You have no idea how close this came to not being done today, BUT I KNEW I HAD TO since there would be no update tomorrow. So I got another tattoo today. It was supposed to be a pin-up girl, but this is way better: a Hispanic beauty with the Guadalupe rays around her. No color yet. That'll be for next Sunday. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed the latest chapter of "When Blood Sings" after I verbally berated you for not doing it lol.

Many thanks to LinkinPark X, FanfictionFinatic2, CatastrophicAquarius, thepeopleofthecrysis, obsessed01616, Bitblondetoday, and DarkBlueMahogany for your reviews to the last act! (HOLY SHIT GUYS THERE ARE NOW 500 REVIEWS ON THIS!)


When Sollux next saw Aradia, he knew she'd be understandably frantic. Well, frantic wasn't the right word, but it was the first one that came to mind. She'd be eager to talk to him, anyway.

So he waited until after his last class of the day to go and see her. He figured waiting would be better since she'd no doubt want to pick apart every little detail of the night before, and since he had promised her those, the longer he had, the better.

"Sollux Elaine Captor!" she screamed the moment she caught sight of him.

"Um, excuse you." He set his backpack down next to the only unoccupied seat, stuck in between Aradia and Nepeta, across from Equius, and slouched down in the seat. "That's not my middle name."

"Then what is?"

"Angela, duh." Aradia and Nepeta cracked up, and even Equius smiled at the joke. "No, but seriously, that needs to stop."

"What? Shouting fake middle names in public?"

"Exactly."

"Maybe I wouldn't if you didn't piss me off so much."

"How did I piss you off?" Sollux asked, knowing full well what she was talking about.

"It's called a text message, and you should answer yours."

"I figured it was a conversation best had in person." He glanced at Nepeta and Equius. With them here, he certainly wasn't about to delve into the more intimate details of his date with Eridan. Hell, he wasn't even sure he wanted to tell Aradia everything that had happened. Right now, he kind of wanted to keep it to himself, as if by admitting aloud what had happened, it would dispel the dream.

Besides, he didn't know what Eridan had told Feferi, and he didn't want to give away anything Eridan might not be comfortable with.

"You look nice," Nepeta said slyly, breaking into the conversation.

Wha—oh. Sollux was forcibly reminded that he was, in fact, wearing Eridan's clothes. He'd actually forgotten. "Um. Thanks."

"Are these Eridan's?" Aradia asked, plucking at the shirt.

"Yeah. My clothes didn't..." Whoops. That was getting into the realm of no return.

"Didn't what?" Nepeta asked, appearing innocent, but he recognized that tone of voice as anything but innocent.

"Didn't get washed," Sollux finished.

"Sollux. Why would you need to wash your clothes?"

"I took a shower."

"Why would you need to take a shower?"

"Because I hadn't showered all day?"

"Hush, Neps, I know all about what happened with him and Eridan. I'm more interested in why he didn't tell me that he and Eridan are now boyfriends."

Sollux set his forehead on the table. "Again, a conversation better had in person. Besides, it just happened this morning." It was still fragile. He was afraid that if he grabbed on too tightly, it would shatter in his hands. He just wanted to preserve it in case it was gone tomorrow.

Aradia let out a delighted squeak and gave him an awkward side-hug. "I'm so happy for you! But you should have told me!"

"I didn't know he was going to tell FF and that she was going to tell NP and you were going to find out before I could tell you." It still seemed surreal. He was wearing Eridan's clothes and he'd spent the night before in Eridan's bed, but all of it hadn't quite sunken in yet. He did know that he wished Eridan was there with him, and even admitting it to himself made him want to hide for a week.

Aradia pouted, having to content herself with a logical answer she didn't like, and said, "Well, Halloween is on Thursday. We need to figure out what we're going to do. All the good costumes will probably be gone already."

Sollux finally straightened up. "I can just be what I am every other day of the year," he said.

"A condescending killjoy?" Aradia half-joked.

"Yeah, that."

"No. You need a costume. It's Halloween," she insisted. "Neps, what are you—? Wait. Nope, I bet I can guess. You're going to be a cat."

"Close! I'm going to be a lion!" Nepeta announced proudly. "With a big mane and everything!"

"I'm certain you'll be the mane event," Equius deadpanned, taking Sollux by surprise. He'd almost forgotten Equius was there, and the pun had come out of seemingly nowhere.

"You're going with her, right?" Aradia asked Equius.

Equius nodded solemnly.

"And you're going to be in costume, too?"

"Most certainly."

"And what will you be this year?"

"The same thing I am every year. A humanoid horse."

Nepeta choked on a giggle and Sollux said, "So, basically, you're not wearing a costume."

Equius definitely grinned at that. "I suppose the only difference will be the addition of a tail."

Aradia closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "Right. So the point is, you have to come trick-or-treating with us. You can bring your boyfriend and fish-girl along with us, too. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it."

"I'm inviting John!" Nepeta added cheerily.

"Right, so it'll be basically a redux of last weekend, but better since we'll all be in costume," Aradia said. "So you have to think of something."

"Fuck. What was I last year?"

"A bee. And the year before that. And I think every year since you were two."

"Right. I'll just do that again."

Aradia heaved a sigh and looked at her watch. "Well, I suppose it's too close to crunch time to argue with you about it, but next year. Next year, we are starting to plan this extravaganza in fucking September, and you will not be a bee again."

"No, you're right about that. Next year, I'll be a drunk bee."

"That's not what I meant."

"I think we should all be drunk next year."

"We can be drunk this year," Nepeta suggested.

"Nepeta," Equius said warningly, but she batted at his face with her sleeve.

"Shoosh!"

"Public intoxication, especially while underage," he started again, but he was cut off again when she took her hat off and jammed it over his face.

"Hush, Meowster Buzzkill!"

"He has a point," Aradia said. "Getting drunk before we go out is probably not a smart idea, but after we get back to someone's house or apartment or whatever, I think that would be just fine."

"This seems to be a suitable compromise," Equius agreed.

Nepeta hmmfed in annoyance but saw the logic in what they said, so she nodded. "Alright, fine. We'll do it your way."

That still left Sollux with having to somehow locate his bee costume in the bottomless pit that was his closet.

When his phone buzzed a few minutes later, he checked it as surreptitiously as he could.

hey sol im doin laundry tonight so you got twwo options you can come ovver an get your clothes yourself or i can bring em to school tomorroww its up to you

He bit his lip and glanced up at the other three before answering. ii cant beliieve that2 a legiitiimate que2tiion ii wiill take any excu2e two baiil on the2e p2ycho2

wwho are you wwith

AA, NP, and EQ and the conver2atiion now revolve2 around halloween plan2

oh shit that is comin up isnt it fuck

yeah btw AA 2aiid you and FF could come wiith u2

come wwith you wwhere exactly

uh we may or may not be goiing triick or treatiing

are you serious

yeah ii mean ii diidnt even want to go 2iince the only co2tume ii have ii2 the 2ame bee co2tume iive worn for the la2t liike two year2 but 2he talked me iinto it

bee costume

yeah

youre tellin me youre gonna be dressin up like a little bumblebee for hallowween

uh yeah ii gue22 2o

okay yeah i definitely havve to see this. count me in

ii hope youre not ju2t comiing to laugh at me

nah ill wwear a costume too just not a bumblebee costume

ii can ea2iily change iit to a wa2p all ii need two do ii2 make a 2tiinger and then youre all fucked

you couldnt intimidate anyone wwhether you had a stinger or not

that2 iit you are the fiir2t per2on iim goiing two 2tiing

i wwould lovve to see you try

um diid that ju2t get awkward or wa2 iit ju2t me

no that wwas a little awwkwward

okay moviing on thiink FF wiill want to joiin iin

most likely since shes alwways goin on about howw wwe need to get out an do shit

alriight well NP ii2 iinviitiing john two come wiith us 2o iim a22umiing iit2 an open iinviitatiion two briing other people two

im sure thatll thrill her. my art history class ends in about fivve minutes so unless you had any reason you wwanted to hang back wwe can head ovver to my place right after a wword from our sponsors

what

sorry lame attempt at humor

oh okay yeah um iill ju2t leave the2e people now then what buiildiing are you iin

c buildin

k brt

Sollux stuffed his phone back in his pocket, grabbed the strap of his backpack, and stood up.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Aradia asked.

"Um, ED's about to get out of class and he's bringing me back to his apartment so I can get my clothes."

She smirked suddenly. "I see. Will you be heading home afterward or spending another fun-filled evening at Mr. Boyfriend Ampora's place?"

Sollux sucked in a deep breath through his nose, said, "Okay, goodbye," and turned around.

"You can't leave me in the dark forever!" she called after him.

"I'm not leaving you in the dark! I'm choosing to enlighten you at a later point in time!" But now that she'd asked, he was wondering, too. Would he be spending the night at Eridan's again? Maybe, but it was too early to know for sure. Maybe he would just be picking up his clothes and heading home.

But if Eridan invited him to stay, he wouldn't say no. He could definitely handle spending another night eating takeout and watching movies and making out and maybe fooling around some more with Eridan.

He lurked outside of C Building and waited for Eridan to emerge, unable to suppress the feeling that he was being a bit creepy even though Eridan knew he was waiting for him and it was perfectly okay. Only a few minutes had gone by when the door opened and he turned, fully expecting to see Eridan.

Instead, there was Vriska Serket and some girl Sollux didn't know with long, dark hair, round glasses, and a nice smile despite the buckteeth she hadn't quite grown out of. He reacted without conscious control, leaping behind a short row of bushes and hiding.

Vriska was laughing at something the other girl had said, and then Vriska actually put her arm around her. Sollux blinked—something about this was messed-up. This girl needed to be warned what an evil spider-bitch Vriska was.

Unless she's as evil as Vriska is, he realized. Maybe this girl knew and that was why they'd become such fast friends—and they clearly were friends. Unless Vriska was an exceptionally good faker (which he supposed was plausible), she genuinely seemed to like the other girl.

This is not good. If there was another evil bitch running around campus, all of Vriska's exes needed to be warned before this other girl started something. Sollux certainly hadn't seen her before, and it was entirely possible that no one else was familiar with her, too.

Vriska and the other girl had barely disappeared from sight when the doors opened again and Eridan strode out amid a crush of others, presumably classmates of his. Eridan looked around, appearing perplexed, before pulling out his phone.

Sollux stood up and picked his way out from behind the shrubs. "Hey," he said casually, as if he didn't have foliage stuck in his hair (and he was sure he actually did).

Eridan looked from Sollux to the bushes and back. "Dude, what the fuck were you doin' back there?"

"Uh. Hiding."

"From... me?"

"No, from Vriska."


DUN-DUN-DUN.

So today's upd8 added an interesting take on what will most likely end up being the Jade/Aranea dynamic...