It seemed Vriska was not the only one with a crush, as Equius messaged her about such not long after Homecoming.
centaursTesticle [CT] began pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]
CT: Vriska.
AG: Whaaaaaaaat?
AG: Also Christ you really do need to change your username.
AG: It sounds like an 11 year old made it and was trying to be crass for no reason other than "wow bad words are funny".
CT: I WAS 11 when I made it.
CT: What's wrong with it anyway?
AG: Uh
AG: Nevermind.
AG: What do you want?
CT: I am asking for you to finally repay that favor.
AG: Ughhhhhhhh.
AG: If I say yes, will you stop holding this "favor" over my head?
CT: Yes.
AG: Then yes.
AG: What do you want me ot do?
CT: I…
CT: I don't know specifically.
AG: Then I can't help you, horse-for-brains.
CT: I just want you to manufacture a way for Aradia and I to be alone.
AG: Okaaaaaaaay.
AG: I guess I'll try to keep an eye out for an opportunity.
AG: Hard for me to really do anything about it at school.
CT: I see.
CT: Very well.
CT: I will speak to you more about this later.
centaursTesticle [CT] ceased pestering arachnidsGrip [AG]
AG: God, you're so weird.
Things were normal, or at least as close as things got to normal for Vriska—her mom being a pain and Aranea being obnoxious—for about a week, the only change being her and John exchanging looks. Vriska tried to ignore it, especially since it wasn't as if he were actively pursuing her, but she found it difficult to. It wasn't as if she got crushes very often. Except for whatever unresolved feelings were between her and Tavros, and those had been ledt unresolved for a while. Vriska couldn't help but think about this during a particularly awkward exchange between Jade and Tavros, when the English teacher asked them to read the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Vriska felt the smallest twinge of jealousy when Tavros started speaking.
"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Ja- Juliet is the sun." Vriska laughed a bit. "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief." Vriska kept an eye on Tavros while he spoke, and while Jade spoke as well.
"O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or, if thou wilt not be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet." The look on Tavros' face told Vriska enough—he'd said something to Jade, and it hadn't gone well. That was…well, it was oddly satisfying.
Despite all this, the main thing on Vriska's mind was still the deal she'd made with Equius, and she was keeping a lookout for an opportunity to help him out, albeit a bit begrudgingly. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait too long. And surprisingly, Tavros was the one to present the solution.
"Hey, guys, my parents are out of town, so I was thinking of, having a Halloween part, at my house maybe?"
Vriska couldn't help but laugh. Tavros was such a goody-two-shoes, even when his parents were out. And it didn't help that he was usually still being watched by the neighbors. "That's ballsy, Tavros. What happens if you get in trouble?"
"Ummmm, I don't know," Tavros admitted, looking away. "Rufioh's in charge."
"Ohhhhhhhh, no nosey neighbor babysitting this time?"
"I haven't seen Mr. Boxcars around the last couple days. I think it should be fine."
Vriska started to say something, but Terezi nudged her with her knee, and Vriska closed her mouth. "That sounds really fun, Tavros," Terezi answered instead. Vriska frowned. She knew Terezi was saying it mostly to get her to stop harassing Tav. "It's been a while since we all had a party."
"I've been meaning to host more!" Feferi said. "I think the holiday season will be better for parties at my house."
"Th- that's okay, Fef, you shouldn't have to host all the time. So, yeah, you guys are all invited over for Halloween."
"Halloween sucks, though," Sollux murmured, and then amended the statement after a nudge from Feferi. "Ah- fine. Sounds like a plan then."
"Yeah?" Tavros asked with a grin. Then, with the knowledge there was a party coming up, Vriska started thinking. It would actually be perfect for getting Equius and Aradia alone. All she had to do was get everyone involved in a game of "Seven Minutes in Heaven", and skew the results in Equius' favor. Easy peasy. Sure, it would suck for Sollux, who had a painfully obvious crush on Aradia, but he'd been holding on to that for years without doing anything. Vriska was going to move things along one way or the other. And then there was John. Maybe if she got more than one round going, she could… well, he and the others hadn't even said much about even going to the party. Vriska messaged him after school that day.
arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]
AG: Joooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooo
AG: oooooooohn.
EB: wow, that is a lot of 'o's
EB: i am reading that like a really long 'june'
AG: It is eight groups of eight. I specifically counted them out.
AG: It's sort of a thing I do.
EB: you typed my name in 64bit
AG: Wow. What a nerd!
EB: hey!
AG: Anyway, John, there was something very important I wanted to ask you.
EB: oh, what's that?
AG: Are you going to Tavdork's party?
EB: umm, yeah i think so!
AG: Oh! Cause you never said anything at lunch today.
EB: i mean jade and rose and dave and i didn't have any plans so i don't see why we wouldn't go!
AG: Okay, cool!
EB: why did you ask?
AG: Just wanted to see if it was worth my time.
EB: so you wouldn't go if i wasn't?
AG: I don't know, I'd probably give it more of a second thought.
AG: Tavros and I don't have the best history.
EB: what do you mean?
Vriska sort of regretted mentioning it. It was too complicated to explain, really.
AG: Well, there's some messy stuff in a lot of my friendships, actually.
AG: But let's not get into that right now.
AG: See you Monday :::;)
arachnidsGrip [AG] has ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB]
Vriska grinned at the last message. This could certainly go somewhere, with her and John.
Another week went by, and then it was Halloween, and Vriska was packing her overnight bag. As she put her costume on and prepared to leave, she was, of course, confronted by her mother.
"Vriska, where're you goin'?"
"I'm going to Tavros' for the Halloween party, god. I told you about this days ago."
"Yeah, you gonna be gone all night?"
"Yes, Mom, it's a sleepover."
"Well don't you disappear on me unless you want me to call the cops."
"Yeah right. As if you'd give enough of a shit to even consider me 'missing'."
"What was that?"
"What? Nothing. I'll be back tomorrow," Vriska said, slinking out the door before she could ask any more questions. God. God, why was her mother like that? She hated it. Aranea was waiting in the car already, and then they drove off to pick up Terezi.
"I take it the glorious pirate Mindfang has joined us?" Terezi asked, as she climbed into the back seat.
"She sure has. And I see you're donning the ol' cop deal."
"So off to the Nitrams, then?" Aranea asked. "It's kind of a shame Rufioh's busy, I know Horuss is bummed they're not spending Halloween together."
Vriska rolled her eyes at her sister. "Oh my God, I really don't care about your friends' terrible relationships. Actually, I wouldn't mind it if Rufioh were single, he's kind of attractive. Like a confident Tavros." Vriska disregarded Aranea's glare.
"Ignoring the fact that you're my sister, speaking about someone my age, I'm inclined to agree. He always was 'the hot one' of the group."
Vriska didn't have a response to that. It was odd that Aranea and Vriska would agree on something; she thought for sure Aranea would have objected to that and cited Meenah as being more attractive. They were dating, after all, and Aranea didn't have great taste on the male side of things.
Vriska and Terezi were among the first to arrive, and while the place looked nice, there certainly wasn't a lot of excitement going on. Perfect; Vriska could definitely help Equius out, and it would spice up the party. But first she had to consult with him. Vriska went poking around the kitchen in search of Equius, and found him exactly there.
"Hey Eq, I think I have a solution to your problem," she said, kind of marveling at the fact that Nepeta wasn't hanging around with him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're at a party, right? Suffice to say, I've engineered a party game."
"I…"
"Equius!" And there was Nepeta. Vriksa figured it was best to put a paused on the conversation.
"Don't worry, Zahhak, I got it covered," Vriska said, before heading back over to Terezi. "Hey Ter, wanna help me set up a game?" Vriska asked, not long after thTerezi raised an eyebrow at her, clearly suspicious of the motives.
"What kind of game?"
"Seven Minutes in Heaven. All I need you to do is write all the boys' names down and I will put them in your hat. And we can use my hate for the girls."
"How exactly do you expect me to do much writing?"
"Oh, duh. Color me embarrassed. Just give me your hat, then." Vriska, of course, hadn't actually forgotten, she just knew that it would be more suspicious if she didn't ask anyone else about the game. She was also planning on having someone else read off the girl's name, just to keep suspicion off her, but all of them said "Aradia", so it wouldn't matter. Not that anyone could even keep up with her cunning. She got the names assembled, then got everyone's attention by turning the music down. "Hey losers! Come on, we're starting another game in here." As people started shifting into the room, Vriska grinned. It was a bit upsetting that John hadn't shown up yet, but still, she wasn't going to let that ruin her night. Sollux and Karkat were still outside, though. "Hey, get those two dipshits in here," Vriska told Terezi. At last, Vriska had managed to get the whole group in one place. Good. Nobody could deny this or be weirded out by Equius' sudden interest in Aradia, much like Vriska herself was. As she began to start, the front door opened. Vriska's eyes flitted upwards to see John, Rose, Dave, and Jade letting themselves in. "John!" Vriska said, darting over to give him a tight hug. "You're just in time; we're playing 7 Minutes in Heaven."
"Oh, okay," John muttered, tugging Dave into place.
"Vriska, please, this is so ridiculous," Sollux said from the other side of the room. "Besides, what the fuck has this got to do with Halloween?"
"Shut your lispy mouth, asshat," Vriska snipped. "You don't have to play, but there's always the chance for some alone time with the freaky girl of your dreams." It was honestly baffling how there were now two guys thirsting after Aradia. "I have taken the liberty of putting all the ladies' names into this hat, and all the boys' into Terezi's. Tavros, if you would do the honors?" Vriska held her hat out towards Tavros, and smirked as he plucked a paper out, knowing full well the name he was about to read. "Um, Aradia…?" Vriska quickly moved Aradia towards the closet.
"Wait, what?" Aradia asked.
"Don't worry, Miss Droog, your man will be joining you shortly," Vriska said, closing the door behind Aradia. Then, she returned to the crowd and took the other slip of paper out of Terezi's hat. It read Sollux. Fuck that! She crumpled it up.
"And our lucky guy is… Equius Zahhak!" Equius looked at her, mildly embarrassed, and then followed Vriska's lead towards the closet. "I told you I had it under control," Vriska whispered in his ear. She returned to the group, waiting in an awkward silence for Equius and Aradia to come out. But the crowd somewhat dissipated, and right as Equius and Aradia emerged from the closet, Tavros grabbed Vriska's wrist.
"Vriska… can I talk to you for a minute outside?"
"Oh—yeah, I guess." She didn't hesitate, heading out the front door with Tavros.
"Um. Vriska. Why do all these slips have the same name on them?"
"Oh, that? Ha! Just playing a little prank on Aradia, no big deal."
"You're… toying with someone's emotions as a joke. It, um, it kind of is? A big deal?"
"Well it's not gonna be a big deal unless someone tells, right?" Who did Tavros think he was, trying to come off like he was better than her? He muttered something under his breath so quietly that Vriska honestly didn't even catch what he said. "Sorry, what was that?"
"Uh… I don't think you should really be doing things like that. It's mean."
"And I suppose you're gonna be the one to stop me?"
"Well, uh, I mean… no, but…" Figures. Even when Tavros knew he would be doing the right thing, he couldn't stand up for himself, or for others. It was so weak, honestly.
"Then it doesn't matter. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have fun at the party and not be a total wet blanket." Vriska shoved past Tavros and went back inside, disregarding Tavros' words.
