(A/N: LOVEblackjackELF9: Aw yeah! 20% COOLER! Anyway, so…I'm trying to get these chapters done quick, but I've really only "planned" 1-3. I don't really know where I'm gonna go from here . Also, my mom's favorite punishment to give me is 'no computer time,' so I can write the chapters but I might not get them posted for a while! Here's chapter 3…)
"Whoa! Hey, sorry, didn't mean to crash into you!" Sollux lay flat on his back, quite dazed and wondering what the hell just happened to him. He turned toward the voice. "Ah, it's all right…" He stood up slowly, rubbing the back of his head. "Is this yours?" Sollux felt something being pressed into his hand. Oh, his cane. "Yeah. Thanks." He stood where he was, feeling awkward. "Sorry again. What's your name?" Sollux paused. He had absolutely no idea who the person was. The voice sounded like a male's, tinged with a Scottish accent…or was that Irish?
From his years of being blind, Sollux had learned that blind people could be easily deceived by others. Heck, he knew that before going blind. Why tell this strange young man, who, to Sollux, was only a voice, what his name was? He faltered for a second. "….Sollux." "I'm Eridan. Eridan fuckin' Ampora. And yes, 'fuckin'' is my middle name." The voice was smiling. Sollux smiled back and laughed a little. "It's…nice to meet you, Eridan fuckin' Ampora." He held out his hand, and the two exchanged an awkward, sweaty handshake.
There was a moment of silence, and Sollux wondered if Eridan had left. "…hey, Eridan?" "Yeah?" "Oh, never mind. I thought you'd left." "Naw. Did you need to go?" "No. Were you leaving?" "Yeah, but I could hang around. You seem like a cool guy. Were you going to the library?" "Uh…yeah, I guess." Sollux found the door again and pulled it open. The inside of the library was warm, not like outside, though, and smelled like old books and dust. Sollux had read, or, rather, listened to, the fact that people who were blind had stronger senses of, well, everything else. Which was good, he supposed, because he needed them to get around.
"You like the library? It's very nice, isn't it?" Eridan's voice interrupted Sollux's train of thought. The more Eridan talked, Sollux noticed, the more apparent his accent became. It was odd, not quite affecting any words except for those ending with "ing" and containing "w" or "v." "Huh? Oh, yeah. I like it. I came here all the time before…" He trailed off, feeling majorly self-conscious. "Goin' blind?" Eridan finished for him. "Yeah." "If you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine." "No, it's okay."
Sollux wandered around the building for a while. Eridan had said he needed to find a book, so Sollux was on his own. He ran his fingers along the spines of the books lined up neatly on their shelves. Yes, this was where he liked to be. In the library, just him and all those books, all those pages, all those words. He smiled. Eridan was nice, he supposed, but just a little- "Hey, Sol!" Sollux jumped a bit, turning to face Eridan's voice. "Oh, hi, E.D." "E.D?" Eridan sounded questioning. "...yeah. I'm 'Sol,' you're 'E.D.'" "Oh. Okay."
"Hey, Sol?" Sollux, who had gone back to walking, turned. "What?" "Well, I know blind people can read with Braille or whatever, but isn't that…kind a slow?" Sollux turned back to the books. "Yeah. But I just listen to audiobooks. Technology makes stuff way easier." "Huh. That makes sense." "Hey, speaking of audiobooks, do you mind is we go upstairs? That's where they keep all of them." "Oh, sure." Sollux found the elevator (much easier than taking the stairs) and pressed the button. He entered upon hearing the doors open, the sound of Eridan's footsteps behind him.
There were nice little rooms, soundproofed and filled with comfortable chairs, that Sollux liked to use. The audiobooks had their titles conveniently imprinted in Braille on their plastic covers, so finding one wasn't hard. Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet. The rooms were also used for conferences sometimes, so there were desks and computers to use. Sollux found a chair and carefully sat down, leaning his cane against the desk. He opened the audiobook case and inserted the disc into the computer.
As the disc started, he heard Eridan pull out a chair behind him and sit in it. He sat back in his chair and smiled. You know, he thought as Sherlock asked Watson if he'd been in Afghanistan, maybe this guy isn't so bad.
(A/N: Well, there you go! A bit longer than the others, but I didn't know where to end. Sorry if Eridan seems a bit OOC, HumanStuck is hard! D: So, anyway, they've met! Precious babies… ~~*~~(*w*)~~*~~)