TA: the niightmare2 are gettiing wor2e...

AA: mine are too...much more vivid as well.

TA: what do you thiink iit mean2?

AA: i'm not sure. but it must be something of significance, since we've been having them for so long.

TA: ii'm not 2ure how much of your gho2t b2 ii really beliieve, but ii thiink eriidan ii2 iinvolved 2omehow.

AA: eridan? your teacher? why do you think that?

TA: well, for one thiing, he'2 CA. and we're datiing now. a2 of today.

TA: but ii've had thii2 weiird feeliing liike ii've met hiim before, and not ju2t becau2e he'2 CA.

AA: are you serious?

AA: you're actually dating one of your teachers?

AA: that's surprising, even for you.

TA: oh, 2hut up. not the poiint.

AA: alright, alright.

AA: it's possible that he's having these dreams too. maybe it's like a past life regression.

TA: okay, that'2 a liittle too riidiiculou2. pa2t liive2?

AA: well, do you have a better suggestion?

It was 4:00 AM, not the ideal time to be having this kind of conversation. But the dream had shaken Sollux up quite a bit, and Aradia had happened to be awake to respond to his messages. Finally though, when it was obvious no shocking revelations would be had, he decided to get a little more sleep.

TA: no.

TA: ii'm goiing back to 2leep.

He drifted off into a fitful sleep, phone still on his pillow next to his head. There were no nightmares, but the feeling of the one before lingered quite persistently. Two short hours later, his alarm went off.

As he got ready for school, Mituna questioned him relentlessly about where he'd been the night before, but thankfully didn't notice the sweatshirt sitting atop his bedspread. What he did notice was the incoming Pesterchum notification from CA.

"Hey, Sollux, who's caligulasAquarium?" Mituna asked, holding his phone. "They said 'good morning, did everything go okay last night?' And they put a heart too. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"What? No, MT, I don't have a girlfriend. Stop reading my texts." He grabbed the phone back, smiling down at that familiar purple color. Good morning texts from CA were a fairly regular occurrence, but Sollux hadn't been expecting Eridan to continue it. He wasn't sure why he had thought that, but he did.

CA: good morning 3

CA: did evverything go okay last night?

TA: yeah, ii managed to 2neak iin wiithout anyone notiiciing.

TA: ii'm really tiired though.

CA: wwell, at least today is friday.

TA: yeah

TA: ii 2hould probably go, my brother keep2 lookiing over my 2houlder.

TA: 2ee you later.

CA: okay, see you later.

TA: 3

He sighed and set his phone aside, wishing he had longer to talk to Eridan privately. Or at least semi-privately, without Mituna gawking at the screen. School wasn't exactly the best place to talk to him either, for obvious reasons.

Meanwhile, Eridan was dealing with a barrage of questions from Vriska about how things went with Sollux, something that he felt it was way too early for.

AG: So you guys are actually together now?

AG: I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd have the nerve.

CA: a course i got the nervve

CA: wwhy wwouldn't i?

AG: 8ecause you're afraid of getting in trou8le...

CA: pretty rightfully so, i think.

CA: i could be arrested.

AG: 8ut you did it anyway. How romantic.

CA: vvris, i'm really not in the mood for this convversation.

CA: don't bother sol about it either.

AG: You're calling him Sol now? Since when?

CA: since yesterday

Frustrated, he just ignored it when she replied. They'd been friends for awhile now, but Vriska's prying got very annoying sometimes. It didn't help that he'd gotten hardly any sleep. Maybe having Sollux in his bed would've helped.

Sollux refused his father's offer of a ride to school and walked, needing the silence to think. If only Aradia was here to talk to him and offer advice about the whole thing with Eridan. Not the actual relationship part as much, but the weird deja vu feeling and the dreams. He didn't have proof that Eridan had anything to do with it, or that the dreams were anything more than figments of his imagination that Aradia happened to experience as well. Even if he did know Eridan had the dreams too, what would he do with that information?

By the time he got to school, he hadn't made any progress on figuring it out. He wished that he could be with Eridan every night, and that maybe the other could help him figure this out with some new insight that Aradia hadn't thought of. It was extremely unlikely, but it didn't stop him from imagining how much better that would be.

The day passed in a blur up until the moment he walked into Eridan's class. Now that he knew for sure that their relationship was real, it was even more awkward than the day before having to remember to address him as Mr. Ampora instead of Eridan.

"Is this hard for you?" Vriska asked out of the blue, quiet enough that nobody else around them would hear.

"What are you talking about?" Of course, he had his suspicions, but he didn't want to assume and wind up giving Vriska information she didn't already have.

"Acting like you don't know him. Like you didn't spend half of last night making out on his couch," she said with a smirk, making it blatantly obvious that she knew somehow.

"Well, yeah...how do you know about that though?" Sollux made sure to keep his voice down. Someone overhearing and piecing together what was going on was the last thing he needed.

"He told me." She rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, reaching over to rummage through his bag and steal a piece of gum. "It's not like he ever would've gone through with asking you without my encouragement. I told you I'd help."

"Am I supposed to thank you or something? We knew each other before, we would've gotten together with or without your help," Sollux retorted, refusing to believe that Eridan wouldn't have told him about the whole CA thing without the encounter Vriska had orchestrated earlier in the day.

"I'm just saying. He really likes you, but he would've done the whole pining from a distance thing."

Eridan must've heard that part, because he paused in his lecture to turn towards them, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He clearly didn't want to draw any more attention to their conversation than necessary.

"Sorry," Vriska supplied, sounding far from genuine. "I was just telling Sollux something extremely important."

"Right...I'm sure," Eridan said, pausing another second or two before going back to speaking.

Sollux went back to doodling in the margins of his notebook, the conversation with Vriska clearly over for now. That was alright though. As much as the prospect of gaining knowledge on what Eridan thought of him appealed, conversations with Vriska were always unpredictable and dubiously accurate in terms of the information she passed along.

He offered Eridan an apologetic smile when their eyes met, knowing that he was probably concerned about how much Vriska had said out loud. They hadn't gotten to talk at all yet that day, besides the brief Pesterchum conversation first thing in the morning, which was less than usual. A lot of the time, back when their relationship was purely online, they'd talk in the morning, at lunch, and through the evening, sometimes with shorter exchanges in between.

"I missed you," he said softly, as soon as the last person had left the room. "I guess that sounds kind of pathetic though, since I was just with you last night."

"Don't worry, it doesn't sound that bad. I've kinda missed you too. What was that whole thing with Vris though? Was she botherin' you?" There was concern in Eridan's voice, not the anger that Sollux expected to hear.

"No, don't worry. It's fine. She was just trying to take credit for our relationship, which was annoying, but she wasn't really bothering me," Sollux said, hardly even noticing the way he'd said 'our relationship' like it was something steady enough to be called that.

"Our relationship, huh? Honestly, the whole Vris part of it aside, I kinda like the sound of that," Eridan admitted, smiling faintly. "It makes me feel like there really is an us, even if we have to hide it."

"Why wouldn't there be? I thought things were pretty clear from our talk yesterday."

"They were, they were. But...I don't know. I still kinda worried some." Eridan frowned slightly, taking Sollux's hand.

"Well, don't worry," Sollux said, squeezing his hand gently. "There's definitely an us."

Smiling softly, Eridan glanced over to make sure nobody was in the nearby portion of the hall before kissing him.

"Good. Now, unfortunately, I've got a faculty meeting in like 45 minutes, and I don't know how long it's gonna last, so you probably can't come over tonight. I've got time to drive you home though, if you want."

Sollux frowned a bit before pulling him into another kiss to delay having to leave. Eridan didn't mind that, wrapping his arms around his waist and holding him close, letting Sollux rest his head on his shoulder after. After a few moments of this, however, he slowly pulled away, not wanting to risk being caught in this kind of embrace with a student.

"It's okay," Sollux said finally. "I can just walk home. You don't have to leave and then come back just to drive me."

"I don't mind, Sol. But if you're sure.." Eridan was still loosely holding his hand, that being easier to hide if someone walked past than a hug.

"I'm sure. Let me know when you get home though. We can talk." He'd much rather be with him in person, of course, but he'd take what he could get.

"Yeah, I will. I feel bad that you're just stuck with your brother at home so often, and it doesn't sound like it's any better when your dad's there. I'll have to be grading papers while we talk, but that's alright. I'd feel bad about completely abandoning you," Eridan said, pressing one final kiss to his cheek. "Now go, or I'll never be able to pull myself away from you in time for my meeting."

Sollux smiled and let go of his hand, starting to walk towards the door. But before he could get out into the hall, Eridan spoke again.

"And Sol? I have no doubt you're enjoyin' cuddling with it or whatever else, but I do kinda want that sweatshirt back at some point." Eridan smirked at him, starting to walk towards the door himself.

"R-right. Yeah, I'll give it back. I just forgot it at home today," he muttered, rather embarrassed that Eridan had actually brought it up.

"No rush," he replied, smirking. "I was just reminding you. Seeing you all embarrassed is a bonus." That, of course, only made Sollux more flustered.

"I should probably go and, uh, let you get to your meeting," Sollux said, running a hand through his hair anxiously.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

Sollux nodded and left, smiling to himself as he walked down the hall. This could be really nice if it worked out.

The entire way home, he could almost forget the problems that had been plaguing him, from the nightmares to dealing with his absent more often than not father. Eridan was the only thing on his mind.

Once in the house, he tried to make his escape to upstairs, but was intercepted by his father.

"Your brother is out on a date," he said in lieu of a greeting.

Sollux paused. That definitely wasn't what he expected to hear, but Mituna being on a date was far from a tragedy.

"Okay...that's good, right? It's good that he's meeting people," Sollux offered somewhat hesitantly.

"I suppose. Did you know anything about this? Did he tell you?"

"What? No, he didn't. He mentioned that there was some girl he liked a couple of weeks ago, but that's all." Sollux leaned against the counter, stealing a glance at the clock. Unfortunately, the walk home had only taken 15 minutes, so there was lots of time until Eridan would be free to talk.

"Hmm... Well, I'm just concerned about him," his father mused. "Knowing how people treated him back home after his accident."

Sollux stayed silent. What could he say without the conversation going in a direction he really didn't want it to go?

"And then your...struggle to deal with it... I just wanted to get us away from that." As the man spoke, he was getting his coat, clearly getting ready to go out.

"Where are you going this time? More meetings with co-workers?" Sollux knew he sounded bitter, but he couldn't help it. Half of the time, he was left to fend for himself and Mituna, even now that they were in a new town where they didn't know many people. It seemed like they'd lost two parents instead of one the night of the accident.

"Sollux...I know it's hard for you right now. But I'm very busy right now trying to..." Sollux didn't hear the rest of what he had to say, turning and walking upstairs.

Without meaning to, he fell asleep sprawled out on his bed, even though it was only 4:30. There weren't any distinct nightmares, but when he woke up, the back of his head was aching terribly, like it'd been slammed against a wall. He had three missed calls from Eridan, it was after 8:00, and the house was still empty.

Sitting up, he tiredly rubbed his eyes and called Eridan back.

"Hey, Sol. I was kinda worried that somethin' happened..." He sounded both relieved and embarrassed for worrying in the first place.

"No, nothing happened. I just fell asleep for awhile."

"Oh. Well, it's good you got some sleep. You seemed like you needed it today."

Sollux just nodded, forgetting that Eridan couldn't see him. "Yeah, I guess so. I wish I was with you though."

Eridan laughed softly. "Yeah, I wish I was with you too. Tomorrow you can probably come over, I don't have much of anything to do then."

"Okay, sounds good," Sollux murmured, toying with the edge of the comforter as he spoke. "Too bad you have things to grade, or you could come here tonight. Nobody else is home."

"I suppose I could, if you know what time they're coming back. I could bring a few of the essays with me or something, and just keep you company."

"No, I'm not sure, so you probably shouldn't risk it." He wanted Eridan there, but he wasn't going to lie about when his brother and father might be home.

"Damn, okay. In that case, I'll just stay here." Sollux could hear papers shuffling in the background, probably the essays Eridan was grading.

"Um, if you need to focus on that, it's fine. It's not like we need to talk now," Sollux said hesitantly, hoping Eridan wouldn't take the out he was offering.

"Don't worry about it. I like it too...being able to feel like you're right here next to me," Eridan replied, a certain soft tone to his voice. "I could've used it last night after you left. I get the most awful nightmares. Always have."

"Oh?" Sollux's curiosity was piqued. "What kind of nightmares, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ah, it's really crazy shit," Eridan muttered. "Like I'm an alien or something. It's been the same kind of dreams for years."

"Yeah, weird," Sollux forced out quietly, still playing with the edge of the comforter. His heart was practically in his throat, but he had to ask. "Like a gray alien with orangey horns and weird colored blood? Something about a game?"

"Yeah, exactly," Eridan said suspiciously. "How did you know?"

"Because I have those nightmares too. So does my best friend back home."

"Holy shit," Eridan breathed, the sound of papers gone as he just sat there, stunned.

"We've been trying to figure out what they mean, AA and I. She thinks it has something to do with ghosts, and past lives, and stuff."

Eridan was silent for a long few moments, and then he spoke like he was just testing the waters of something.

"Have ya had one where...where you were like part a something? Some kinda hybrid creature that you had to share your body and thoughts with?" It was clear that he was nervous about what Sollux might say.

"Yeah, last night. It was awful at first, but then it got comfortable almost." Sollux sighed, closing his eyes as he remembered that downright unnerving feeling.

"Me too," Eridan said. "I had it last night too."

It was silent for a long time, save the noise of both of them breathing. Neither of them thought of suggesting that they just hang up the phone though. There was something comforting in just knowing the other was right there.

Almost an hour of silence had passed, Eridan grading papers and Sollux just staring at the ceiling. The pain in his head was finally starting to fade.

He heard the front door open downstairs, then laughter and muted conversation. So Mituna, not his father. He couldn't quite figure out if that was good or bad, but it meant that he should probably get off the phone.

"I love you," Sollux murmured, just as he heard Latula leave and close the door.

"Yeah, I love you too," Eridan replied, equally quietly.

A long few moments dragged by, and Sollux heard Mituna coming upstairs.

"I guess I should go," he said with reluctance.

"Okay. Try not to worry about this too much. We'll figure it out, if there is anything to figure out."

"Yeah. Bye." He ended the call and extracted himself from his little blanket cocoon. At least hearing about Mituna's date might distract him.