At first, Eridan dismissed it as a coincidence, not even sparing Sollux's phone more than a glance. Whoever the other was getting messages from, it was none of his business, even if the timing was odd. He sighed softly, running a hand through his hair and once again returning his attention to his conversation. Of course, it was more one-sided than anything at the moment, but he was sure that TA would answer soon. He almost always did around this time of day.

CA: its not crucial or anything of course

CA: wwe'vve gone this long, so a little longer wwon't hurt

CA: i'vve got a class in a couple minutes, but i'll be able to talk at 3:00 like alwways

Of course, he'd failed to specify that he was the teacher of said class as opposed to a student, but it wasn't all that relevant. TA was most likely a college student, so a little younger than him, but not a dealbreaker. His fifteen minutes of kissing and cuddling with Sollux had almost completely slipped his mind now, and that wasn't exactly accidental. It was a mistake. He didn't know Sollux, and he was his underage student besides. And he'd had feelings for TA for almost a year, with the other seeming to reciprocate them.

While Eridan was mulling those thoughts over, Sollux's phone lit up once again, and vibrated three times. The same number of messages he'd sent to TA. This time his curiosity really was piqued, so he looked over at it, heart nearly stopping when he saw the "CA: i'vve got a class in a couple..."

There was no denying it. Sollux and TA were the same person.

Suddenly feeling a bit nauseous, Eridan closed out of Pesterchum and turned Sollux's phone face down. Out of sight, out of mind. He kept trying to remind himself of that as he went through the motions of teaching the class. Eventually, Sollux would have to know about this. Sooner rather than later, preferably. Things would only turn out even worse if Sollux found out that Eridan had known and not told him. So it would have to be sooner.

When his last class of the day eventually filtered into the room, he saw Sollux smile at him in a slightly different way than usual. It was more knowing, like he was proud of their new pseudo-relationship to some degree. Eridan just smiled back, not sure what else to do.

As he passed back the tests from a few days before, he lingered an extra moment next to Sollux, hoping nobody would notice that their fingers were now loosely intertwined, thanks to Sollux.

"I need to talk to you after class," he mumbled, pulling his hand free and setting the graded test on his desk before continuing on. Sollux nodded, not saying anything in response. Eridan couldn't help glancing at the phone on his desk every few moments, reconsidering the value of disclosing this information.

When everyone else had left, finally, Eridan walked over to Sollux, footsteps echoing quietly on the tile floor.

"You left your phone here this morning," he said, handing it to him. This was his last chance to leave it at that, to avoid the inevitable awkwardness and change.

"Oh, yeah, I was wondering where that went," Sollux replied, promptly unlocking it and opening Pesterchum. Eridan watched as he typed out a reply.

TA: yeah, ii'm free now too

TA: ii forgot where ii left my phone, 2o ii ju2t 2aw your me22age2 now.

TA: when were you thiinkiing? and where, for that matter?

"So is that all you wanted to talk about, or was there something else on your mind?" Sollux looked up from his phone at Eridan, shifting slightly from foot to foot. His indecision about whether or not he should lean in for a kiss was pretty obvious, and Eridan briefly entertained the idea of making the decision for him, but he didn't.

"Yeah, there is something we need to discuss... I'm honestly not sure how to say this, and I've been tryin' to figure it out since I found out this morning, so I guess I'll just..."

He pulled out his own phone, opening his conversation with TA... er, Sollux, for the other to see.

"I had no idea you were so young. If I'd known, I would've stopped things a year ago before they went too far, but now..." He sighed, not sure what else to say.

Sollux was actually shaking a bit when he handed the phone back, completely shocked.

"So you're CA... all this time... You've been one of my best friends. Hell, we might as well have been dating."

"I know. I've had feelings for you for quite awhile now. And before I wound up seein' my own messages on your phone, I was half plannin' on callin' this whole thing off in favor of pursuin' TA, who I thought was a more suitable age. But you're him too, so... I guess we'll just try to make this work, if you want to." He pushed his glasses up a little, hand involuntarily creeping over to grasp Sollux's.

"Yeah, I want to. I pretty much feel the same way. And now we actually do know each other really well, so I know it's worth it." Sollux leaned up just slightly, kissing Eridan to confirm it.

"That must be why you seemed so familiar," he said afterwards, arms still wrapped around the taller man.

"Yeah, I thought you seemed awful familiar too. Must've been similarities in the way you talk or something." The conversation of unnerving familiarity was left at that for the moment.

"I feel like we should celebrate somehow, now that we've met in person and all," Sollux said.

"Yeah, maybe we should. What kind of celebration did you have in mind exactly?" The idea of being able to spend the evening together, reminiscing about old experiences they'd shared in their many conversations online, or just watching a movie was great. Eridan was a little hesitant about the idea of inviting Sollux to his house though, just because of the risk involved.

"I don't know. Just something, you know?"

"Well... if you can come up with a decent excuse for your parents and everything, you could come over and we could order pizza or something. I just don't know if I wanna risk doing something in public."

"Yeah... I can just text my dad and tell him I'm with Terezi or something." Sollux seemed happy enough with the idea, and it would probably be nice to have someone else in the house for a change.

"Oh... so are you sayin' you just want to come with me now instead of goin' home first?"

"Yeah, why not? I'd really rather not walk home and then have to try and figure out how I'll get to your house after." Sollux shrugged, pulling away some but still holding Eridan's hand loosely.

"Alright, I guess that's fine." Eridan let go of Sollux's hand long enough to grab his things before heading in the direction of the classroom door. "Do you wanna go to your locker or anything or should we just go?"

Sollux thought about it for a moment as he walked through the door, mentally running through the list of homework he had but probably wouldn't do until the last minute.

"Nah, I'm good. We can go."

Eridan nodded and started down the hall, hoping that they'd waited long enough that they wouldn't run into anyone who might question why they were together.

But they made it out to the parking lot and into Eridan's car without any problems. Sollux typed out a quick text to his father about being with friends, and then shifted his hand over to Eridan's knee, just casually resting it there like they'd been dating for years. Eridan laid his hand on top of Sollux's for a few moments before reluctantly moving it away again so that he could drive them home.

The silence was a little awkward at first, but then Sollux started messing with the radio to find a suitable station, and a few moments later, they were both singing along. Quietly at first, like they were both self-conscious about their voices, and then a little louder. Neither of them were especially good singers, but it was comfortable. Almost familiar.

"Wow, Sol, I guess you weren't joking when you said that your singing voice sounds like a dying cat," Eridan teased. His own wasn't much better, and by the end of the song, they'd both been trying to sing badly, but he couldn't resist making fun of the other.

"Yeah, you're one to talk," Sollux replied, rolling his eyes. "I guess neither of us will be doing any romantic serenades."

"I'm actually a wonderful singer when I want to be, and I resent that comment." It was a halfhearted comment at best, since Eridan was focusing on driving, but he was doing his best to keep up the banter.

"Mhm, sure."

Then, things went mostly silent again for the last few minutes of the drive, save for the background noise emanating from the radio.

"I still can't quite believe that you're CA," Sollux admitted once they were in the house as he looked around the living room. "Just... wow. I'm glad though, because if CA wasn't you, I'd have to choose between you and him."

"It probably would've been better for you if you picked someone your own age, but I can't deny how close I feel to you." Eridan sighed softly, loosening his tie.

"Even when we first started talking online, it was like that," Sollux said. "Like I already knew you."

Eridan nodded thoughtfully, pulling him into a kiss.

"Love at first sight, maybe," he quipped. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Though they made light of it, neither one of them could shake the idea that they'd met for a reason, and not even the fact that they'd been online friends for over a year fully explained the sense of familiarity.

Sollux kept sneaking glances at Eridan throughout the evening. It wasn't as obvious before, but now he seemed strikingly like one of the individuals that kept appearing in his nightmares. Someone he had fought with, in one. There was enough differences to make him skeptical of himself though. He still wasn't sure what the dreams meant, and he definitely wasn't going to mention it to Eridan.

They ultimately wound up curled up on the couch, watching a movie. Eridan had ordered a pizza, and it was exactly how they imagined hanging out in person would be. Minutes passed, then hours, and before they knew it, it was getting kind of late.

Sollux had started to doze off, head nestled in the crook of Eridan's neck. It had been a long day, and he was so comfortable. He snuggled closer, yawning quietly. Eridan let him sleep for awhile, but woke him up at about 11:30.

"Sol... do you want me to drive you home? Your dad's probably wonderin' where you are."

The Gemini took a long few moments before responding, blinking at him sleepily and pressing a clumsy kiss to his lips.

"He's probably not even home. I could always just stay," Sollux said quietly, a little surprised with himself for making the suggestion. They'd only made their relationship official that day, and he was already offering to sleep over. Eridan was just as surprised, judging by the expression on his face.

"Um... As nice as that might be, I should really just take you home. It's a little soon for that, and besides, I don't think you really want to have to wear the same clothes to school tomorrow."

Pulling away and stretching, Sollux nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Okay." The idea of having someone in bed next to him when he was inevitably plagued by nightmares was far nicer than the idea of going home and being alone. But he didn't protest, not wanting to seem too clingy.

They got ready and left, Sollux still half asleep as he walked to the car, wishing he had a jacket of some sort. Eridan seemed to almost read his mind, taking off the sweatshirt he'd just put on and handing it to him.

"Here, you must be freezing." They got into the car, Sollux slipping the sweatshirt on. It was too big and surprisingly warm, with the scent of Eridan's cologne clinging to it. Perfect. "Now, where do you live?"

Sollux managed to give Eridan directions to his house, which he himself had only learned how to get to about a week before, now that he knew the layout of this new town.

When Eridan pulled up to the house, he leaned over and gave him a kiss, smiling. "I'd do the cliche front porch kiss, but then someone might see us. So you'll have to settle for this."

"This is perfect," Sollux replied, kissing him one more time before getting out of the car, double-checking that he had all his stuff and wasn't forgetting anything important in Eridan's car. He was still wearing the sweatshirt, and decided he'd just give it back the next day. It made the walk up to the quiet house a lot more bearable. Of course, if his father was, in fact, home, there would be questions about why he was coming home at midnight wearing some man's hoodie, but he'd deal with it.

He crept inside and upstairs, ignoring the sounds from his father's study and the light on in Mituna's bedroom. Talking to anyone would break the spell. The night wouldn't be just him and Eridan anymore.

The floor creaked when he stepped inside his room, and he winced, hoping that his brother was asleep. After a moment's pause, there were no footsteps in the hallway. Good.

When he got into bed, he was still clutching the sweatshirt. Setting it down somewhere almost felt like a waste of having it for the night. A short time later, he fell asleep, hugging the mass of fabric to his chest.

That night, his nightmares revolved around being made into some sort of chimera-like creature. It was incredibly painful, his body and mind melding with another. There was no barrier between his own thoughts and those of the other half of the creature, like they were one entity trying in vain to split in two. After a while though, it grew comfortable, like the feeling of total understanding he felt with Eridan earlier.

As he was partially waking up, burying his face in Eridan's sweatshirt to fight off the last vestiges of that feeling, Eridan was waking up from the same dream.