"I guess I can see it," Sollux said, frowning at her face the next afternoon. She wished that she could have seen him sooner, but if she'd woken her younger self up by trying to talk to him while she had been sleeping in his bed it would have made a mess of the time loop she was just coming out of, and once morning came he had to go off to school. So she waited until the minute she knew he'd be free for the day to call him up.
In a way she supposed that she should be grateful to Equius Zahhak for making her take a good hard look at herself. When Sollux picked up on the first ring he was still full of questions about what on earth had upset her so much the night before, but when she told him that she thought she was aging wrong he just assumed that was the problem. Aradia let the misunderstanding slide; if she'd understood what had gone on the night before correctly she wasn't in any actual danger from Mr. Zahhak, so why upset Sollux by letting him know that she'd been expecting to die and hadn't said anything about it when she'd left him that morning?
She did give him part of the truth. She let him know that she'd met another superpowered human the night before, one who had sought her out to meet the other person like him in their town, and that he had been the one who'd asked about her age. She just didn't tell him who that person was, or the method he'd used to bring her to him.
She was guiltily aware that it was the first major secret she'd kept from Sollux in her entire life. She'd never even been able to keep the birthday and holiday presents she got for him a secret if he asked her straight out what she'd bought, but what else could she do? The identity of the other superhuman in town wasn't her secret to reveal; maybe if it had just been some random guy off the street that would have been different, but she wasn't going to run around blabbing the secrets of the most powerful man in not only Alternia City but practically the entire state. She was sure that he'd only trusted her with them because he knew that as a superheroine she'd be used to keeping that type of secret safe, and she didn't betray the trust that her people had in her no matter what insane ways they had of showing it.
As for his methods, well, that was entirely selfish. She didn't want her best friend in the world yelling at her about taking stupid fucking risks, was that so terrible?
"I got something from home before I came up here," Sollux went on while she thought, shrugging off the backpack he'd carried all the way to her cabin and opening it up. "Dunno if you'll want to look at them, but when you said what the deal is I figured it'd help us work this out."
What he pulled out of his bag was a photo album, and Aradia almost flinched away from the images that were revealed when he flipped it open to a spot a few pages in.
She hadn't seen a picture of either of her parents in years. She hadn't brought any with her when she first moved to the cabin because looking at them ached too much, and she hadn't stopped to gather any since because that had never changed. But there they were smiling at her from the page, her mother and father and Sollux's all looking so happy as they held their newborn babies.
She had always known Sollux. They had been born in the same delivery room together, their birthdays landing on different days by just minutes. Their parents had bonded first in the hospital then while taking the same parenting class together until they were good enough friends that there was no doubt their children would keep having play dates together for as long as they wanted to. And they had never stopped wanting to. Of course his family photo albums had a bunch of pictures of her family in them. She knew the ones she'd left back home had lots of his in them too.
"I figured," he said, watching her closely like he still wasn't sure how she'd react, "you look sort of like your mom. We can try working out your age compared to her back then."
Aradia took a deep breath, then reached out to turn the page. "Okay, but one where she didn't just give birth would probably be better."
Her parents had been young when they'd had her, her mother only twenty-one. Aradia was sure that she couldn't have lost that much time, but at least she could try to judge how close she was to it.
She guessed that she did look a lot like her mother, Aradia thought as she looked at another photo. Her coloring was more like her father's but her features came more from her mother, broad mouth and wide eyes and the wave in her hair. "I think..." she said slowly, lightly running her finger over the glossy image of her mother's face, "I think I look closer to the age we're supposed to be than I do to her. Do you? It's so hard to tell!"
He pried up the picture she was looking at and held it up against her face, looking back and forth between them a few times before giving her a quick nod. "Yeah," he agreed. "You aren't old enough that you'd look weird hanging out with us fucking freshmen just yet, AA."
She laughed brightly and grinned at him, "That's a thought! If I get much further ahead of you people might think I'm your babysitter if they see us together."
"Or they'll think I'm such a cool guy that older girls want to hang around me," Sollux said, then snorted an shook his head. "Like that'd ever happen. Guess they'll just think you're such a shitty person that only asshole kids are willing to spend time with you. Sorry about that."
"No insulting yourself in my cabin, you know the rules!" she said, lightly flicking the side of his head. "Go to Karkat's if you want to have a pity party."
They were interrupted by Feferi barging through the door. "Sorry I'm late! I had a swim meet," she said unnecessarily; the chlorine smell clinging to her still-damp hair would have been explanation enough for them. "Then I stopped to snare something. Here!"
She dropped a small brightly-colored gift bag in front of Aradia, 'Happy Belated Birthday!' written across its front. Aradia blinked at it, then looked at Feferi with her eyebrows raised. "We celebrated my birthday, remember?"
"But apparently a few slipped the hook when we weren't paying attention, right? This should help! Go ahead, open it!"
Aradia pulled out the tissue paper stuffed into the bag, revealing a jeweler's box within. When she popped it open she found a thin pocket watch within.
"I got that kind because I thought a wristwatch would just break when you were guarding in a fight. Sea?" Feferi said, pushing the button that popped open its cover and tapping at the face, "It shows you the date and the year too. Just keep it with you, and you won't get swept away by time again."
Aradia watched the seconds tick by. She would probably never know exactly how many she'd lost without realizing it, but now that she had that knowledge as long as she was careful she'd be able to hold onto the rest.
And luckily she had an easy place to carry it where she knew she'd never forget it and leave it behind. She unhooked the chain she wore around her neck and slipped the watch onto it, letting it dangle like a pendant beside her parents' rings. "Thank you, Feferi," she said. "I'll make sure to keep it with me always."
