving a wave before turning to his phone. Once he'd shot over a message to his best friend he had to ask a little question. "Karkat, your last name doesn't happen to be Vantas, does it?" Once he had his answer confirming such a thing he had to just continue. "I knew I'd heard that name somewhere before. Nepeta is a best friend of mine and probably the source of some annoyance with her childish crush on you."
As her best friend, Equius was rather caught up with all these things, including the crush she had, even despite the chance the Vantas might not be her soulmate.
Karkat raised an eyebrow before groaning and rubbed at his face. "Fuck, it's such a small world, isn't it? And yes, I remember her. Unfortunately for her, I've already seemed to have found my soulmate who just so happens to be my own fucking roommate. How shitty's that?"
"Thtrider?"
"His older brother. Dirk." Karkat replied, crossing his arms and glaring at the ground, turning to Equius. "Ask her if she remembers a Sollux Captor. We'd hang out a lot together, especially after Makara moved away and, uh... yeah, enough of that story."
Equius nodded and texted Nepeta. One meow of his phone later and he had his answer. "She says she does remember him...she remembers him as a nerd apparently. Though I wouldn't really say that's a bad thing. I will admit I did mention the fact that you now have your soulmate Vantas and she wishes you the best of luck with things. Apparently she's also found her soulmate too which is rather nice to say the least."
Sollux rolled his eyes. "And that ith really all that I am. A nerd. Thee KK? I told you I wath a nerd... though I thtill prefer the word geek. Being called a nerd hath it'th perkth though. Thuch ath nerdth having their own candy." He chuckled.
"She's found her soulmate? Who is it? Anyone we might know?" Karkat asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hold on just a moment, I'll ask her." After a few moments he had his answer. "Someone by the name of Feferi Peixes. I do believe I know her. Or at least I've met her once or twice. Apparently there was a catfish for their shared tattoo design which is actually rather appropriate for the two of them from what she's said."
"Damn. Bet Ampora'th jealouth ath fuck with that information. I mean, unlethth he doethn't know or already hath a thoulmate. Or maybe hith thoulmate died." Sollux chuckled, Karkat just rolling his eyes.
"That'd be just his luck. Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own shit to make up. I live about two blocks away, stop drooling over the number two, Captor. See you later." Karkat nodded before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him as Sollux flopped onto his beanbag chair.
"I love thethe thingth tho fucking much." Sollux hummed, though it sounded slightly more buzz-like.
Equius only gave a little smirk at Sollux's supposed joke which gave a brief glimpse of where he'd managed to lose a tooth from a fight a few days back. When it came to the beanbag though, he soon spoke up. "You know I've never seen the appeal of those kinds of chairs. It seems like it'd be horribly disadvantageous to one's productivity. I doubt I'd be able to get comfortable in something like that."
Sollux raised an eyebrow. "You've never theen the appeal of them? Ever thit on one of them? They're amazing, ethpecially thith one. Thort of thpecially made for my brother becauthe... okay, getting patht that now. He gave it to me becauthe he didn't really need it anymore and got hith own." He shrugged and pursed his lips a moment. "Why don't you thit with me on the beanbag chair? You jutht don't thee the appeal probably becauthe you've never been in one with thomeone."