My reviews blew up.

I was able to get this posted so fast because I had the bulk of it already written-out (as well as a lot of the next chapter) and also I won't be able to update tomorrow at all because I have duty, I can't leave the ship, and there's no Internet. I knew I couldn't leave you guys like that for TWO WHOLE DAYS okay?

Many thanks to obsessed01616, Riku Michaelis, Kerra-Chan, LinkinPark X, walomadolo, Bitblondetoday, cherrylipbalm, thepeopleofthecrysis, RandomAnonymous, crimsonkoteto, Wolfen Artist of Hetalia, CatastrophicAquarius, and iDreamBig for your reviews to the last act!

(The person who said "You guys can stop now" was Karkat, and he was shooshed by John and Nepeta. I fully imagine Terezi in the background, saying "What's going on? I can't see, fuckers!")

By the time the movie ended, people were dragging sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets out of their bags and setting up camp on the basement floor. John, Karkat, and Terezi used each other as pillows and passed out quite easily. Equius dragged the couch away from the wall enough for Tavros to curl up behind it (he said he was used to not having a whole lot of space between the wall and Gamzee and was even comforted by it because he did kind of miss his boyfriend right now) while Equius actually stretched out on the couch and fell asleep, oblivious to Nepeta napping on top of him. Aradia fell asleep on the floor next to him, her fingers intertwined with his, and Sol lay down with his back to hers, his glasses on the floor next to him, folded up neatly next to his plugged-in, albeit fully-charged phone. Dave passed out in a recliner, his head tilted back, his own glasses still on, and his graceless limbs flung across the back and dangling over arm rests. Snuggled up in the other recliner were Kanaya and Rose, huddled together under a blanket. Eridan and Feferi were the last two awake, the only ones to finish watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Once it was over, she let out a yawn and nearly fell backwards.

"It was a pretty good night," she said finally, stretching her arms over her head.

"Yeah. Um. I need to talk to you."

"About?"

At that moment, Equius gave a sleepy grunt, shifted his massive, ungainly frame, and unconsciously put his arm around Nepeta. He appeared to be fast asleep, but he could wake up at any moment and, besides, he wasn't quite convinced everyone was fully asleep yet. He didn't want anyone else to hear this. "Follow me."

He climbed to his feet and helped her up, and he led her down the basement hallway to the bathroom, flipped on the light, and half-closed the door.

"Alright, Eridan, what is it?" Feferi crossed her arms over her chest but her expression was far from stony. She looked equal parts concerned, curious, and tipsy. Eridan was none of those save the last, and he told himself there would never be a better time for this. Everyone was happy. It was perfect.

But the words stuck in his throat and he struggled to say them. "Look, Fef, I... I like you, okay?" he said, figuring the simplest explanation was easiest.

She rolled her eyes. "Obviously. We've been fronds for years."

"That's not what I meant."

He saw her swallow and look down.

"You know what I meant," he murmured, realization dawning.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just... a little confused. You... you kissed Sollux. You seemed to like it. A lot."

His stomach lurched in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant to remember that. "Yeah, so?"

"So why would you enjoy it if you like me so much?"

The question gave him pause. Admittedly, Sol had been dared to kiss him, but he'd kissed him with such a visible enthusiasm that went beyond a mere dare that he knew what she meant. He'd wanted to kiss Sol—he wouldn't deny that even though merely admitting it was to admit that he'd been fighting against it this whole time. But Fef... She'd been with him through everything. She was everything to him. He'd had a crush on his sweet Fef for years now... hadn't he? "I don't know."

She sighed. "So what do you want from me?"

Uncertainty wracked him. Six months ago, he would have easily been able to say, "To be with you" or something to that effect, but kissing Sol had altered everything he ever thought he knew—about himself, about Sol, about Fef, about everyone. But it had been a long time since he'd kissed anyone before Sol. Maybe he'd just fallen out of the habit of how it felt. Vriska had affected him similarly to Sol, but her kisses had more of a savage bent than his. "Can I kiss you?" he asked, so softly that for a second, he wasn't sure she'd heard him.

But she had, and she nodded after a moment, biting on her lip.

He took a step closer to her, and then another, until they were practically nose-to-nose. He didn't think he'd ever been this close to her before; her eyes were so big that once he thought he could drown in them. Could it still happen? Gently, he tilted her chin and pressed his mouth to hers.

It was different. He felt it immediately. The most overwhelming feeling was awkwardness because the moment their lips met, he realized how wrong it felt and, unbidden, Sol's face floated up in his head. He suddenly wished it was the taller boy here with him, a realization that set his heart pounding. But it was all the answer he needed—whether he'd once really wanted to be with her or it was something he told himself, the illusion was shattered. He saw no point in dragging this out longer than necessary. He pulled back and Feferi's eyes fluttered open again.

"Whale?" she asked.

"It wasn't horrible," he admitted with a bare smile. Technically speaking, it was a nice kiss. But there was nothing behind it—no passion. Both of them felt how weird it was. Everything made sense, though. He'd never been able to find the right time to tell her he liked her because somewhere deep inside, he hadn't wanted to.

"But?"

"Nothin'," Eridan murmured. "I thought that... never mind."

But somehow, Fef knew what he'd been about to say. "You thought it'd feel like it did with him?"

"Uh. Yeah." He sighed.

"So I guess you like Sollux, then."

There was fear in his eyes, but his voice was calm. "I dunno. I... maybe."

"You want to kiss him again?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna do more than that with him?"

He was afraid to acknowledge it. I'm not gay, some part of him protested feebly, his heart rate ticking up, his breathing heavy in his chest, his whole head roaring—but slowly, he nodded. He did. He wanted to kiss him again, and more, but the whole world had flipped itself over. He'd spent basically twenty-one years telling himself he was straight but all he wanted to do was shove Sol down on his bed and cover him with kisses. There was no way in Hell he was straight, not if Sol made him feel like this.

"You wanna watch Harry Potter movies with him?" she asked with a faint grin. From somewhere far away, he heard a rapid beeping, but he ignored it.

He cracked a smile himself at that question. "Fef, the list a' people I wouldn't watch Harry Potter with is a very short one."

Her grin widened. "I mean, you wanna watch Harry Potter with him without actually watching the movie?"

"Yeah."

"Look, Eridan, I know I can't reelly sea what's in your head right now, but it seams to me that you're at least attracted to him."

He nodded, sighing. "Yeah, not that it matters. He doesn't like me."

She scoffed, crossing her arms back over her chest. "Oh, please. Were you even there when you two were kissing? I wasn't sure he was going to let you go. He likes you. A lot."

"Then why did he seem so against the idea a' me kissin' him in the first place?" he challenged.

"Use your brain," she said, rapping on his forehead with her knuckles. "I know you got one in that think pan of yours. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that being a guy with a crush on another guy who protests his heterosexuality at every conceivable opperch-tunaty is a bit depressing. He probably doesn't want to give himself false hope. Although... if there is hope, it might behoove you to tell him."

"But I... I never..."

"Dated a buoy? It's not that different from dating a gill, and as I recall, you haven't done much of that anyway."

"Ouch."

She grinned.

"I meant the sex thing, though."

"You don't have to sleep with him, you know—not if you don't want to. And he should respect it if you don't want to, or else he's an asshole. But I'm sure he'd be more than willing to take it slow if you at least glub with him, okay? And one day, you might just want to. What could it hurt to maybe sea where it goes? He likes you and you clearly like him." She shrugged. "But what do I know, right? I'm only your frond, giving you a bit of guidance."

She was right, of course. She was always right. He nodded again.

"Come on." She grabbed him by the wrist and tugged him to the door, flipping off the light. "You buoys can glub about it now or you can glub about it later but right now, I need some sleep." She put a hand to her forehead. "I think everyone's all asleep right now anyway." She led him back out to the basement. He suddenly realized how tired he was and thought, deliriously, that everyone looked like grubs all wrapped up in blankets and sleeping bags like that. He picked his way over people and located his own sleeping bag, climbed into it, and yawned. Fef let out a yawn of her own and burrowed right to the bottom of her sleeping bag. He rolled over to his side, opening his eyes for one long moment to just look at Sol...

He was gone. The mustard-yellow sleeping bag he'd brought was empty, the glasses he'd set on the floor next to him were gone, and his phone had disappeared as well.

Eridan sat up and fumbled for his own phone. He unzipped his sleeping bag again and got up, dialing Sol's number and hurrying out of the basement as quickly and quietly as possible.

"Where you going?" Fef asked sleepily as he left, but he didn't bother to answer.

It rang for half a second until it went right to voicemail. "Captor here. I can't come to the phone right now. Talk to the beep."

"Fuck," Eridan muttered, waiting for the beep. "Hey, Sol, it's Eridan. Uh, look, you're not... You seem to hav-ve v-vanished," he stuttered, wishing he could sound more confident. He hadn't stuttered or slurred like this when talking to Fef, after all. "Just w-wonderin' w-where you are. Um, I'm gonna look around the house an' see if I can find you. I'll giv-ve you a call back if I can't. Yeah, um, bye." He hung up, feeling awkward, and began his top-to-bottom search for Sol.

He didn't even know why it bothered him so much. Sol was probably in one of the upstairs bathrooms, taking a piss (or trying to find one of the upstairs bathrooms, since he hadn't bothered to give any of them the grand tour. He figured they'd be staying in the basement the whole time, so what was the point unless he wanted Karkat to think he was flaunting his wealth. Maybe he had thought about it, but he wasn't that much of a dick). Still, something about it didn't seem right. Would Sol have taken his glasses and his phone with him?

Maybe. If Sol was as near-sighted as him, he would definitely need his glasses, and people almost always had their phones on them. If he was in the bathroom, it would make sense if he didn't answer. In fact, it would have been weird if he had answered.

He resumed his search through the house, poking his head into every room and letting out a quick, whispered, "Sol? You in here?" No answer anywhere. The longer he looked, the more he felt his worry mounting until he glanced into an empty bathroom on the third floor.

Shit. Suddenly, he remembered the beeping he'd heard while he and Fef were in the bathroom. Now that he thought about it, it had sounded a lot like the security system going off, announcing someone opening an outside door. He scrambled back downstairs and checked the system to confirm that, yes, the front door had been opened twenty-two minutes ago.

It could have only been Sol leaving. Everyone else was accounted for—even Cronus and Meenah were asleep in Cronus's room.

Anxious, he dialed Sol's number, waited for the beep, and left another message. "Hey, Sol, it's Eridan. Looks like you took off. Security system shows someone leav-vin' about tw-wenty minutes ago an' I'm guessin' that w-was you. Um..." He struggled to keep the worry out of his voice and failed miserably. "Look, I dunno w-why you left but I'm comin' to get you. It's fuckin' cold out there right now-w. Stick tight, I'll be there soon. An' call me back as soon as you can, okay? Okay, bye." He hung up, hovered for a moment in the hallway, and finally headed back downstairs for his car keys.

Feferi and her stupid fish puns. UGH I imagine she uses them more when she's drunk but they're even worse then.