(Of COURS-E Cronus doesn't light his cigarettes! He's too much of a derp to do that. Meenah's pretty hard-core, though. Once she smoked an entire cig without coughing.)
Sollux sprawled over a chair in one of the conference rooms, utterly bored. He didn't want to start A Study in Scarlet until Eridan arrived, but he didn't want to listen to anything else. Maybe Eridan didn't know when to come…fuck! I forgot to tell E.D. what time! He mentally kicked himself. Should I wait? What if Eridan comes hours from now? What if he doesn't come at all?! He mentally kicked himself again. Now I sound like a girl waiting for her crush. After a moment's contemplation, he decided that he'd wait. If Eridan was smart, he would come soon. Sighing, he slid down in the chair and crossed his arms.
"Sol?" Sollux jumped, his pulse quickening for a second and then returning to normal. He glanced in the direction of Eridan's voice. "Oh, you're here." "Way to not tell me what time to come." "Geez, I'm sorry. You could've asked." "You could've just told me. Anyway, wanna read-…er-listen?" Sollux nodded. He'd found the tape and gotten it ready, so all he had to do was press "Play."
The pair fell silent as they listened. Sollux tried to pay attention to the story, but he was aware of every other sound as well – his heartbeat, Eridan constantly shifting positions, the whirr of the library computer as it played the tape. Judging from the noise, Eridan was sitting right next to him. He suddenly felt embarrassed; which only made him more ashamed. He'd just met Eridan, and, although he didn't have anything against being gay, he wasn't. Eridan probably didn't have any feelings towards him besides being a friend. Jesus fucking Christ, this is turning out to be like one of K.K.'s stupid rom-coms.
Eridan glanced over at Sollux, who seemed to be focused on the tape. The black-haired young man was tall, just a little shorter than him, and extremely thin. He was also a little…handsome? No, he wasn't handsome. Cute, maybe. Eridan felt oddly uncomfortable and quickly looked away, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling instead. No. He's handsome.
He'd never really paid much attention to the world. When they broke up, Feferi had accused Eridan of being "cold-hearted." Back then, he'd had no excuse. Since his father had died, though, he felt he was justified for hating everyone and everything. Sure, on the outside, he seemed friendly enough. But inside, he was filled with loathing.
Sollux, although he'd only been around for a day and a half, seemed different. He was a little snarky, but he was amiable. Eridan wasn't sure how he felt toward him; however, he knew it wasn't hate. Far from it. Which, in his opinion, was a rare feeling. You'd have to be pretty special for Eridan to not hate you.
-(Time skip brought to you by Dave Strider)—
"Jesus. How long have we been here?" Sollux stretched and shrugged. "Dunno. Do you have to go?" "Not really, but it's like three in the afternoon." They hadn't stopped at A Study in Scarlet, oh no, they'd gone through around eight . "When did we start?" "About ten in the morning."
He heard Eridan stand up and did the same. "So. What do we do now?" "Don't ask me. You're the one who invited me here." "Actually, you were the one who suggested we finish the story." Eridan sighed. "Do you want to do anything else?" "We could…get lunch or something."
"Uh. Sure?" Sollux grinned at Eridan's surprised tone. "It's not a date, dumbass." "I know!" Eridan's voice had gone up a notch. Sollux felt weirdly amused by his flustered-sounding friend. "So why do you sound so surprised?" "It's just…I haven't been…you know…out with anyone in a while? I mean, not like that kind of out…" Laughing and grabbing his cane, Sollux started out of the library. "I guess this is a date, then?" "It's not." "Whatever you say, E.D."
(For some reason I had a really hard time writing this chapter. I started yesterday and it took me like two hours to finish today. Anyway, dorks in love? Hell yeah.)