Just popping in before the chapter to say that I'm going to avoid writing Sollux's lisp phonetically in the rewrite, I just want to make it easier for people to read, and for anyone listening with text-to-speech. Flashbacks will start with this: *-.-* And will end with this: .-*-.

It's a double rewrite chapter if you turn your head and look at it just right, but there'll be bigger changes in the future updates!
Last year I wrote random chapters here and there, and it was nice to play with the story with a restructured beginning. (I can't wait for one chapter, bloody thing took over all my writing motivation for a whole week ¬¬ )
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy it! Stay safe, and take care of one another!

-.-.-

The room was like a battleground of empty cans, loose wires, and abandoned clothing, and appeared completely incompatible with human life, or at least, it would have seemed if not for the soft slow snore coming from the oversized beanbag in the corner.
As he did so often, Sollux Captor had fallen asleep while working on something on his laptop, and would likely wake up with a stiff neck serving as a sharp reminder that he wasn't as young and springy as he used to be.

The coding work he was routinely forced to pick up for himself online had taken a sharp upturn in complexity, and Sollux had found himself staying up until increasingly less sociable hours to get the project finished before his newest client got pissy. After the fifth energy drink wore off it was all-too tempting to close his eyes for just a minute or two.

As Sollux's head finally slipped off the hand it had been resting on, he snorted himself awake, and immediately began to regret every choice he'd made in the past twelve hours as his wrist screamed out in protest as he rolled his hand to ease the stiffness.
The room was too dark to see anything, and Sollux let out an exasperated noise as he stretched himself out, twisting a little to help his back to release the deluge of pops it had saved for him; feeling somewhat more limber, Sollux made his way over to his blackout curtains, stepping gingerly over the hidden threats of his floor until he managed to kick over a small tower of cans with a calamitous racket, and decided that there was no more reason for any grace, and instead kicked his way through the mess over to the window.

All too late Sollux realised that it was already late morning, and the sunlight that burst through the window nearly turned him to dust. He hissed, and wrenched the thick fabric closed again, instead deciding to use a lamp, because no one deserved to be assaulted with that much UV light after being awake for less time than it took to scratch his ass.
Speaking of which, Sollux half-turned, and regarded his dimly-lit reflection in the full-length mirror built into one of his wardrobe doors; he was tall and slender, like a nerdy lamppost, but with none of the charisma. Much unlike a lamppost though, Sollux had dark brown hair that somehow found a way to stick out awkwardly at the back and sides no matter what he did to it.
If he had to choose one word to describe himself, it would be crooked, because that was all he saw when he looked at himself, right down to his smile. Not that Sollux cared too much about how he looked, he left that to people with a little more self-respect.
He avoided his own gaze while he ran his fingers through his choppy hair. His eyes were the most crooked thing of all though; the right was a warm brown and the left was a cold blue. Sollux reached for the sunglasses he wore to hide them, and slipped them on as he turned his back on his reflection before the disdain he was glaring at himself with put him in a bad mood.

More important things were already tugging at his attention, Sollux looked around himself and tried to locate the laptop he used for his own side projects, but to no avail, he could have sworn that he had left it on the desk, under a pile of shirts that had since mostly fallen onto the floor, but it wasn't there when he checked. With no trace of the missing electronic, Sollux groaned and aimed a kick at the beanbag that had served as his bed that night, and cursed when the fabric boulder knocked over a half-empty can of energy drink beside it.
Swearing as he used a pair of already-dirty shirts to soak up the sugary drink, Sollux paused, and noticed the corner of a book peeking out from underneath his bed, barely out of the liquid's reach. Paper was a rarity in his room, so the sudden appearance was well worth an investigation.

It was a book about bacteria and decomposition.

Sollux hadn't seen that book in over a year.

*-.-*

Sollux peeked over the top of his laptop, and watched his girlfriend read her large book. The way she crinkled her nose while concentrating was his favourite thing, and she did it so often when she read, he would find himself distracted for extended periods of their study-time.
When her eyebrows furrowed, and her tongue crept past her maroon lips, Sollux couldn't help but smile. He couldn't say what he did to get noticed, but she suddenly glanced at him, and caught his eye. Sollux didn't believe for a second that he could duck behind the screen fast enough to convince her he was working, and yet, he still tried.

"Avoiding your work, again?"

"How could you think that? That's slander," Sollux overacted his offence, and shifted in his oversized beanbag so that he was sitting up a little straighter, "I was just enjoying the view."

Aradia closed the large book on her finger to keep her place, "it's very distracting," a glimmer of a smile broke past her annoyed façade, "how am I supposed to study for my exam when you're staring at me with those puppy-dog eyes?"

"I just think you're cute when you read." Sollux couldn't help but revel in the secret he had for her, the one that was planned for the following week, the one that was ready to pick up from the jewelers.

"Well, I think you're always cute." She replaced her finger with a bookmark, and scootched over to the edge of the bed; Aradia leant as close as she could with her lips pursed, waiting expectantly for Sollux to close the gap between them. He did, and they kissed for a moment before she pulled away and smiled at him, "you know what, I think I'm ready for a break, why don't we get something to eat?"

They had taken the rest of the night off, neither noticing that the book had been pushed under the bed, and there it stayed.

Aradia had never asked for it back, not once in the year since they had broken up the following week.

.-*-.

Sollux's fingers traced the gold lettering on the canvas cover as he tried not to focus on the memory, that was all history, and nothing good ever came from dwelling too hard on that.

Whether for curiosities sake or not, he opened the cover, and as the pages fell, Sollux saw a little paper slip covered in stamped dates. It was overdue by almost a year.

Sollux Captor would be lying if he tried to convince anyone at that moment that he wasn't imagining taking the book to the library and Aradia finding out about his good deed, and deciding to reward him for such a selfless action with a coffee, and they'd talk again, and...
Dropping onto the bed and slumping forwards, the nerd stared at the book between his knees; it was the key to Pandora's box, and there was no telling what would come from opening it. A curse fell past his lips as his mind raced with anxious possibilities dangling just out of reach like some kind of cruel proverbial carrot.

Before his imagination had the chance to whisk himself into a frothy anxious mess, Sollux took a deep breath, and tried to focus on what was realistic, and what he wanted.
One thing at a time; he felt like he did want to go to the library to return the book, even though Aradia would likely never find out about his outstandingly good deed, but he shouldn't want her to— didn't, he reminded himself, he didn't want her to. Even if she did find out, even if she swooned, even if she begged, he swore he'd never take her back.
Not after what she did to him.
But at least getting out of the house would give him a chance to stop into a shop or two and look at some games, and maybe even a coffee made by someone who was paid to give a shit about how the milk smelled.

Sollux knew he'd talked himself into it when he sniff-checked a shirt and some jeans, and he didn't stop frowning the entire time he forced himself into a thick hoodie and his feet into a mismatched pair of converse. With some effort given the task ahead, he glared at his reflection as he brushed his teeth, and made some attempt to make his hair do something.

Nobody was home to say goodbye to, so leaving was much quicker than usual.

It was a brisk day, and Sollux regretted leaving the house the moment the door closed behind him, though it wasn't enough to stop him from turning the lock, and dropping his keys into his bag. The headphones were already snug over his ears thanks to one hand, while the other swiped through playlists, a dance as old as time.
With a good beat to motivate his feet into moving, Sollux walked away from home with at least the assurance that he would be returning with a coffee, perhaps even a sandwich if he was going to be cheeky.

The music carried him the entire way there, and the headphones gave him enough of an excuse to blissfully avoid communication for a little while, though he pulled them down to rest around his neck as he approached the large stone building.
On first glance, it almost looked like a church, and Sollux wondered if it had perhaps been converted from one as he pulled the brass handle of the dark wooden door, and let himself in to intrude on the stifling silence.

The library was a spacious building with a militant maze of books sprawling everywhere in sight, and beyond. The somehow coded and rigid order just served to confuse Sollux more while he tried to figure it out; with no better choice, Sollux took a breath, and approached the front desk while he braced for human contact.
It was attended by a pale woman with a dark bob; when she looked up, her eyes were the same shade of blue as her lips.

"Hey, what shelf can I put this on?" Sollux started, when he was close enough, "I found it, and I wanted to give it back, to you lot, not to her, I don't want to hear from her, I just wanted to get this back because it's not mine."

Smooth as a cucumber, baby.

The woman glanced at the book now being brandished in her face, "are you trying to return this?" She asked, seemingly amused by his being flustered.

"Sorry, yeah please, if that's alright." Cursing the double hit of both his lisp and his anxious vocal spiraling, Sollux handed the book over, and tried to take a deep breath as inconspicuously as possible to calm his racing thoughts.

Her nametag said her name was Aranea, and Aranea looked more than a little surprised when she saw the return date on the inner cover, "you know, we do let you renew the books if you want to keep them longer."

Suddenly realising that walking in with a long-overdue book about decomposition might look a little shifty to a normal person, Sollux jumped, "it's not mine!" As though she'd never heard that before, "that's what I was trying to say, it was my ex's, for uni, I just found it this morning."

Aranea had a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "how sweet of you, most people would have pretended as though they didn't find it, to avoid the fines."

"How could anyone be so dishonest?" Sollux swore internally for not considering the fine, and he kissed his proverbial coffee and sandwich goodbye as he pulled out his wallet, dreading the debt that could be accumulated over an entire year, "how much is it?"

"Well, it's fifteen pence a day," Aranea said, pausing just long enough to give Sollux time to start trying to multiply that by three hundred and sixty five before interrupting, "but we of course have a maximum of four pounds fifty."

Looking down from the half-solved equation he'd been trying to write on the ceiling with his eyes, Sollux couldn't help but notice that this time the woman's smile looked too amused, "I'm not going to argue with that, thanks." He handed her a note, and it felt as though she delighted in telling him that the till was going to take a minute.
Sollux leant against the counter behind him, and took the opportunity to look around the building he'd likely never step into again; the walls were tall and littered with thin windows cut into the deep stone, and there was a second level with even more books to add to the countless already downstairs, but none of that held his attention, because there was someone stood in an aisle not too far away wearing trousers so tight that Sollux wondered if they were painted on, and lowered his sunglasses a little to check.

So enraptured by the conundrum was he that Sollux didn't notice Aranea until she tapped him on the shoulder with his change, "oh! Cheers." He pushed his glasses up as he pocketed the coin, and glanced back at his mysterious stranger; just as he began imagining having some company for his not-so-proverbial coffee and sandwich, Sollux was surprised by a voice.

"You know," Aranea said, nodding towards the aisle, "he really likes talking to guys in here, you should go for it."

There was a flicker of something in the librarian's blue eyes that made Sollux wonder if she was setting him up for a confrontation, but she held his shaded gaze unwaveringly and smiled at him; for a moment, the thought sunk through him, leaden, but a rare cocky energy bubbled up and lifted it to a realistic possibility, and he flashed a grin at Aranea, "why not?" Picking up the returned book like a lucky talisman, he asked, "can I borrow this?"

Without waiting for an answer, and ignoring the doubt gnawing away at the now ambrosial-proverbial coffee and sandwich that seemed so close, Sollux knew that all he had to do was just be casual. At which point his brain dumped every normal human social cue into a fire, and the only thing he could think of was that casual people whistled when they were trying to be, you know, casual.

At which point, he began sheepishly whistling.

Quietly, mind you. Sort of. The stone walls made the noise sound louder than he'd meant to it be, but it was too late to stop now, so all he could do was wince and hope that he didn't look like a prick.

The snort behind him didn't instill him with too much confidence, neither did his brain when it finally decided to kick back in in time to ask him why he was acting like a prick.

It was almost typical of him to let himself down like this, and Sollux wasn't even surprised, especially when he realised he'd spent the entire time he should have been using to think of a witty opening line to whistle and think about whistling, but before he could even start to feel horrified about that, the guy who was now directly in front of him suddenly turned, and Sollux barely had enough time to flip the book open and stare down at the picture of the mushroom circle that was way too interesting to look up from.
Trying not to blow it worse than he already had, Sollux looked up as though he'd only just noticed his company, and was about to try a good old-fashioned "hey," when his eyes narrowed-in on the prominent chunk of violet hair, and then the eyes to match, behind those goddamn hipster frames.

It wasn't just any hipster, it was Eridan fucking Ampora.

The spectrum of emotions hit him like an entire motorway of buses; once the shock of the realisation wore off, the anger set in. This was the person who made his teenage life an absolute misery, and could barely go a day without either starting or retaliating over something, and Sollux shuddered with disgust at checking him out. And enjoying it.

The atmosphere seemed to become burdened with their heavy silence, so Sollux tried to do them both a favour, "I've never been more disappointed to see you."

Indignation painted clearly across Eridan's face, he looked him up and down and huffed, "well I've never been less surprised to see you. Trust you to stamp on every social grace ever conceived for a library on your merry little way over here," he narrowed his eyes, "what are you even doin' here, anyway? This isn't how I find out that you're a stalker, is it?"

The stutter was gone.

Sollux's tongue felt thick in his mouth, he had waited for a stutter, just one, but the hipster was over them; the easy shot of the other's speech impediment was lost, while his own lisp was as strong as ever. There was nothing he could do about that, though, so Sollux took some comfort in the many surrounding projectiles so easily within reach, "yeah you wish, I'm just here doing a favour for a friend—oh wait," the nerd slapped himself on the forehead theatrically, "sorry, a friend is a person who—"

"I know what friends are!" Eridan flushed, and he clenched his fists at his side, "I have friends!"

Sollux laughed, "spoken like someone who definitely does, don't worry Ampora, I believe you."

"You know full-well where you can shove it, Captor."

Despite the dark barrier of sunglasses, heterochromia eyes met violet, marked in nothing but an electrified loathing.

Breaking the circuit before it could get explosive, Eridan sighed, and his lip pulled up in a clear distaste, "are you plannin' on darkenin' my door for much longer? Because if you're quite done, would you mind leavin', only I'm already bored a what you've got to offer conversation-wise, an' I don't have the time to waste playin' with you."

Sollux pretended to be offended, "are you trying to tell me that you don't think I'm good company?"

"I don't know what planet you've been livin' on to convince you that I'd ever think you'd be an option a' good company." Eridan folded his arms, and looked the nerd up and down, "look, I happen to be on a personal quest a' self-betterment an' findin' an answer to some private turmoil, an' you bein' here is doin' nothin' but distractin' me, so honestly I'd just appreciate it if you'd just leave the premises."
Almost as an afterthought, the hipster added with a sneer, "pleathe?"

It was like an internal puffer-fish reaction, and Sollux frowned, swallowing the rage down until it simmered beneath his surface in a mock-calm, "so you don't want me anywhere near the library?" He motioned around them to annunciate his point, "this library?"

"Exactly." Eridan glanced around, as though trying to see a sprung trap, "what aren't you getting' about that?"

Sollux played with an idea, and tried it on for size, before deciding that it was the funniest thing he'd done in years; if today was a taste of how petulant and self-righteous the hipster still was, there was no way that he could give up the chance to mess with him. Not when he'd been brought here by fate, or, something. It was like he was the Ghost of Christmas you're-still-an-asshole, and Scrooge was long overdue for a haunting.
"Okay," he said, smiling slightly to himself, "I'm feeling generous, Ampora, I'll leave you to it."

The look on Eridan's face was hard to read, "wait, really?"

Sollux didn't stay to give him an answer, he pushed the book onto the shelf and turned before walking away, leaving the hipster to his questions; as he passed the reception desk he flashed a disingenuous thumbs up to Aranea as she pretended to look busy.
It was still cold enough outside that Sollux immediately stuck his hands in his pockets after replacing his headphones and playlist; the music filled his head, and he smiled while he imagined the beginnings of the most malicious of schemes to drive Eridan up the walls of his oh-so-precious library.

As the nerd descended the steps, he decided that he should get himself a bag of sweets to go with his lunch.