This is a little bit of a short chapter, but I hope that it's still good enough.
Thank you all so much for the views, reviews, favourites and follows. Seriously, you're all wonderful, and I really hope you continue to enjoy this. So, really, thank you.
Hold onto your butts.
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The finishing date for everyone's courses was rapidly approaching, and Sollux was a little pissed to hear that Eridan would be finishing a full three weeks before him.
"Thith ith bullshit, how come your courthe endth nextht week?" He grumbled, leaning back in his chair as he watched Eridan dish up the curry he had been making.
"Well, I also started my school year earlier, you know?" Eridan made his way over to the Kitchen table, and set down the plates, "but don't worry, I'll keep my obviously distracting body away from you so that you can work on your final stuff and revisions in peace." He sat down, and picked up a fork. Sollux smiled as he noticed the curry had been plated the same way the spaghetti bolognese from their last date day had been; with the sauce on one side, not touching the rice, or spaghetti.
Sollux happily began eating; he had been working on some more programming when Eridan had messaged him about coming over for some dinner, and Sollux had realised that it was 6PM, and he had gone an entire day without eating. Again.
As they ate, Eridan suddenly began waving a hand to get Sollux's attention, and when the nerd looked at him with an extremely confused grimace, Eridan frowned and chewed as quickly as he could. Once his mouthful had been swallowed, Eridan drank a sip of water, then spoke, "I forgot to mention, Kan has asked me to go out with her for some celebratory drinks on Thursday. You see, most of us are pretty much done with our projects, although I usually find somethin' last minute, an go crazy tryin' to complete it on time," he rubbed the back of his neck, "but yeah, anyway, I kind a wanted to check what time you wanted me round on Friday for our date day, you know? I doubt I'll be gettin' drunk, but still, if I know I've got to get up early, I'll definitely keep away from havin' a sneaky whiskey, or two."
Shit. Sollux hadn't really thought about what they could do, and he was quickly leaning towards just having another lazy gaming day, so he shrugged, "do what you want, I mean, truthfully I haven't been able to come up with anything exthtravagant," he hesitated, before adding, "and to be completely honetht with you, I mothtly come up with my ideath latht minute, you know?"
Eridan shook his head in mock disbelief, "oh wow, really? I couldn't possibly believe that!" He poked Sollux's thigh with a grin, "well they're always bloody good dates, so it kind a works with you bein' so scatter-brained an such." His barrage of pokes ceased, as he returned his hand to his fork, and pushed around the rice on his plate.
Sollux took a moment to think, he really was shit at coming up with ideas for their dates, but he always wanted to do something special, it was just that sometimes he just needed a uneventful day to wind down after a week of social interaction and bullshit. He listened to Eridan chatting away about all the artist friends who would be coming along for this drink, and he felt himself getting a little jealous; asides from being on a friendly basis with Roxy, Sollux wouldn't really consider himself friends with many people in his class, but Eridan seemed to know everyone in his, and now he was going out with them.
"So I know for sure that Kan an Rose are comin', an I'm pretty sure that those twins I told you about will be there too, I mean, I like the girl, but the boy is a nasty piece a work." Eridan hummed for a second, and began listing off all the members of his class that would be attending, completely oblivious to Sollux's disinterested look.
Just as Sollux had begun stabbing random pieces of chicken with his fork, Eridan touched his free hand, "I know I might seem like a dick goin' out the night before our date night, but I promise, I'll be round promptly at lunch time." He lifted the hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles gently, "I promise."
Sollux rolled his eyes, but couldn't prevent the corners of his lips from twitching upwards, "fuck off, ED." He thought for a second, and then smirked, "and if you turn up all shitty and hung-over, I'm playing the loudetht, heavietht muthic I own, and I'll make you eat a bag of M&M'th... Blindfolded."
Eridan scoffed, and looked absolutely horrified, "no, Sol that ain't even funny, what if I eat an orange one after a blue? No, Sol, they've got to be organised before I eat them."
"You're tho fucking weird." Sollux said affectionately.
Once their plates were cleared, Eridan and Sollux left them to soak in the sink. They retired to the living room, and cuddled up on the sofa to watch some awful TV show that neither of them actually paid much attention to.
After a little while, Sollux glanced down at the hipster who was lying between his legs, with his head on his chest. He ran his fingers through Eridan's purple chunk of hair, "are you worried?" He asked quietly.
Eridan paused before turning his blue eyes towards Sollux, "about what?" He reached up and pulled Sollux's sunglasses off, not wanting there to be a barrier between them.
"You're finishing in a week, ED, doethn't that thcare the fucking shit out of you?" Sollux was honestly curious why his obsessive compulsive boyfriend wasn't tearing down the walls with worry.
"I already told you, I'm finished." Eridan stretched a little, and reached up to lazily play with Sollux's hair, "I make my lists, I follow my lists, I complete my work. It's how I function, Sol. Perfect organisation." He sighed contently.
Sollux leant against Eridan's hands, and enjoyed the way the Aquarius' nails trailed across his scalp, "yeah, I gueth, but thtill, it'th a worrying thing ithn't it? Finishing, and the finality of it."
"Sol, art ain't like that. It'll be nice to finish to be honest." Eridan hesitated, "look, some days I just can't draw, an it's fuckin hard to bring myself to lift up a pencil, you know? There's no inspiration, or motivation, an everythin' looks like complete bee ess, but when you have a deadline, you got to force yourself to do it, an you end up havin' to hand in some fuckin' shoddy crap that you ain't happy with. It's fuckin' shameful, but you kind a have to do it, you know? But when my course is over, art will be somethin' that's just for me again; no schedules an shit, it'll be amazin'." Eridan looked pretty excited, and he playfully pulled Sollux's ears outwards.
"I'm guething you haven't thuffered from much art block then?" Sollux asked, tilting his head to move his ears out of Eridan's grip.
Eridan sat up properly, and prodded Sollux's chest, "remember how I didn't really talk to you these past few days, asides from sayin' goodnight an stuff?" He puffed out his chest proudly, "well that was me havin' a manic art period, Sol. I didn't sleep for days, an I just drew an painted, an I fuckin finished off my final pieces. It was just about the best thing that could a happened to me."
Sollux had hardly even noticed the lack of communication, as he had been busy as hell himself, "fair enough, tho when can I thee your work, then?" He asked hopefully. His hopes were destroyed as he saw the terrified look on Eridan's face.
"Not noww Sol, seriously, I'm not good at showwin' off my art," he chewed the inside of his cheek, before reluctantly muttering, "fuck. Look, one a the things we have to do with our final pieces is present it nicely at our desks, because they have to be on display for the college's open days, so the people interested in joinin' the class can see what we do." He crossed his arms grumpily, and acted as if this was somehow the answer Sollux had been looking for.
"Tho what? What'th that got to do with me theeing your work?" Sollux flicked one of Eridan's ears, careful not to hit the piercing.
Eridan clamped a hand over his ear, before shooting Sollux an exasperated look, "Jesus, Sol, I'm tryin' to say that I'll let you come to the open day, an I'll show you my work, okay?" He huffed quietly, "I just want it to look perfect before I show it to you."
Sollux grinned, feeling victorious. He grabbed Eridan's cheeks, and pulled him close, pressing kisses against his lips, "thoundth good to me, ED. Thankth."
"Get off, you tit," Eridan grumbled, pulling himself out of Sollux's grasp, "you're just lucky I fuckin' love you, or I'd never agree to show you my drawin's."
"I'm the luckietht." Sollux grabbed Eridan again, and pulled him into a playful hug, "and I fucking love you too."
-.-.-
Sollux sighed as he received yet another photo from Eridan. This time it was a selfie of the entire group; they were clambering on top of eachother in the bar's booth, in an attempt to be included in the photo, and Eridan was sat right in the middle, pouting to try and look sad, which was a stark difference to the wide smiles plastered on everyone else's faces.
'wwish you wwas here xxx'
The fact that Sollux could see so many empty glasses on the table didn't help his anxiety. He usually didn't give a shit about these kinds of things, as he considered himself a pretty laid-back boyfriend, but the memory of the first time he and Eridan had gotten drunk played on his mind, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried that someone else might try something with his boyfriend, and the alcohol would make him go along with it and-
Sollux shook his head, Eridan wasn't like that. Besides, if anyone even so much as tried to chat him up, he'd probably just headbutt them. This thought made Sollux grin to himself, it was nice having a boyfriend who was strong, and completely unafraid to stand up for himself.
Even though he was still a little jealous, he had never felt tempted to tell Eridan he couldn't go. There was no way in hell that he was going to be that controlling. So with a sigh, he text back.
'ii wii2h ii wa2 wiith you two, ED. have fun, ii can't waiit two 2ee you.'
He set his phone down, and continued with his programming work, trying to think about how relaxed the date day was going to be, what with them both agreeing to have a nice day of Pokemon, and films. Sollux's mind wandered, and he considered making Eridan watch every episode of the Pokemon cartoon, afterall, the hipster had a lot of catching up to do.
It was 1AM when he got a phonecall.
"Thup, ED?" Sollux greeted, shifting to hold the phone against his head using his shoulder, so that he could continue typing.
Eridan's voice was a little slurred, and punctuated with snorts of laughter, "Solll? Hi! Hey, guess what, Sol."
Great. Eridan was more than a little tipsy, "what ith it?" Sollux tried to bite back a scathing remark, reasoning that Eridan would be fine after a nice sleep, and that this wasn't too bad.
"I happen to be a chivvil... Chivalrous gentleman," Eridan laughed softly, "I walked Kan an Rose all the way home, an now I'm walkin' back to mine."
Sollux rolled his eyes, "yeah, real gentlemanly, tho how wath your night? I'm guething you had a lot of fun?"
"Fuck, where am I? Oh, wait, sorry, I walked into someone's garden, shhh!" It sounded as if Eridan was pushing past some bushes, and then he started speaking again, "oh Sol, I had such a lot a fun, but I missed you! I told everyone about how handsome an hot my boyfriend is, an how pretty his eyes are, an how I love his voice, an how much I just love him!" Eridan sighed happily, and started singing something under his breath.
It was pretty tiring speaking to Eridan when he was like this, but Sollux wanted to make sure that he got home okay, besides, it was nice hearing that Eridan was talking about him in such a loving way, "yeah? Thankth ED. Maybe we can go out together thome time, and get a little tipthy ourthelveth, and thtumble back to mine and thee what happenth?" Sollux grinned to himself, and heard Eridan gasp dramatically.
"Sol! That's naughty! You know, shhh, you know I had someone else askin' me to do that tonight!" Eridan laughed obnoxiously, and Sollux felt his blood run cold, "he came up an asked me if I wanted a drink, an I said nope, an he asked if I wanted to come an sit with him, an maybe head back to his place, an guess what I said?"
Sollux's mouth suddenly felt very dry, and he shifted positions to hold the phone with his hand, "well I'm hoping you told him to fuck off." He mumbled.
Eridan laughed again, "I told him to shove his place up his arse! But... Sol, he was a bit weird, he kept lookin' at me from the bar an shit, an he sent like, three drinks over my table, an it was really weird." There was a little sniffing noise, and a pause, but when Eridan spoke again, his voice was lighter, "but oh my God, Sol, I had a girl ask me to come an dance with her too!"
"Wow, really?" Sollux didn't even attempt to try and sound interested at this point, he just pressed his forehead against his desk, "damn it, Eridan, why do you have to attract that kind of attention? You're too... You."
There was a little hesitation before Eridan spoke again, but he sounded as if he was trying very hard not to slur his words, "Sol, I notice when people look at you, too. You never seem to see it, but you always have people givin' you second looks, an it's stupid because part a me feels like punchin' them in their fat heads, an another part a me feels... Proud, because I'm the one with you, you know?"
Sollux felt his cheeks burn, and he sat up to listen properly, "no one lookth at me like that, come on." He kicked his legs to roll his computer-chair over to his mirror, and looked at himself closely, trying to see what these non-existent strangers supposedly saw in him, "bethideth no one ever buyth me drinkth, or athkth me to danthe, or anything like that."
"Sol, you never go anywhere that would end up with you dancin', an maybe you're always with someone who looks like your partner when you're drinkin', but you seriously do get a lot a people lookin' at you. It's because you're gorgeous, even when your eyes are covered, an I'm fuckin' lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky." He paused for a moment, "I'm cold I think I'm goin' to head inside now."
"You're already home?" Sollux rolled back over to his computer and saved his programming progress, then stood up and stretched.
Eridan yawned loudly, and there was a jingling sound that Sollux assumed was made by a set of keys, "mhm, I'm home. Hey Sol, I can't wait to see you tomorrow. I'm goin' to dress in my best clothes an you can ask me if I want to dance, okay?"
This made Sollux laugh, "I don't danthe, but sure, I'll athk you if you want to thtand with me and bob awkwardly to muthic. I can't wait to thee you either, ED." He started laughing as Eridan began singing loudly.
"Heaven, heaven! I'm in heaven, an my heart beats so that I can hardly speak, an I seem to find the happiness I seek, when we're out together dancin' cheek to cheek!" There was a sudden clattering noise, and Sollux snorted as he realised that Eridan had dropped the phone, "sorry about that Sol, I tried to spin an nearly fell on my ass! But I bet you didn't know I like jazz, an that I could sing like a fuckin' angel."
Sollux couldn't even help himself, "that wath the furthetht from angelic I've ever heard, ED. No offenthe, but you could kill angelth with that warbling bullshit."
After laughing for a little while, Eridan forced his voice to sound as pissed off as possible, "how dare you Sol, I am a musical genius. Anyway, I'm fuckin' chilly as shit, an I think my nipples are in danger a fallin' off, so I am goin' to head in an go to bed. I love you, Sol."
"I love you too, ED. Night." Sollux looked down at his phone, and hung up. He shook his head, grinning, before setting his phone down on his desk, and heading to the bathroom to have a shower.
Sollux stripped off, and turned the taps. It was nice to stand under the stream of steaming, hot water, as his muscles were aching ridiculously. After standing under the water for what seemed like forever, he finally reached for the new shampoo he had bought himself; he uncapped it, and gave a sniff, smiling at the smell of honey and apricot. Eridan had insisted on choosing the set of shampoo and conditioner, promising Sollux that his hair would look and feel amazing if he started using it; Sollux didn't mind about how his hair looked, but he appreciated the fact that the name of the products was 'bee strong', and this had actually been one of the things that made him decide that it would become his regular showering product. Afterall, who couldn't appreciate a good bee pun now and again? It was a beautiful thing.
He was in a surprisingly good mood considering that he had been so anxious, and even a little pissed off earlier, and Sollux couldn't help but think that it was because Eridan had turned down the guy's offer, and had actually sounded truthful when he mentioned the fact that strangers gave him second glances. It was nice to hear things like that every now and again.
After drying himself with a towel, Sollux pulled his shirt and boxers back on and flopped into his bed. He considered double-checking his alarm, but didn't see a point. He was pretty sure that he had set it, and even if he didn't, what was the worst thing that could happen? Eridan would come in, and either wake him up, or climb straight into bed with him, it was a win-win situation, and that made Sollux consider actually turning his alarm off.
He snuggled down into his pillows, and felt extremely relaxed. It didn't take long for him to drift off.
-.-.-
Sollux mumbled incoherently as he started waking up, and he pulled his quilt over his head to block out the sunlight. He tried to fall back asleep by staying completely still, and clenching his eyes shut, but it didn't work. After about ten minutes or so, he groaned and got up, reasoning that he would get himself some breakfast before Eridan came round.
He picked up his phone, and frowned at the time, it was already 2PM, but no one had woken him up yet. Sollux got up, and left his room, noticing that he had a couple of missed calls, so maybe someone had tried to wake him up by phoning him.
Karkat was sat in the living room, watching a film, and he jumped as Sollux walked down the stairs, "holy fucking shit, Sollux, you baggy asshole! Try and make some noise when you walk into a room, you scared the shit out of me!" He frowned at Sollux's expression, "what the fuck are you looking at?"
"ED'th not here with you?" Sollux asked. He started to rationalise that Eridan was probably hung over, and he actually felt pretty pissed off that the hipster had let himself get that drunk. After making his way over to Karkat, and flopping down onto the sofa next to him, he checked his phone for the missed calls, and noticed the answer phone message.
The missed calls were from about five minutes after Sollux had hung up to have a shower, meaning that he missed them because he was washing himself. He rolled his eyes, "lookth like ED wanted to thay goodnight again." He muttered, lifting the phone to his ear to listen to the robotic answer phone service. It took him a minute or so to get into his messages, but after typing in the long string of numbers, he finally heard the message.
Eridan's voice crackled to life in his ear, and Sollux laughed at the first sentence, "shit Sol, this ain't my house. Shhh! Fuck... This, this is seriously not my house."
"Oh my God, KK, lithten to thith." Sollux turned on the speaker phone, and Karkat paused his film to listen to Eridan's drunken mumblings.
"Sol, Sol, Sol, I think I know where I am, but fuck, how the shit did I even end up here? This is bullcrap, I swear, I'm never doin' the gentlemanly thing again, an walkin' anyone home, they can kiss my ass," There was a pause as a car drove past, then Eridan continued, "right I think I need to go left, don't I? Sol? Do I?"
Sollux and Karkat tried not to laugh out loud, so that they could listen, and not miss anything. This could end up being something that they could use against Eridan, maybe as a way of getting out of going on a particularly spa-orientated date.
"Sol, are you even there? Fuckin' hell, I phone you up an you're all silent an- oh wait," there was a brief snort-laughing session from Eridan, and it sounded as if he slapped his own forehead, "oh my God, I'm so dumb, this is an answer phone message! You'll have to text me after you listen to it, an tell me if I'm goin' the right way, okay? Okay." The sound of Eridan's footsteps were the only thing Karkat and Sollux could hear for about three minutes.
Karkat rolled his eyes, "Sollux, I think your crusty nipple of a boyfriend forgot he was even on the phone, this could be like an hour or just listening to him walking in circles until he passes out in a bin." Despite this, Karkat seemed enthralled by the message, and he listened intently.
Sollux was about to retort, when he heard something that made his heart freeze in his chest.
"Sol," Eridan was whispering into the phone, and he actually sounded scared. It was the first thing he had said in a couple of minutes, and Sollux didn't like the tone of his voice, "there are some people behind me, an they've been walkin' behind me for a while now, an I think they're followin' me."
Sollux and Karkat looked at eachother, and the sickeningly numb feeling of fear crept through Sollux's veins, "KK, can you try an phone ED, pleathe?" He mumbled, hardly even feeling his lips move as he spoke.
Karkat dove forwards at the table, and snatched up his phone, dialling quickly.
Eridan's breathing had quickened, "oh God, I'm goin' down different roads, an they're still there, they're still right fuckin' behind me." He sniffed quietly, and there was a rustling noise, "Sol, I think your place is closer, I'm goin' to come over. I'm not okay, Sol."
The silence in the living room was thick and heavy, and Sollux felt his stomach drop. He swallowed and never tore his eyes away from the phone, "KK, pleathe tell me that you saw Eridan thith morning."
Karkat hung up his own phone, "I think I would have fucking told you if I did, Sollux. Fuck, he's not answering, FUCK!" He quickly tried calling Eridan again, and chewed nervously on his thumb nail.
Sollux nearly threw his phone against the wall when he heard a voice he didn't recognise, "oi mate, have you got a light?"
From the way that the voices suddenly became muffled, Sollux thought to himself that Eridan had probably put his phone in his pocket to hide it from the people.
He held his own phone closer to his ear, trying to hear the quiet voices, and Katkat continued to try and get hold of Eridan. Sollux frowned, he thought he heard something about 'don't smoke, sorry' and 'can my friend use your phone', but he couldn't hear. "Damn it, ED! What the fuck are they thaying?" Sollux shouted, wishing that Eridan would answer his damn phone and speak to Karkat.
"Fuck off!" Eridan suddenly screamed, and there was a thudding noise, followed by an unfamiliar voice groaning. Sollux's breathing quickened, and he looked at Karkat fearfully, as the sounds of a fight came from the phone.
It didn't last long, but soon the shouts of pain from the unknown voices stopped, and there was only the continuous, loud, thumping noise, punctuated by faint, agony-filled whimpers. Sollux covered his mouth as he listened, and wanted nothing more than to hang up, and pretend it never happened, but he had to listen, he had to make sure that Eridan was okay.
The dull thudding seemed to last forever, and Sollux felt his heart break when the whimpering was suddenly silenced, "Eridan?" He whispered to the phone, willing his boyfriend to answer somehow.
There was a second before he heard some weird rummaging noises, and Sollux glanced pleadingly at Karkat, who shook his head, and redailled once again.
Eridan's message suddenly ended, and Sollux tried to think of a reason that it was bullshit, why it couldn't be true. He looked around desperately, and ignored the fact that his cheeks were wet, and that Karkat was gripping his shoulder tightly with a hand. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, willing himself to wake up, because this had happened before, it was just a dream, it was just another awful, horrific dream, and he needed to wake up, because Eridan was on his way over, and he was going to ask the hipster to dance, and they were both going to bob awkwardly to some jazz music, just like they promised, and his alarm would go off at any moment, and he would wake the fuck up.
He felt the contents of his stomach shift, and his blood ran cold when Karkat spoke.
"Sollux, his phone just got turned off."