"Put me down!"

"No! You have to get out of bed and walk around or you're going to become a fucking vegetable."

"I can walk down the thtairth!"

"You'll fall and break your pitifully small brain!"

"Ugh! You're contradicting yourthelf!"

"Fuck! Stop flailing around! You're going to make both of us fall!"

Sollux had been like that for the last 10 minutes. Ever since the moment Karkat had picked him up and started carrying him down the stairs he'd been throwing a hissy fit. Karkat's face was covered in scratches and red marks from Sollux's flailing, caught in the line of fire. Even if he hadn't been carrying him, he'd probably still be similarly marked, considering what he had told the troll when they woke up.


"Captor..." Sollux looked at him from where he was getting dressed.

"What'th up, kk?"

"...You know they're going to kill the grub's...and me...right?"

Sollux looked startled, but quickly brushed it off. "My geneth are bad. If they're mutant'th they'd know it wath jutht from that."

"That's not what I was talking about, idiot! You've never had sex with Eridan! They'd know they weren't his grubs."

"Are you telling me to..." Sollux's hands clenched around his shirt, visibly shaking as he pulled it on. "No. I'm not going to..."


He needed to think, and it was kind of hard to do that when a pissed off troll was flailing in his arms. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs he dropped him. Sollux fell on his ass with a startled and pained cry.

"What the hell wath that for?" He whined, slowly getting to his feet.

"For being a whiny bitch." Karkat smirked slightly as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking away. Sollux frowned, pouting slightly as he followed after him at a much slower pace. Everyone looked up from the dining table as Karkat and Sollux walked in. Karkat leaned against the wall as Sollux awkwardly went to sit down beside Eridan.

Eridan almost smiled at him, relief lightly up his face. "Mornin' sleeping beauty."

Sollux looked over at him before looking back down at the table. "Morning..."

The atmosphere was tense, everyone silent as they went back to eating. Sollux played with a roll, not really hungry despite not having eaten for over 48 hours. Occasionally he'd glance up at Eridan or Karkat before looking back down at the roll in his hands. Dualscar was the first to break the silence.

"So, Sollux, I heard some noise from your room last night. It sounded like crying..."

Sollux froze, speaking quietly when he answered. "Thunder thcareth me."

It was one of the only times he'd said something about himself and the shock at how open he was about it was evident. "But surely to cry ovver it. Don't you find that to be just a bit childish?"

"No. It thoundth like the cracking of a whip...thothe thcare me too." Now this was something that not even Karkat knew. No one knew much of the boy's childhood, aside from his parent's. They were one of the few families that hadn't been here their entire life. They moved in just a few moons after Sollux's fifth sweep. It was one of the many reasons everyone had thought the child was such a freak, having been exposed to outside ways of living and a wider range of technology. Whips was something used everywhere as corporal punishment though. There were even schools that would whip their students. A tense silence had fallen over them again as Sollux tore his roll into two pieces, about to dip one into a pot of honey.

"That's mind honey, dipshit." Karkat warned, Sollux hesitating before pulling his hand back and staring at the roll and playing with it again. "I don't feel like rescuing your ass when you go into anaphylactic shock."

"Butd..."

"A few seconds of good food and death. You're an idiot."

"And you're an ath."

"A very attractive ath, thollukth."

"You with. Don't make fun of my lithp."

"I'm thollukth and I can't thpeak right. Lithten to me try and thay thathafrath. Look at all thothe fai-" A roll hit Karkat in the forehead and he narrowed his eyes at Sollux. Everyone was looking at him, various degrees of curiosity, disdain and disbelief on their faces. Sollux was grinning widely. Eridan snickered, smiling ruefully at the red blood. Karkat scowled as both Sollux and Eridan burst into laughter, the latter covering his mouth and Sollux gripping his stomach. "It's not that funny!"

"You can't even do a lithp right, kk!" Sollux snorted, trying to breath between the fits of laughter. When the laughter finally subsided, everyone (except Karkat) was in a decidedly better mood. Dualscar and Alatus were having a conversation with each other, soft smiles on their features. Eridan was smiling just slightly as he poked at a plate of fish. The rest of the meal (lunch) was eaten in companionable silence with occasional chatter. Karkat stayed in the background, watching to make sure that nothing bad happened.

"So, Eridan tells me you're still a virgin." Oh. Oh god. Sollux choked on what he was drinking at the moment, spluttering and coughing as he tried to clear his airways. A deep purple blush settled over Eridan's cheeks.

"Dad!" he shouted, embarrassed as he moved to thump Sollux's back. Sollux coughed for a few more seconds before taking a shaky breath, staring down at the table.

"Of courthe." He said, looking over at Dualscar with steeled eyes. "Why would I fuck with thomeone that I've harbored no feelingth for? That would be like throwing away everything I've fought for."

"Eridan, you're too kind. If it had been me the boy wwould have lost it the night wwe married." Eridan sent a scathing glare at his grandfather, moving back to sit in his seat.

"Unlike you twwo I actually givve a fuck about my matesprits wwishes." Eridan growled, stabbing the fish on his plate. Sollux side and pushed away from the table. He walked away from them and over to the doorway where he lingered.

"You know...I wath almotht thtarting to like you people."


Eridan knocked on the wood of the door softly. "Sol...can I come in?"

Sollux groaned. He'd locked everyone out for a reason. Not that it made much of a difference since almost everyone in the house had keys. "...yeah."

The door opened on silent hinges and closed with a soft click behind the Aquarius. He went over and sat on the edge of the bed, tentatively reaching out to rub between his shoulders. "You okay?"

"Not really." Sollux grumbled.

"Wwhat's wwrong?"

"Nothing. Everything. The uthual. Don't thee why you care."

"You're my matesprit. I'm su-"

"I might be carrying wrigglerth." He wondered if he was stupid. He could pull it off though and no one would be majorly hurt in the long run. Eridan was silent, hand faltering for a moment before continuing.

"When?" His voice was quiet, weak...hurt. Sollux swallowed past the tightness in his throat.

"It wath before my wriggling day...but my mom thayth it can take up to half a thweep before thignth thtart thowing." A blatant lie. It was the only way he knew how to fix it though.

Eridan shifted with a soft sigh, wrapping his arms around him and tilting his chin up so he could look into his eyes. "Don't lie to me, Sol."

"Eridan...I'm sorry." He buried his face against his chest.

"No you aren't..."