EriSol Chapter 2
The rest of the day passes so slowly after that, and I find it harder and harder to keep my falsetto cool. At lunch, I sit at my group's usual table, and pull out my tuna sandwich quietly. I eat in silence, the rest of the group not yet there, when Karkat storms to the table, followed by Terezi, Dave, John and Jade. Jade smiles at me and her green eyes sparkle behind her round glasses.
"Hello Eridan!" She chimes, her happiness towards me genuine, making me smile a little, a nice break from the negative emotions of earlier that day.
"Hey Jade." I say quietly, a small smile still tugging at my lips, and Karkat grumbles as he sets his tray down heavily on the table.
"So I see you're in a better mood." He says grumpily, but past his moody exterior I still see the hurt and worry of before. My smile disappears as quickly as it appeared, and I rub the back of my neck, sighing.
"I'm really sorry, Karkat...I w-was just havin' a bad mornin' and I ended up takin' it out on you..." I sigh, running a hand through my hair. His expression softens a little, but still remaining grumpy and moody, and he nods slightly, turning to his pizza, grumbling something about me being an insufferable prick.
Everyone settles in their seats, and Terezi scoots in next to me, bumping into me slightly, but chuckling it off. She adjusts her red glasses and stares ahead, not looking at anything due to her blindness, although finding no trouble in eating her chicken noodle soup. Dave and John never leaving each other's side, sit close together, as one of the only openly gay couples in the school. And I knew exactly how hard it was for them to sit there smiling, when I was witness to some of the worst homophobia I have ever seen, targeted at the two obviously madly in love boys. The thought always gave me an edgy, unsettling feeling in my stomach.
"Hi Eridan." John says quietly, smiling sheepishly, his buckteeth showing slightly, his bright blue eyes cheery. Dave just smiles lightly, nodding his head in my direction, before turning to his food. We all eat quietly, until out of the corner of my eye, I see Sollux walking with another guy from class, and I feel my temper flare up again. Karkat sees my face change, and looks where I am, and his eyebrows raise in confusion. Sollux is laughing at something the other guy says, when he catches me looking at him, and his face falls a little, before the other guy looks over and snickers. As they pass by our table, the other student whispers in his ear loud enough for me to hear.
"Don't talk to them, they're freaks for being friends with the prince." He says, looking me dead in the eye as he says it. I clench my fists and start to shake with rage, but Karkat grabs my arm and starts dragging me away from the table, when I hear Sollux pipe up after the kid.
"I'm athtounded that he even hath any, they probably only hang out with him out of pity." He laughs, and I lose it. I yank away from Karkat and charge him, pure fury on my mind as I slam him hard in the jaw with my fist. He stumbles back, and the other kid starts to step forward, but Sollux grabs him and throws him back, charging at me, nailing me right in the side with a painful strength I wasn't expecting. Karkat cries out, but the other kid and his friends hold mine back from coming to my rescue, Karkat flinging horrible insults like no tomorrow. I don't even lift a finger as he pounds me, hit after hit flying, my nose cracking, my lip tearing, blood pouring from my face. I cough, spewing blood on his face from the blood pouring down the back of my throat from what I knew was a horrible break in my nose, my mouth filled with salty, copper tasting blood. He doesn't even flinch. He doesn't even stop his pummeling. His fury is terrifying, that he could go from cool and nonchalant, to terrifyingly ruthless. There are tears and blood pouring from my face, dripping to my shirt. I look at him, and he stops when he sees tears streaming down my face. His face is shocked, and I immediately see the rage slip from his face, replaced with a fearful look, a look of guilt I never would have expected to see from somebody who just beat me so horribly. He stands, and looks around, the crowd that formed staring in utter disbelief. Karkat storms over, dropping to his knees, slinging my arm over his shoulder, and helping me to my feet, his face red with disbelief and outrage, his diarrhea of the mouth never slowing.
"WHAT THE BLOODY FUCKING HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU PSYCHOTIC WASTE OF SPACE?! LOOK AT THE GUY, HE'S BLEEDING FROM EVERYWHERE, COVERED AND BLOOD, AND YOU DECIDED TO FUCKING GO ON?! I HOPE YOU DIE IN THE DEEPEST PITS OF HELL YOU MURDEROUS ASSHOLE!" Karkat screams, holding me up, as I struggle to stay conscious from the pounding in my head. I cough, and wipe my mouth, swallowing down some of the blood, looking straight into Sollux's shaded eyes. I grimace against the pain in my already swelling face, as I struggle to speak.
"How-w does it feel, pretty boy? How-w does it feel beatin' me up for defendin' my friends? Because you can pick on me as much as you w-want. But I w-won't let you do that to my friends." I hiss in his face, tears of rage running down my cheeks. He backs away, looking down at his bloody hands, and back up at me, but I'm not done. I burst from Karkat's grip, getting up in Sollux's face, staring him down menacingly.
"I'm not done w-with you, fucker. You can call me all the names you w-want, you can throw-w ev-very insult at me you w-want, but you w-will NOT bring my friends into this. And you w-want to know-w somethin'? You're right about ev-very single mother-fuckin' bad thing you say about me. But it doesn't mean I hav-ve to take any of it from you." I shout, voice rising, my words dripping with venom, and I look at all of the shocked faces in the crowd around us.
"And that goes for all of you too." I say to them, and they nod understandingly. Suddenly, we're interrupted by the lunch lady, who grabs us by the arm, yelling at us questions, like what happened, but I don't feel like answering, and she directs us to the health room. I look at Sollux, and my anger immediately fades as I see the tears flowing from beneath his shades, his head bowed and his lip quivering slightly, when there are no students around to see. Before we make it to the health room, though, he wipes his eyes, bringing his head back up, with a look of pure regret and sadness. The lady tosses us in, and sighs loudly.
"Nepeta, since you're the assistant and the nurse is out, will you take care of these boys and send them to the principal's office afterwards?" She says, as a shorter dark haired girl with olive green eyes and a blue ASPCA shirt turns to look at us. She smiles innocently and nods her head, putting the broom she had been using up. Oh great. The girl from Health class that always talks in cat puns, and loves coupling up random people in the school she thinks would look cute together.
"Pawf course! I'll have these ruffians fixed up in no time!" The girl giggles, winking at us. I sit on one of the beds, and the pain hits me, and I fall back with soreness, groaning. Sollux is holding his jaw, and he sits down on the other bed, his eyes trained on the ground. Sollux geta up and washes the blood from his hands, as Nepeta takes an icepack out of the freezer, wraps it in a paper towel, before handing it to Sollux. He nods and smiles, mouthing a "thank you" before placing it on his jaw, wincing a little. As he sits back down. She grabs a washcloth, and some alcohol swabs, and she wipes the blood from my face, cleaning my busted lip, and giving me a glass of water to rinse my mouth out with. Then, she turns back to me, examining my nose, and her brows furrow as she looks at my crooked and deformed nose.
"Well, it's meowst likely broken, your nose, but I can try my best to set it fur you." She offers, and I close my eyes and sigh.
"Okay, but make it quick please..." I grumble, and she gets to work. After a lot of sweating and possibly more tears, she wraps my nose, after setting it wonderfully. She gives me an icepack to hold against my face, and she looks at the bruise on my stomach, determining it isn't that bad. She shoos us out the door, and we walk quietly. Before we reach the office, he clears his throat, and I turn to look at him. He rubs his neck and looks at the ground.
"I jutht wanted to thay, that it wath really brave of you to thtick up for yourthelf and your friendth...and I'm thorry for acting that way towardth you..." He says, not even trying to avoid his strong lisp. Before I could say anything, he turns away, opening the door to the office, and his comment makes me want to punch him in the face again, just because I can. I sat with my mouth open like an idiot for a few seconds, before I closed the door, striding into the office with my head down. We sat in the plush seats of the principal's office, while Mr. Scratch, our school principle, finished typing what he was doing on his computer. He finished, and he turned away from the screen to face us. He ran a hand through his graying hair, and he looked at us expectedly. After asking for our names and grades, he begins the questioning.
"Alright, I want you guys to tell me what happened, and why you both look like crap." He said bluntly, folding his hands on his desk. Before I could even say anything, Sollux spoke up, and once again he left me speechless with my mouth open, looking like a dork.
"It was my fault. I came at him and he was just defending himself." He says, his voice cracking ever so slightly, and I turn away to look at the principle in shock. The principle twiddles his thumbs and looks at me.
"Is this true, Eridan?" He says, and I'm at a loss for words. I feel my face grow warm from embarrassment, and I stutter nervously.
"W-well, um, I guess...I mean I w-was, um..." I mumble, looking away. The principle laughs, shaking his head, and starts writing something down.
"I'll have to send you guys home today, but seeing as this is your first day, Sollux, I'll let you both off with a warning." He chuckles, handing us both slips to be signed by our parents. I speak up then, my facade slipping a bit, and I look up at the principle sadly.
"Um, Mr. Scratch...My parents aren't home today, and won't be for the next couple of weeks." I say shyly, and his eyebrows rise slightly in surprise.
"Screw it, then. I'm too busy of a man to deal with high school skirmishes. You both look sorry enough, just don't tell anybody I didn't give you a slip. Now go home and think about what you've done, yadda yadda and et cetera. And Sollux, I know Eridan here rides the bus and is home alone, so be kind and drive him home will you? And Eridan, make sure you get your nose checked out. Looks broken." Principle Scratch says, waving us out the door and turning back to his computer. We rise and walk out silently, and we exit the office, right as Karkat is walking up, holding both of our backpacks. He looks annoyed.
"Teacher said I had to bring your stuff, so here's your fucking stuff, assholes." he grumbles, tossing our stuff down at our feet, before stalking off with his hands in his hoodie pockets. I pick up my stuff, my sore body straining. Sollux looks at me with a troubled look on his face, before speaking up.
"Tho I gueth you're ready to go?" He says quietly, avoiding my eyes. I nod and we begin walking, the halls empty and silent except for our footsteps. We exit the building, walking quickly through the cold air, and we reach his beat up looking pick-up truck. I awkwardly slide into the passenger seat, and he starts the car, pulling out of the parking lot. He doesn't ask where I live, and I'm about to point that out when he speaks up.
"I'm taking you to the hothpital to get your nothe checked out. No way am I thending you home unthupervithed with a broken nothe." He says gruffly, never taking his eyes off the road, and I nod my head silently, the whole rest of the ride silent except for the rattling of his car. When we arrive at the hospital, we pull up to the urgent care section, and he opens the door, walking me inside. They take my name and personal information, and we sit in the waiting area. He sits in the seat next to mine, and as he sits, I catch a whiff of something sweet, like honey, and I think how nice of a smell that is, but how strange coming from a guy. I'm about to go in for another whiff out of instinct, but I freeze, and I have to restrain from facepalming right then and there at the strange action.
We sit awkwardly until my name is called, and I'm escorted into the checkup room by the kind nurse, leaving Sollux in the waiting room, where he's just picking up a magazine, as the door swings shut. They ask to weigh me, and I remove my shoes and coat, leaving my scarf on, but the nurse insists I take it off. Hesitantly, I unwrap the scarf from around my neck, and I look at the nurse from the corner of my eye. She casts a flitting look at the exposed scars, a sad look hitting her eyes, but she then ignores it, starting up the scale. She measures my height and takes my blood pressure, checking my eyes and the such, before I'm escorted to another small room with a paper lined bed, to wait for the doctor. The wait is short, before there's a knock at the door.
"May I come in?" A gentle voice calls from outside the door, and I mumble a "come in", before a tall elegant lady walks in with short brown hair and black lipstick, a motherly attitude about her. She smiles warmly, before extending her hand.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Dolorosa, it is nice to meet you." She says with a soft and kind voice, and her hands are just as soft and warm. She speaks in a very eloquent and precise manner, enunciating each word carefully, reminding me of a close friend.
"Aren't you Kanaya's mom?" I say, and she laughs warmly. I wonder why her last name is different than Kanaya's?
"That is me. If you are wondering why the name difference, it is my maiden name. I prefer that one since the divorce." She says, noticing my slightly confused look. I nod politely, and she smiles again, before continuing.
"So, Mr. Ampora. What seems to be the cause of your possibly broken nose?" She asks carefully, and I notice that not once has she looked at my neck. I sigh and run a hand through my hair, an action that has become a habit of mine from stress.
"I got in a fight..." I say quietly, and she nods knowingly.
"Well, I will just have a look here." She says, smiling gently while pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. She gently peels away the tape and gauze, throwing it away, and I wince at the throbbing pain. She turns my head this way and that, and she nods.
"It would most certainly seem it is broken, but whomever set it afterwards has very sturdy hands and seems to have done a remarkable job. Let's go ahead and take an X-Ray just to see." She decides, leading me out the door.
After a little preparation I get the x-ray, and we examine the film afterwards, finding that the set was perfect, and the fracture was clean. After re-wrapping it and securing my nose, she sets me back on the bed, and looks knowingly at me.
"Eridan, may I take a look at your wrist?" She says quietly, and her motherly nature and tender gaze pull at my heartstrings. I swallow shakily, and gently pull my sleeve up, and she removes the wrappings gingerly, examining the cuts. Her eyes grow sad as she looks at them, and my eyes start brimming with tears. She takes a cotton swab and some cleaner and begins lightly dabbing at them, and I wince at the sting. She properly seals them with butterfly bandages, before wrapping me with clean gauze.
"I know these are new. I will not inquire as to why, but know that it makes me sad seeing them, Eridan. I hope you find happiness soon." She whispers, and I break down, dropping my head in my hands at the affection in her voice I've been lacking for so long, and she pulls me into a warm, motherly hug. It was so sudden, I can't imagine why anybody would want to show me kindness, and after the day I've had today, I just let it happen. We sit like that, her holding me tightly, until my sobbing subsides and she releases me. She looks at me sadly, and smiles, squeezing my shoulder. After wiping my eyes with a tissue and putting my shoes and coat and scarf back on, she walks me out the door and waves goodbye before going back to work. I step into the waiting room, and walk to the front desk to pay. The secretary types up everything, and is just about to read the price, when the phone rings. She picks it up, and nods a couple times, before smiling and saying, "Of course Dr." and hanging up. She smiles at me, and winks.
"Never mind, your bill has been paid. Have a nice day." She says sweetly, and I nod and say my thank you's, before going to find Sollux. I walk to the seat to find him out cold, snoring lightly, his arms crossed in front of him. I jostle his shoulder and he sits up abruptly, looking around dazed and confused before turning to me.
"All thet to go?" He says, smiling lightly, and I nod my head, before he stands and we walk out back to the car. God, he was so bipolar. It was driving me insane, but I had to admit this other side to him was enjoyable, and eased the awkwardness for at least a little bit.
"So where do you live, Ampora?" He says, oddly calling me by my last name.
"413 NE Prospit Dr." I say, clearing my throat, as he pulls out his smartphone, inputting it into his GPS. We drive in silence again all the way to my house, where he pulls up in front of my driveway. I sit for a second, before turning to him and looking him in the eyes.
"Thanks for the ride...and for takin' me to the doctors..." I mumble, before sliding out the door. Before I can get out, he grabs my injured wrist and I wince, pulling back from his touch. His eyes widen in guilt, and he let's go immediately.
"I'm thorry, I didn't mean to hurt you...I wath jutht wondering, would it be alright if I could have your number to textht you? I'm not good at talking in perthon..." He says shyly, turning away from my gaze. I nod quizzically, but I oblige, and pull a pen from my pocket, before grabbing hold of his hand and scribbling it down in purple ink on his palm. He nods and turns back to the wheel, and I step out of the car.
"Bye." I say quietly, and he nods in response.
"Bye." He whispers, and I shut the door, walking briskly up my driveway, before unlocking the door, hearing his car rattle away when I finally get inside. I make soup for my dinner, before heading upstairs, changing out of my clothes, and relaxing on my bed with my laptop, watching Netflix all night until I finally fall asleep, thinking about the strange new boy, Sollux Captor.
