Finally, after what felt like slipping into the afterlife, slowly yellow and orange rays of sunshine assaulted the face of the hungover teen lying on floor of his room. He twitched a few times and growled beginning to feel the heat, as well as the dryness in his throat with a headache following behind. He turned his body away from the arms of the yellow star, yet it was evenly uncomfortable as before. So he decided that lying on the floor was useless and carefully, he got to his feet. Regardless of the fact that he was moving in the slowest pace possible, his head was spinning rapidly as soon as he leveraged himself. Not even a second was able to pass and he felt the sickly, hot liquid forcing itself upwards in his throat. With eyes wide in shock he ran to the bathroom and dove his head in toilet. This was his least favorite part after epic parties. He grasped onto the handle to turn it, flushing the filth away.
- Fucking hell. - he gasped and lifted himself on the counter to wash his face.
- Cronus, are you ok? - said a small voice.
The greaser turned his head to meet the worried gaze of his younger brother. This wasn't the first time Eridan has seen Cronus hungover, but every time he'd give his brother a look of concern and uneasiness.
- Yeah, chief. Just your older bro going out and doing stupid things again. - he smiled reassuringly, earning a small smile from Eridan.
- I don't like it, though. - said Eridan dropping his gaze, making Cronus feel even worse.
He knelled down to ruffle the smaller boy's hair.
- I'm sorry, I'll make up for it, I promise.
Eridan smiled and hugged his brother, but quickly pulled away pinching his nose in disgust.
- You really smell.
Cronus laughed and rolled his eyes, while getting up.
- Then let me take care of that.
Once Eridan absconded from the bathroom, Cronus removed his clothes that reeked of alcohol and vomit, then entered to shower to be rid of it all. Cronus felt greatly relieved afterwords, as if the clean water washed away all of the toxins and removing the headache in the process. But that didn't mean it would stay that way. Once he was done he put on some clean clothes and entered the kitchen to take a few pills to keep his current state.
- Hey, is dad home? - Cronus called out to Eridan, who was watching TV.
- He left this morning. He said he had errands to run. - he replied, but not really paying much attention to anything besides the cartoon.
- I thought so. - mumbled Cronus, then proceeded to grab a glass of water and sit by the table propping his feet on the wood.
It was then something in the back of his mind told him to glance at the calender. It was Saturday. And who was he supposed to meet on Saturday? He almost choked on his water, causing Eridan to look at him in shock and slight confusion. Cronus got up from his seat and grabbed the clock, that was resting in the living room. It was already almost 11 am and he had no idea on how he was going to contact Mituna. But just when he was about to punch himself in the gut from being such a moron, he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate uncontrollably. He forgot it was even there. The number was unknown, but he answered anyway.
- Yeah?
The moment he spoke he heard rustling, then the sound of the phone probably crashing on a hard surface, following with the caller growling a sentence of swears.
- Who is this? - asked Cronus in annoyance.
- Hey, it's not my fault it just slipped! Fuck! I'm not used to using this thing!
- Mituna? - said Cronus in surprise.
- Well, good morning asshole.
Cronus chuckled to himself. Mituna sure wasn't a morning person.
- I didn't know you have a phone.
- I don't. I took it from my dad.
- Wow, impressive, but you don't look that clever.
Mituna huffed in irritation.
- Screw you, I can if I want too!
- Ok, ok calm down, but tell me this, how did you get my number in the first place.
Mituna snickered, causing Cronus to raise an eyebrow.
- I have my secret sources. - he said proudly. - So, you said you wanted to meet up?
Cronus glanced at Eridan, then walked out of the living room to the hallway.
- Yeah, I did say that.
- I have an idea! - he exclaimed with excitement. - The amusement park is open today and I haven't been there in ages!
Cronus scoffed.
- An amusement park? Seriously?
- Problem?
- Guess not. - chuckled Cronus. - I'll pick you up at 7 in that case, cool?
- Awesome! - said Mituna, then hung up abruptly.
Cronus for a moment stared at the wall in front of him with the cell phone still against his ear. His brain was still progressing what just happened. Did he just ask Mituna out for a date? He was close to bursting out in laughter, when Eridan approached him from behind and tugged on Cronus's jeans, almost earning a heart attack from his older brother.
- Jesus, Eridan don't sneak up on me like that!
- Was that Mituna?! - he asked excitedly grasping onto the blue denim with his small hands.
Cronus, scratching the back of his head he gave his brother a half smile before raising his head to the ceiling with eyes closed.
- Yes, it was. - he sighed.
- Is he coming over?!
- Unfortunately for you, he's not.
- Oh. - said Eridan looking down at his hands, then let go of his grip. - I wanted to see him again.
Cronus frowned thinking what to do, then an idea popped into his head, but it was one he didn't like very much.
- We're going to the amusement park- he started, then Eridan's energy came surging back to life.
- Can I come?! You said you owed me!
- Yes. - replied Cronus forfeiting to his brother's pleading eyes.
- Oh, boy! - he cried, then ran up the stairs to his room.
Cronus stood for a moment and sighed, hoping Mituna won't mind him bringing Eridan.
After the few hours have passed, the clock finally struck 6pm. Cronus just finished chugging down the 5 bottle of water, while working on the mechanics of his old Impala. He was hoping to take a nap during the day, but for some idiotic reason he felt stressed out. He never experienced this much tension before a get together, so why now? Even just thinking about made his stomach upset all over again. After finishing tinkering with headlights, the car was good to go. He wiped the sweat from his brow and triumphantly stared at his handy work. It had a new black paint job, with the side windows slightly tinted to get a mysterious feel, not to mention the brand new rims on the wheels. He was always good with machinery and it made him pretty damn proud, since he was weak in everything else. He grabbed the dark rag that was hanging on his shoulders and tossed it on the workbench. He finally started to feel calmer again. Not until he glanced at the clock. He ran back into the house to take a quick shower, but it longer than usual. He kept feeling uncomfortable with how his hair looked or was indecisive about which shirt to wear. He finally frowned at himself.
- What the fuck am I doing?!
He ended up grabbing the first shirt in mind, then his leather. Eridan was already ready a long time ago, since he was so exited he couldn't wait. Before leaving the house he grabbed, his wallet, a blanket for some apparent reason and his Marlboro lights. Cronus placed Eridan in the back seat, who was happily playing with the stuffed seahorse in his hands. Soon after, Cronus turned the key to bring the black Impala to life. The way she beautifully roared with elation made Cronus feel like a proud father of a powerful daughter. He treasured his car as much as his bike. It was bought with his own money he earned with blood, sweat and tears ever since his father refused to invest any more money. Not only that, but the fact he repaired it himself.
It was a while since he sat behind the wheel, so he drove the car with extreme caution. He looked up Mituna's address in his messages and in no time, they arrived. He carefully pulled up next to the sidewalk studying the house carefully. Cronus was curious about the home of the deranged teenager. It look quite simple and normal, not even giving a feeling that someone like Mituna lives there. The garden in front was well taken care of consisting of flowers with intense colors and green grass. The house itself was honey yellow with a white roof, picket fence and two rows of quite large windows. It had a suburban look to it. Cronus switched the car to a halt and turned towards Eridan.
- I'll be right back.
Eridan nodded in response going back to fiddling with his toy. Cronus sighed and slowly pulled himself away from the chair. He felt like taking out a cigarette at the moment, yet he didn't want to make a bad impression, even though Mituna saw him smoke many times. He walked up the stairs to enter the warmly decorated porch and gave a few loud knocks on the wooden door. With each passing second his heart quickened it's pace, making him feel uncomfortable. Finally the door swung open and small boy about Eridan's height and age stood in the doorway. He looked almost exactly like Mituna, yet the boy's hair was much shorter with choppy, short bangs and blue eyes. For a small boy he looked quite sophisticated giving off an aura of an old, tired man, which made Cronus shiver. He wasn't sure on how to approach the boy. He slowly knelled down to meat the boy's gaze, which slightly irritated the other.
- Hey, I'm Cronus. I'm here for Mituna. - he said calmly.
The boy started at Cronus in concentration, analyzing his features closely.
- Wait one moment. - he said, then walked away disappearing in a dark hallway.
After a second there was a crashing sound and a squeaky yelp coming from where the boy disappeared. Finally, Mituna appeared with his hands covered in different colors of paint, wearing a long apron on top of his clothes.
- Well, you are early.
- It's already 7, dipshit. I'm right on time. - smiled Cronus mischievously. - Nice get up.
Mituna blushed slightly, pulling of the apron in embarrassment.
- Shut up, I'm an artist. - he growled, then stomped away to his room to clean up.
Cronus chuckled to himself and leaned on the doorway.
- What a dork.
- You're a pretty weird guy. - said the voice of the smaller boy from before, who by some odd reason was suddenly standing in front of Cronus. How did he not notice him?
- Aren't we all? - he smiled.
- Not really. - frowned the boy unamused. - Do you like my brother?
- Wait, what?! - he raised his voice.
The question caused a huge scramble in Cronus's brain. Sure he felt a something here and something there, when Mituna would do something stupid or downright adorable, but the word ,,like" itself sounded a lot different and flustering out loud then in his head. But for a kid to read him so easily? Embarrassed is far to weak to explain how he felt at the moment. Luckily for him, Mituna came in the room at the right moment.
- Sollux, are you playing nice? - he said glaring at his brother.
Sollux snickered his hands in the pocket of his sweater.
- Of course I am. - he smiled towards the shaggy-haired teen, then ran up to his brother to hug him. - Have fun, Tuna.
Mituna laughed and grabbed his brother tossing him in the air, which made Cronus slightly nervous that he was going to drop him. After putting him down, he ruffled his messy hair.
- When I get back we're finishing our game. - he said, then walked out the door.
Before Cronus could follow him, Sollux tugged onto his jacket, making him freeze in his steps.
- Take care of my brother, or else we're going to have a problem.
No matter how creepy that sounded, Cronus knew he had stay collected. After all for Christ's sake he was the adult in this case.
- Trust me, kid. Nothing bad will get to him, I promise.
Sollux didn't say a word after that and closed the door behind him. Mituna was waiting for him on the lawn and walked up to the greaser.
- Was Sollux giving you a hard time? He can be a little shit to strangers sometimes.
- He was quite …. straight to the point.
- That's my bro!
Before Cronus unlocked the car, he reminded himself that there was something he forgot to give him a heads up about.
- Listen, Mituna. There's somebody else that's going to join us.
Mituna looked at him with surprise, but even more with worry.
- What? Who?
Once Cronus opened the passenger door a little, golden seahorse was flying in the air above the head of the small child. He noticed the two and smiled widely.
- Hi, Mituna!
Cronus sighed, tapping on the door waiting for Mituna's reaction.
- I hope you won't mind it sorta happened.
Mituna thought for a second, then turned to smile at him.
- Of course I don't! The more the merrier. - he said, then slid into the backseat next to Eridan.
Cronus closed the door behind him then entered the front seat to turn on the car. The two were already laughing and playing with the stuffed animals Eridan brought. Still, in some small way Cronus hoped Mituna would next next to him, but that was just a small detail. Soon they were driving their way down to the city to make it just in time for the opening of the park. The parking spaces were full, but he was lucky to find a spot not too far from the entrance. The worst part was the fact it was situated right underneath one of the most hardcore rides, so deep down he was hoping not to find vomit on his beloved car once they got back. The park was decorated in may balloons, banners and neon colored signs that were bound to blind a person if they stared at it too long. The crowd huge, since it was the grand opening of the new rides. The two childlike boys stood and stared in awe at the sight.
- Are you two going to stand there, or miss out on the action? - said Cronus laughing at them.
- I wanna go on the water slide! - exclaimed Eridan grabbing onto Mituna's sleeve.
- I wanna try the new bee ride! - yelled Mituna.
- Jesus Christ, can you calm down?! - shouted Cronus, while buying their tickets at the booth.
Even the check-in lady looked at them with an awkward expression. The moment they entered, all hell broke loose and the boys ran to the nearest attraction. Cronus groaned stuffing his hands into his pockets and following behind them.
- This was supposed to be a date. - he finally admitted to himself aloud.
- You're on a date? - said a voice behind him.
Cronus rapidly turned around to see Aranea staring at him questionably with her white rimmed glasses low on her nose.
- What are you doing here, Serket?
- My sister forced me to take her. She likes this kind of stuff. But I overheard you saying you're on a date, is that true? - she said with a curious glint in her eyes and a small smile on her round face.
Cronus started to slightly panic, since Aranea loved to gossip and was bound to spread the word if she ever found out he was even friends with Mituna.
- Yeah, no you misunderstood. I'm here with my little bro too and a friend … of his.
The girl smiled showing her glowing, white teeth that contrasted wonderfully with her dark hair.
- Eridan has a friend? I always though he was more antisocial?
- So did I. - remarked Cronus, but was sudden pushed to side by a smaller girl with long dark hair and large, Aviator like glasses on her pointy nose.
- Hey sis! I wanna play the duck shooting game! - he shouted with exhilaration.
Aranea grimaced at how happy her sister was at the thought of shooting ducks.
- Vriska, could you please be more polite?
The girl pouted, crossing her arms, then looked up at Cronus and gave him a toothy smile.
- Hi Cronus, is Eridan here?
From what Cronus knew of Aranea's sister, Vriska was that she was quite the competitive child and most prone to starting fights with the other children because of that. And the one child she loved to compete against was Eridan. Even though he didn't really enjoy interacting with kids his age, if he's thrown a challenge, he wouldn't back down till he wins. That's what Vriska liked most about him. It was a funny fact though. Eridan didn't really have friends at school, but Vriska was the only person he would talk to.
- Yeah, he's here, but currently with his new friend.
Vriska's eyes widened like two shiny marbles and was about to say something when a familiar voice called out to her.
- Vriska Serket! - yelled Eridan from across the park, pointing a slim finger at her with Mituna at his side holding onto a stuffed dolphin and exchanging glances with Cronus.
Vriska laughed triumphantly straightening her posture.
- Eridan Ampora! What a nice surprise! - she shouted at her opponent fixing the pirate cap on her head.
- No it's not! You ruined my sand castle at recess yesterday and I'm still angry!
- Ready for round two? - she asked, gesturing her finger to come closer.
Eridan out of anger and frustration started off in a quick dash towards the girl. Vriska laughed in amusement like a super villain in a cartoon and took off running in the opposite direction.
- Eridan!
- Vriska! - yelled Cronus and Aranea starting in shock at the two children, who disappeared into the jumping house.
- I'm so sorry, Cronus. When she get's like this it's hard to stop her.
- Same with Eridan. It's best to let them settle their differences. I just hope they won't start throwing punches at each other.
- I'll go keep an eye on them, it's the least I can do and I'm used to it. We'll keep in touch, ok?
- Thanks.
Aranea nodded then ran to the destination, leaving Cronus alone. He turned to Mituna, who was already standing next to him. How long has he been there?
- What happened to him?
- Nothing really. - said Cronus calmly looking in the distance. - It's this thing he has with this girl, Vriska, but it's not serious, so I'm cool with it.
- If he's happy, then I'm ok too. - smiled Mituna. - What do we do now?
- Well, what did we come here for? - asked Cronus in a sarcastic tone. - To have a good time.
Mituna laughed and suddenly grabbed Cronus by the hand, which was a huge surprise for the greaser.
- Let's go on a roller-coaster! - he shouted and pulled him to the first ride in line.
For a complete 2 hours they rode on almost every single ride in the park, to the point when the greasers stomach couldn't handle the adrenaline and caved into the nearest garbage can. Mituna had to promise him no more rides, that included fast motion and hanging upside down. But thanks to that, Cronus was able to win a ton of stuffed animals, which made Mituna the happiest person alive. After winning a shooting game, they decided to rest in an outside bar and debate on which ride to go on next. Cronus was sipping on a bottle of water, since he didn't trust his stomach with anything else at the moment.
- How about. - started Mituna, who was nibbling on a fresh batch of fries. - That one. - he said and gestured at a ride which involved taking a person high in the air and drop them at high speed.
Just looking at it made Cronus's guts cringe.
- Hell fucking no.
Mituna huffed in disappointment and continued munching on his meal. Cronus took another look around the place, when a certain traditional attraction caught his eye.
- What about that one. - he said with a smirk nodding his head towards a haunted house.
The shaggy-haired teen slowly turned his head with his eyes widened at the sight of the large mansion. Even the outside looked intimidating. Cronus noticed his hesitation and leaned in on the table.
- Or are you too much of a pussy?
- I'm not!
- Great! Let's go! - he said cheerfully and grabbed Mituna's wrist.
Once they stood in the entrance everything seemed a look more different then from afar. There were numerous skeletons hanging on the house, corpses nailed onto the walls and coffins on the ground with neon, green lights coming from the Victorian windows along with the mysterious, gray mist. Once Cronus came back with the tickets, he stopped to look at how Mituna was cowering in fear by just looking at the door.
- Ready to prove you're a man? - he said waving the tickets in his hand.
- You bet I am! - said Mituna in a slightly shaky voice.
The door automatically opened before them and they disappeared into the mist. Once they were inside the doors suddenly shut making Mituna jump slightly. The room seemed to shift itself and when Cronus turned around the door wasn't there anymore. Even that was creepy for him. There was only one hallway which meant that was the way to go. Slowly they started down the hallway with moans and screams that could be heard in the distance. There was a shadow that appeared in front of them showing a person holding a machete and chopping off his victims head with a maniacal laugh. Cronus then realized Mituna was holding his hand. Very tightly. He was freaking out and he found it cute. The floor began to shake and dark hands busted out from the walls making Mituna yelp and turn his head to Cronus's shoulder. The further they went the darker the hallway was. Sounds of ghosts and nails scratching against cold metal rang in their ears, but pushing them closer to each other. What seem like walked an eternity on top or fake corpses and cobwebs, Cronus noticed the room was getting smaller.
- Are you fucking kidding me? - he whispered.
- It was your idea. - said Mituna.
The room became pitch black as the last light bulb burned out with the walls slowly coming together.
- I can't fucking see a thing! - cried out Mituna, who lost grip of Cronus and was scratching at the walls.
- Calm down, your vision will get used to the dark.
- Where are you?!
- Follow my voice.
Soon he felt the trembling teen grasp onto his waist and bury his face into his chest. Cronus's first reaction was to ruffle his hair to calm him down. Not even a moment passed he felt the wall press against his back and Mituna felt the same. He raised his head in shock and groaned feeling Cronus's strong body slowly crushing him. Feeling the same discomfort, Cronus leaned his hands against the wall trying his best to give Mituna some comfort. Soon their sight got used to the dark and he was able to see Mituna's face a bit clearly. His senses seemed to be sharpened as well. He noticed how Mituna's eyes glistened from fear, felt his breath against his neck and body shiver, how his hands held onto him for comfort. Such small details awakened something inside him. He placed his hands on Mituna's face, rubbing his thumbs on his full cheeks listening closely to every sound that escaped his lips. He felt an urge to touch him more. To kiss him. Such strong feelings he's never felt for anyone before.
- It's ok, Mit. It's almost over. - he whispered, noticing Mituna avert his gaze that he kept locked onto his eyes.
Suddenly the floor beneath their feet disappeared and they feel onto a soft surface, which seemed to be hay. Cronus lifted himself, when the lights turned on showing where Mituna fell. Right under him. Mituna was propped on his arms and his face was so dangerously close, which made him blush madly from the sudden surprise. A door was opened to the outside and the both of them jumped to their feet to get out as quick as possible.
- That was the scariest fucking haunted house I've ever been in! - gasped Mituna, leaning his hands on his knees for support.
- Yeah, let's never do that again.
Both of them nodded to that and started walking away from the house. But Cronus couldn't forget about the situation they've just been in. He certainly felt something and was wondering if Mituna has too. He might never find out. But what he remembered was his eyes. They were staring so intensively at him, pulling him closer. Was it possible he wanted the same?
Cronus was awoken from his thoughts the moment he noticed Aranea wave at him from afar. One day he'll ask Mituna and this time he won't let him escape.
