I know that the holidays can be tough for some people, so I really hope that anyone who reads this found it as pleasant and stress-free as possible. I apologise for not updating sooner.

Thank you all for everything. Really. It means the world to me.

Possible trigger warning, just in case: Eridan talks very briefly about getting stitches... It's not descriptive, but better safe than sorry.

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Tuesday came around quickly, and Eridan waited excitedly by his window for Karkat's car to pull up. He fiddled with the cuff of his formal, white shirt, feeling a little worried that he was over dressed just for going to the cinema. As a last second thought, he removed his blazer jacket and replaced it with a slightly more casual jacket.

Eridan squeaked as he recognised the car that pulled up outside his house, and quickly ran to the door. He paused only to lock it, and check it three times, before making his way over to Karkat, who was watching him from his unwound window. "Are you as fuckin' excited as I am?"

Karkat grinned, "of course I fucking am, this promises to be the greatest piece of cinematic history, and I'm pretty fucking happy that I get to watch it with someone who appreciates the fine art that is a good romantic comedy." He waited for Eridan to open the passenger side door and sit down before continuing, "don't get me wrong, Gamzee and Sollux mean a shit-load to me, but they really wouldn't know the first thing about proper romcom viewing etiquette if it straddled them and took shit on their chest."

Eridan was relieved to see that the smaller male had given up the usual plain shirts in favour of a black, long-sleeved, buttoned-up shirt, and a grey tie. "Lookin' good Kar, it's nice to see someone else takin' this thing seriously." He pulled off his own jacket to show Karkat his white shirt and black tie.

"Of course I take this seriously, like I said, proper etiquette," Karkat started the engine and began pulling away from the curb, "and don't think that I've forgotten about you promising to buy the snacks."

"Yes, I know, an I imagine that you've starved yourself today just so that you can eat more," Eridan raised an eyebrow and smirked, "I'm thinkin' a bucket-sized portion a sweet popcorn an coke, Malteasers, M&Ms, maybe some Skittles?"

Karkat kept his eyes on the road, but he reached out and gripped Eridan's shoulder firmly, "God damn it, Eridan. You really know how to woo a man."

They both laughed loudly, and chatted away for the rest of the car journey.

-.-.-.-.-

Karkat and Eridan both very nearly gave the film a standing ovation; it was hilarious, it was romantic, it was bitter-sweet, and it was painful as hell... But God damn, was it perfect. They both had to take a minute to calm themselves as the other cinema-goers filed out of the room; Eridan was thankful that he thought ahead and brought a pack of tissues, because Karkat hadn't, and had actually tried to wipe his face on his sleeve at the first sign of tears.

They had gotten through most of the pack, and Eridan believed that this was a true testament to how sad and wonderful the movie was; they had gotten great seats, and they had paid in tears.

Karkat rubbed a balled up tissue under his nose, his eyes slightly red and puffy from crying, "Fuck, bro, let's get out of here." They were the only ones left, and if they stayed any longer, they would likely start crying again. They gathered up their remaining sweets, and started walking out, "best fucking film I have seen in I don't know how long, if they don't win every award going, I will rain down upon the ceremony with furious fucking anger, and probably rip someone open with my bare hands."

"Oh my God, are you kiddin' me? They have to win, I mean, that bit with the... And then she... And he... Oh my God," Eridan held the tissue up to his face, and nearly began chewing on it, "the worst part was that they never got to say goodbye!" Eridan sobbed loudly and Karkat put a comforting arm around him, accidentally smacking him across the back of the head with half a pack of Malteasers in his haste.

"I know! But what about the title? I mean what kind of sick asshole names a movie "My Love Returns" when there's no way the love is returning? She's dead, man," Karkat sniffed wetly, "and she died after he fucking hurt her, and oh my fucking God."

Eridan's bottom lip wobbled as he looked at is friend with wide eyes, "best film ever." He whispered.

Karkat nodded, "I'm getting that shit on bluray, and the second I do, you're coming round to watch it, then the special features, and then the fucking commentary."

They left the cinema, and hurried to Karkat's car; Eridan held all of their leftover sweets on his lap so that Karkat could concentrate on driving, "you could come over to mine for a coffee, if you want? You haven't seen my new place yet, well, at least not the inside, anyway."

"Sure, I don't see why not. I don't have any other plans," Karkat smiled a little, "as long as it's not like your parent's house. Oh my God, do you remember how Feferi's mum used to look at me? It was like I was the scum of the Earth, you'd think I'd mutated a fucking arm out of my face or something. Fuck, she hated me."

Eridan snorted, "you bet I remember. She's a mega bitch, I mean she looks down her nose at my father constantly too. No one's safe from her majesties glare." He laughed a little, "I'm pretty sure she hates me too, so don't worry about it. Afterall, I'm the fuck-up son who refused to agree to take on the family business, but shit, father's going to be around for fuckin' ages, and I don't want to think about that kind of crap yet, you know?"

Karkat hummed for a second, "I guess there's no rest for the rich and the privileged, is there?" He snickered, "You poor, fucking soul."

"Piss off Kar, you got no idea what kind a shit I had to deal with. Bein' primped an polished just to become a clone, every fuckin' movement you make bein' watched an judged... Every single aspect a your life bein' controlled to a degree that gets suffocatin." Eridan ran a hand through his own hair, "you want to know how I came out to my dad? He was pressurin' me into 'meetin'' the daughter of a friend who owns a fuckin' business, which is the polite way a sayin' 'marry this bitch'. He didn't listen to me when I said I wasn't interested, so I had to scream that there was no way in hell I was goin' to stick my dick in a girl for the good a joinin' families and businesses, but I'd love a nice piece a that son a theirs."

Karkat began laughing fitfully, "holy shit, bro. How did your dad take that?"

Eridan smirked and looked out the window, "he just told me that I didn't need to be such a little shit about it."

When they got to Eridan's house, they went inside, and Karkat shook his head as he watched Eridan check the lock, "Jesus, you still do that?"

"Mhmm, it has to be-"

"I know, I remember, 'I have to check it three, five or seven times, but never two or four.'" Karkat mocked Eridan's voice as he followed him to the kitchen, "you told me that shit enough times that it's burned into the unfortunate part of my brain that remembers you in almost a fond way."

Eridan rolled his eyes, "I think you mean the part of your brain that's 'so fortunate to be dedicated to me, that you could weep nostalgic tears'." He flipped the kettle on and pulled two mugs out of the cupboard, "how do you take your tea an coffee?"

Karkat sat down at the table and shrugged, "I'll have a black coffee." While Eridan pottered around spooning granules and grabbing the cream for himself, Karkat yawned, "so I hear from Sollux that you're both going to the beach this Friday? How in the hell did you get that shitsponge to agree to that?"

"What do you mean? He's been textin' me about it, and he seems pretty excited," Eridan turned and frowned at Karkat, "doesn't he like the beach?"

"Oh, he's been acting enthusiastic about it, has he? Last time I dragged him to the beach, he bitched the entire time like a child who'd pissed his pants." Karkat snickered again, "he fucking hates beaches, and even being outside to be honest, but you can't let him have everything he wants, you have to be selfish, otherwise you'll never go anywhere. He'll try and keep you inside in his web of social ineptitude forever."

Eridan stirred the coffees and handed one to Karkat, "can you help me come up with some ideas to help him enjoy himself? You know him better than I do, and I would really appreciate some fuckin' pointers. I just want this date to be perfect for him."

"Alright, I can do that. There is one thing that idiot would find fucking romantic as hell..."

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It was Friday, and this was the day that Sollux had promised to go to the beach with Eridan, he hated himself a little more than usual for agreeing to do something so stupid. Sollux had been dreading it for the past week, but unfortunately he had chosen the previous Friday's activity of staying in, so now it was Eridan's turn. He was now being faced with spending an entire day at the beach; getting sunburned, being dragged into the sea, getting sand in his socks and up his ass. Oh joy.

Sollux hissed angrily at his screeching phone, screwing his eyes shut and curling his pillow around his head to cover his ears. It was 10AM, a time that shouldn't even exist on a Friday.

He pulled himself out of bed, and grabbed his phone. Sollux felt like throwing it against a wall when he saw that Eridan had already text him. What was that fucker so goddamn chipper about at this hour?

'good mornin sol i cant wwait to go to the beach wwith you dont forget im bringin a picnic so dont eat a big breakfast

please at least TRY and dress appropriately i wwant to take lots of photos 3'

What an insufferably cheerful little shit.

He grimaced as he looked at the bag he had packed the night before, his chosen outfit was folded up on top. Sollux slunk off the bed and towards his clothes, feeling nothing but contempt for his boyfriend. He pulled his boxers off and grabbed the dark purple shirt, snickering to himself as he saw the gengar face on the front. It was kind of a double edged sword; on one hand, he was wearing Eridan's favourite colour, which was sure to impress him, but on the other, Eridan had told him to dress appropriately.

Then again, when would a gengar shirt not be appropriate?

He felt a little grumpy about the fact that he literally only owned jeans, and he hadn't really felt like going out to buy anything more suitable, seeing as it would only have been worn on this one occasion. So he didn't really feel too bad when he threw on his pair of grey trousers. Sollux grabbed his sunglasses and shoved them on, hating the fact that he had to wear them out of necessity rather than just as a way of hiding his eyes.

Sollux opened his bedroom door and walked straight into Karkat, "you!" He snarled, pointed an accusing finger at him, "it'th your fault in in thith pith-poor mood you know!"

Karkat crossed his arms and glowered straight back at the taller male, his top teeth biting down angrily on his bottom lip, "what the fuck has crawled up your ass today? Asides from the usual assortment of tiny, furry creatures, I mean. This is the first time we've looked at eachother today, unless I'm very much fucking mistaken." His brown eyes glinted, "so go on then, let's hear it. what the hell have I fucking done to put you in a shitty state like this?"

"You left my Xthboxth round John'th you shit-pan! I couldn't even abtholve mythelf with a good game latht night, before having to go on thith fucking crime of a date!" Sollux's nostrils flared, "tho thankth for fucking up my entire attitude for the day. Now I have to go to the fucking beach, trying to thmile and act ath if I give a shit!"

"Listen to me you butt-fucking son of a bitch, I already apologised for that," Karkat shrugged, "I didn't think that you'd throw such a bitchfit about it. I did tell you that I would be spending yesterday with John, and I'm sleeping over his tonight, so it made sense to just leave it over his rather than carting it back and forth." He clicked his tongue, looking as if he couldn't give less of a shit, "there's nothing I can do about it now anyway, you survived the night didn't you? So I think we can drop this pathetic notion you have that it's your fucking life-blood. You should probably cut the toddler act too, it's not very attractive, and I'm sure Eridan won't appreciate it." He barged past Sollux and into his own room, standing in the doorway, "oh, and if you bump me again, I'll rub my dick all over your beloved fucking Xbox and treat it like my bitch." Karkat didn't smile before slamming the door in Sollux's face.

Sollux clenched his fists together and shook a little. It wasn't even about the Xbox anymore, it was the principle of the matter, Karkat just seemed so nonchalant about it and that pissed him off more than anything else. Sollux punched the wall before storming off to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He didn't say goodbye to Karkat before he left, even though the shorter male was sat at the kitchen table tapping away at his damn phone. Sollux tried to ignore Gamzee too, but found himself unable to.

"I got myself up nice and early to do some baking, and I thought that seeing as my hands were already busy with the mixing and the measuring, I may as well put together our good friend Eridan a little something to enjoy, seeing as he looked so motherfucking mirthful with them last time."

Sollux rolled his eyes, he didn't think that Eridan deserved any treats, but Gamzee pressed the lunchbox against the side of Sollux's face, rubbing it against his cheek in circular motions until he grabbed it. "Fine, Jethuth Gamthee, I'll take them, jutht thtop touching me." He snatched the box and made an exasperated noise when he realised that he'd have to carry the box instead of cramming it into the already very full bag.

The only farewell that Sollux offered was a brief, "I'm not going to be here tonight." Before opening the door and storming out, he thought he heard Karkat say, "whatever," but he didn't feel like bothering to double check.

As Sollux walked the short distance to Eridan's house, he felt his foul mood begin to wane. He pulled out his phone and looked over all of the texts that Eridan had sent him over the week, and really began to comprehend just how excited his boyfriend was about the date. Eridan had asked Sollux about his favourite foods, how he liked them to be prepared, if he'd possibly like to stay the night, what kind of ice-cream he would get if they saw an ice-cream van... The list went on. Sollux groaned; he had tried to act like he was looking forward to it whenever he text back, but being outside and in the sun pissed him off, and oh god, the fucking sand.

When Eridan's house came into view Sollux began feeling a little guilty; Eridan really was trying hard, and maybe going to the beach, just this once, wouldn't be too horrible. He sighed, defeated, realising that despite the disgruntled attitude he had been dwelling on, he would be happy to go to the beach as many times as needed, just to make Eridan smile.

He had barely finished knocking on the door before it gave way beneath his fist and Eridan appeared. He was wearing a plain white, unbuttoned shirt, and a pair of dark blue, knee-length board shorts. Sollux felt his eyes trailing down to admire his chest and abdomen, thinking that Eridan most definitely looked like a swimmer.

Eridan held up his phone and snapped a picture of him before he could react, "lookin' good Sol." He pulled Sollux through the doorway, "come in, come in!" He looked as if he would start bouncing with excitement at any moment, "so, lookin' forward to gettin' to the beach?"

Sollux grinned in what he hoped was a convincing way, "yeah, you know I am. Let'th get thith shit going." He frowned as Eridan locked the door behind him, and counted him check the lock three times. "Eridan, why are you locking the door? Aren't we going thoon?"

Eridan giggled as he laced his fingers with Sollux's.

"Theriouthly, what'th going on? You never told me what time we were heading out."

They stood outside the living room door; Sollux looking completely perplexed, and Eridan looking like a child about to pee himself. "Let's go have a sit down together first, Sol."

Sollux tried to keep that awkward grin on his face as he pushed the door open, but then it disappeared completely. "Eridan, what'th..?"

The living room had been moved around; the coffee table was pushed up against one wall, and the floor was covered in a very large, pale yellow blanket, on top of which was a large picnic hamper. "Eridan, what the fuck ith thith..." Sollux made a completely unnatural noise as he saw his Xbox connected up to the television, with the small pile of games stacked up next to it.

"Surprise." Eridan beamed, "I knew you didn't actually want to go to the beach, so I brought the beach to us."

Sollux watched, bewildered as Eridan walked around the room, "see, I've got the sand and the sea," he motioned at the yellow blanket and the fishtank, "and the picnic, obviously, and also I bought some Cornettos and Screwballs, because I doubt an ice-cream van will drive past. And we also got some entertainment. You know, it was pretty risky tryin' to get your Xbox away from you without you gettin' suspicious." Eridan looked absolutely pleased with himself, but he began looking more and more nervous as the silent seconds ticked past, "you don't like it, do you? Oh fuck, I knew you'd find it either too borin' or too cheesy." Eridan slapped his own forehead, "I just couldn't help myself, I had to go overboard with this whole thing, didn't I? I never learn, I'm an oldschool romanti-"

His words were stolen by Sollux's lips crushing his briefly. "ED, you fucking idiot, I can't believe you did all thith for me," Sollux kissed Eridan's face lightly, hardly able to believe what he was seeing and hearing.

Eridan nodded, trying to regain his usual, arrogant composure, "yes, well, I had to, didn't I? This is your date day as much as it is mine, and I wanted you to be happy and enjoy it." He shrugged, "Kar kind a helped me come up with ideas after we watched the movie on Tuesday. He came round here an we talked for fuckin' ages about you. He really helped me, especially with the Xbox." Eridan paused for a second before he looked at the floor and added, "we got plenty a time to have selfish dates, but I wanted to do somethin' for you."

Sollux sighed, "thith ith the perfect date. I can't believe I didn't have any faith in you... Wait, KK helped?"

"Yeah, course he did. When me an Kar were talkin' about it after we went to the cinema, he said that you hate bein' outside, an the beach was just the worst possible idea," Eridan pouted a little, "so I asked him what you would like, an he said that you'd find nothin' more romantic than a surprise gamin' day. So that's what I set my mind to doin'. The perfect fuckin' date, just for you." He shrugged, almost not wanting to give Karkat so much credit, but knowing that the short guy deserved it, "it was his idea to get your Xbox, an tell you it was round John's so you wouldn't have any idea what was happenin'. He brought it over here yesterday."

"Holy crap, you two really put in a fuck-tonne of effort here, I can't believe... Oh shit." Sollux slapped a hand to his face, "I acted like a prick to KK, like I theriothly blew up in hith fathe thith morning. I am going to have to grovel like fuck to get him to talk to me."

Eridan pulled Sollux down to sit on the blanket with him, "to be honest, I think you had better start practicin' your apology, but first, why don't we put on a game an have some food? I made the sandwiches without butter, I hope you don't mind, I can't stand the stuff."

Sollux smiled as he watched Eridan start emptying the picnic basket to show off everything he had prepared, he pulled out his phone and sent a text.

-.-.-.-.-

Karkat was getting ready to leave when he heard his text tone, he picked up his phone and laughed loudly.

'hey kk, 2orry for thii2 morniing, you're not a complete 2hiit 2tain. ii'm gue22iing you want me two watch a fiilm wiith you? ii wiill admiit that ii miight have been a biit of a ba2tard.
but at lea2t we're 2tiill friiend2, riight?'

Well, seeing as Sollux so kindly offered, Karkat began writing a mental list of all the films he could force Sollux to watch. Maybe he'd start things off with a Fresh Prince of Bel Air marathon...

-.-.-.-.-

"Tho you theriouthly never played video gameth growing up?" Sollux bit his tongue as he concentrated on the screen in front of him, he couldn't believe that anyone could have gotten to this age without spending a hundred or so hours on Pokemon, or at least some sort of game.

Eridan sat quietly, resting against Sollux while he watched him play, "no, my father was too busy teachin' us all about business economics an how to choose the best stocks an shares... It's fine though, I mean, I had fun with other things."

Sollux paused the game and looked at Eridan suspiciously, "what other thingth? If that wath me, I probably would have burnt my dick off mathturbating my boredom away." He laughed as Eridan slapped his arm in disgust.

"No, fuckin' hell Sol, I got more dignity than that!" He huffed and rolled his eyes, "I'll have you know, I have got a fuckin' excellent memory, an I learnt pretty quick that I could recall shit real easily, so I started readin' the biggest books I could find, an seein' how much I could memorise. That was always pretty entertainin' to do."

"What?" Sollux frowned, "you thought that wath entertaining?" He almost felt sorry for Eridan. He never knew this, but then again, it would explain why Eridan always scored perfectly on exams.

"Yeah, like, anything I read gets imprinted on me, an I just remember it." Eridan fiddled with one of his rings, turning it around, and then back again, "I like learnin', so I started readin' to teach myself shit, like I fuckin' adore science, history an battle strategy stuff, so I read as much as I could... I could draw you a pretty good map from memory, you know."

Sollux shook his head, while he was training charizards, and learning type weaknesses, Eridan was locked away memorising maps for fun. Poor little hipster. "Tho hath any of that shit been utheful in the real world?"

Eridan smiled and began rolling up his board shorts, "yeah, I mean, I remember one time it probably saved my life. When I was young, I used to play a lot with Vriska Serket, and one time, me an her were fuckin' around on a beach, an we may have been climbin' up a cliff face... Anyway, long story short, I fell off an onto the rocks."

"Holy fuck!"

"Yes, I believe that I screamed somethin' like that when I fell. So anyway, I was lyin' there, bleedin' out from a gash in my leg the size a my hand, an Vris was screamin' an callin' me a 'dumb shit'. So someone comes along with a first aid kit, an they don't know what to do, an the ambulance was on it's way, but I was so scared that my father would kick my ass for climbin' on shit again, that I took the kit, cleaned the wound an stitched it up myself." Eridan laughed as a long, white scar came into view on the top of his thigh. "I was a fuckin' idiot, an a course father found out when I got home, then he had to drive my stupid ass to the hospital himself. The doctors were pretty impressed that I had done such a good job, an I had to tell them I read about it in a book once, an just remembered how to do it." Eridan didn't feel self conscious about his scar anymore, he did when he was younger; never wearing anything short enough to allow it to be seen, but now he just felt indifferent towards it.

Sollux reached out and stroked the scar as gently as he could, worried that it would somehow reopen under his touch, "that'th pretty hardcore, Ampora. Didn't it hurt?" He had never gotten stitches in his life, so he couldn't pretend as if he knew.

Eridan blanched a little at the memory, "oh God, I screamed an I cried while I was doin' it, but I knew not to go too deep an-" He stopped speaking as Sollux leant over and pecked him on the lips.

"ED, you're both imprething and grothing me out here. I'm proud of you." After a second he added, "nerd."

"Say 'cheese'." Eridan grinned and held up his phone to snap a quick picture of Sollux doing a thumbs up next to his thigh-scar. He paused to look at the photo before deleting it, "we both looked awful in that one. Come here, we'll take a proper one." He shuffled so that they were shoulder-to-shoulder, then took another selfie of them both.

Eridan actually took about seven, and they both pulled a variety of serious and silly faces. The two of them had a laugh looking at the images, and Eridan set a nice one as his background, "I'll send you all a these, an you have to make one a them your phone background too." He pouted playfully as he began tapping away at his phone.

Sollux rolled his eyes as he grabbed a ham sandwich out of the picnic basket, "fine, I gueth I don't mind having our ugly mugth on my phone. You know, I'm thtill pithed that you don't uthe butter in your thandwiches."

"Butter tastes like bullshit and is full of empty, gross calories." Eridan returned his phone to his pocket and shrugged, "unless it's baked into a cake or something, I don't even want to acknowledge it's existence." He smiled as he watched his boyfriend eat, he had been so worried that the picnic would be too childish or bland for Sollux's tastes that he almost didn't do it. Eridan opened the lunchbox that Sollux had brought over and grinned peevishly as he pulled out another brownie, "thank Gam for makin' these for me, I think that they're quickly becomin' my all-time favourite food."

Sollux wiped the crumbs off his hands on Eridan's shirt, "will do. Now let'th get back to gaming, we thtill have to get Reaver to join our team."

-.-.-.-.-

Sollux felt very satisfied; he had Eridan cuddled up to him, he had saved the kingdom of Albion three times, and was now working on purchasing every single property in the game. Life was good. He was about to brag about buying a particularly large mansion, when Eridan's head suddenly slipped from his shoulder. The hipster face-planted the floor before he woke up, "wwuh duh fug?" He muttered against the yellow blanket, not even bothering to sit up.

"Holy shit, ED, you fucking lightweight! It'th only about..." Sollux laughed and checked the time on his phone, "oh, holy shit, it'th three in the morning, come on, let'th get you tucked in." He saved the game and shut down the Xbox before gathering Eridan up in his arms, afterall, he had his priorities. It took Sollux about twenty seconds of straining before he realised that he physically could not lift his boyfriend while he himself was already kneeling. "ED, thtand up tho I can lift you, you fat shit."

"M'not fat, you... Turdtruck." Eridan muttered, slowly getting to his feet as he rubbed his eyes, "I already told you, I'm fuckin' buff."

Sollux stood up and was about to pick Eridan up, bridal style, when the guy walked away; he frowned and grabbed his bag before following. He found Eridan rattling his front door handle, Sollux smiled and counted in his head; one, two, three... Four? Five? That wasn't right was it?

"ED, you checked the door five timeth inthtead of three. What the hell, I thought that wath thome obthethive cumpulthive crap, why'd you thuddenly change the number?"

Eridan yawned loudly and patted the door as if it had done a good job, "three didn't feel right, so I had to go to the next good number. I have to check it three, five or seven times, but never two or four. Two an four are shit numbers." He shrugged, acting as if this was completely obvious. After a moment of awkward silence that Sollux must have been using to try and figure out what the hell Eridan had meant by all of that, they began switching off lights. They held hands as Eridan led the way to his bedroom.

"Holy shit, your room'th immaculate. What'th through there?" Sollux marvelled at the spotlessness of the bedroom, then strolled over to the bathroom door, he opened it, and nearly screamed, "what the FUCK? Not only do you have two fucking bathrooms, one of them ith the thize of a colotheum! Why the hell do you even need a bathroom thith big?" He made his way over the gigantic walk-in shower, feeling nothing but jealousy until he had an idea, "hey, ED, lookth like you could fit two people in here quite comfortably."

"You can fit three in there with room to spare, actually." Eridan looked a little too smarmy as he picked up his toothbrush.

Sollux pouted a little, trying not to think about what Eridan had implied there. He pulled his own toothbrush out of his bag before nodding at the large bathtub, "I thuppothe you can fit three in there, too?"

Eridan tried not to smile, it was fun seeing his boyfriend getting a little jealous, "no, it's a little to small for three. But two can fit in there very easily." He began brushing his teeth, trying not to make eye contact with Sollux's very grumpy reflection.

At that moment, Sollux swore to himself that he would make Eridan forget all about whoever else may have had fun with him in the bathroom. He would make sure that Eridan would only be able to think about him when he looked at anything in the room. Sollux continued to glare as he brushed his teeth.

Once they had both finished, they returned to the bedroom. Eridan instantly pulled off everything but his socks and boxers, leaving his clothes wherever they landed. He rationalised that he would pick them up in the morning before he got ready for work, as doing it at that precise moment seemed like the last thing he wanted to do. The only thing he took care to do before dropping onto the bed, was to put his glasses on the bedside table beside his phone.

Sollux stripped himself down to his boxers and socks too, feeling a little self conscious. Eridan was lean, and had a very nice amount of muscle definition that had obviously come from his swimming. Sollux looked down at himself; he was a scrawny, wiry, lanky fuck, and he didn't get outside nearly enough to get any kind of tan, and 'oh God what the hell am I even doing here? I'm not good enough, I shouldn't be here, I'm fucking disappointment, I'm ugly, I'm disgusting, oh FUCK-' His thought process was cut short by Eridan suddenly grabbing his hand and pulling him onto the bed.

"C'mon Sol, stop just standin' there, lookin' fuckin' gorgeous, an start keepin' me warm." Eridan ran a hand shamelessly across his boyfriend's bare stomach, before curling his arms around him and pulling him close, resting his head against Sollux's chest. Eridan listened to the slow thumping beat of Sollux's heart, he heard it speed up a little, and he smiled.

Sollux dropped his sunglasses onto the floor, not wanting to turn around and attempt to find the table on his side of the bed. He wrapped his arms around Eridan, and held him close, trying not to focus on how their bodies were pressed flush against one another. After a couple of minutes, he was about to make a little suggestion that maybe they should do something to tire themselves out, when he heard a snuffling snore come from Eridan.

"ED?" Sollux whispered, but he knew that there was no way in hell that Eridan was going to answer, "fuck." He groaned a little; Sollux wasn't tired, so he doubted he'd fall asleep any time soon, and even if he wanted to move away, he was trapped in Eridan's boa constricter sleep-grip. He kept hold of Eridan, but shifted his hips away a little, trying not to press up against him too much.

This looked as if it would end up being a very long night for Sollux.