Sorry for putting this off for a while. My writing groove has been kind of off! But hey, it's back!

Well, this chapter was going to have more in it, but the entire thing started bordering on about 3000 words, and I'm trying to keep these chapters shorter than that, so consider this chapter eleven part one!

We've got another Sollux chapter after this because of that, but I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope you're surprised by what Roxy brings to the story. Drop me a review and tell me what you think!

Returning home, Sollux threw his swimsuit in the hamper and scurried to his room only to be halted by Mituna, who asked, "How wath your party, Thollux?"

"Fine, Mituna," he said, trying to get into his room.

"You were gone for a really long time! And when you left, I hid in my room jutht like you thaid to. I found a piece of candy, Thollux."

"That'th great," Sollux said with a fake smile. "Can I pleathe go to my room now? I need to think."

"Yeah, thure. Dad thaid dinner would be thoon, though."

"Thankth, Mituna," Sollux said, heading into his room and sitting down at his computer. He had a pile of messages from Dave, a few from Karkat, one from John and two from Kanaya. He read over Dave's before telling him that they would talk after Sollux cleared his head, and Dave seemed to understand. Karkat seemed concerned, but Sollux told him not to worry. John had just sent him a simple hello, and Sollux didn't even bother responding.

He opened up Kanaya's chat and sighed at it. It was a hello and a request to video chat. He quickly said yes, and soon the familiar tune sounded. He answered and turned his video on before searching around for his headphones.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, jutht gotta find my thhitty headphoneth," Sollux said before sitting back in his seat and pulling them on. "Got 'em. What'th up?"

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," she said softly. "And I thought you may want to talk more."

"I gueth it'd be nice, though we both know it'th going to be you talking for me," Sollux said.

She smiled a bit. "I know. I don't mind, though. We both know it's what you need right now. This is something you've put off for much longer than you needed to. Your emotional system has become unbalanced, if that's how you want to look at it."

"I'd rather be a robot," Sollux muttered under his breath.

Kanaya chuckled softly. "A robot would probably be a better vessel for you, but we can't have that, now can we?"

"No," Sollux said, pulling up Minecraft to just mess around.

She heard the music before he could turn the volume down. "You're on Minecraft, aren't you, Sollux?"

"Yeah."

"What server?"

"You play?"

"I dabble."

He gave her the server number, and she was online in a flash. All talk of feelings was pushed back, which was something Sollux was forever grateful for. It would buy him more time to think things through. When he excused himself for dinner, she logged off for the night. He said goodbye, but figured she got off because she got the hint that he wasn't going to be talking that night.

Sitting down in his chair at the table, Hector served up dinner and the family chowed down.

"So, how was the party, Sol?" Hector asked.

"Mindblowing," Sollux said, cracking a smirk. "Literally, too. Theriouthly. Vrithka puthhed thith one guy, ED, and he hit hith head on the thide of the pool."

"ED?"

"Eridan. He'th Vrithka'th new thtep-brother."

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah, jutht a concuthion, and it'th not even that bad of a concuthion according to Mr. Ampora."

"Glad to know," Hector said, eating quietly. "But other than that, the party was fine?"

"Yeah, though that bathically wath the party," Sollux said. "But I gueth it wath okay. Oh, and I'm going to hang out with Kanaya tomorrow, if that'th okay."

Hector nodded. "It's the weekend. Just be sure your homework is done."

"Got it," Sollux said, getting up and putting his dish in the sink before running upstairs and getting back on his computer until he finally decided some sleep was in order, though morning came too quick for Sollux as light blinded him from his open window. He quickly shut the shades and hid under the covers, but then he groaned as he remembered he had one responsibility this morning, and that he probably should shower before he went to meet Kanaya.

He got up, stretched and headed into the hallway to knock on Mituna's door. Mituna was still asleep, which would make this a lot easier. Sollux went over, shook Mituna a bit and led the still half-asleep teen to the bathroom before giving him his pills. Weekends were always easier when it came to Mituna's pills because he never really woke up until about ten.

After shoving Mituna back onto his bed, Sollux got a shower and got dressed. He had to think a moment about what to wear, because he didn't know if his normal jeans-and-a-tee-shirt get-up would work for going to a coffee shop. Then he wondered why he cared and threw on his jeans and a black tee shirt before putting on his glasses and pulling on his shoes. He grabbed his skateboard out of the garage and skated down to the coffee shop, where he saw Kanaya in the window with her nose in a book. He walked in and sat down, and Kanaya tucked her book away before looking at him patiently.

"Hello, Sollux."

"Hi, KN," he said, relaxing a little when she broke the bubble of silence. "Did I keep you waiting?"

"No. I actually came early to do some reading. I'll probably stay here most of the day, however." She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Thure. I'll get it," Sollux said, going to get up. After grabbing his drink, he sat back down across from Kanaya at their little table. She was reading again, and Sollux looked around. Wood floors with wood tables and a few indoor plants here and there; the place was nothing special. But it was quaint and small, and he could see its appeal.

She closed her book after she placed her bookmark inside it. "So, did you think at all last night?"

"No."

She sighed. "I thought you said you weren't going to put it off any longer."

"I lied."

Kanaya rolled her eyes and glared at him. "You seem to do that a lot."

"I know." He leaned back in his chair. "I gueth you're not letting me put it off any longer, huh?"

"I absolutely am not. Bottling one's emotions like that can be quite tiring for the soul, or at least that's what I've read, but that's not the point here. The point is to get you to express your feelings and put them into words so we can fully understand your little problem."

"Everything you jutht thaid flew over my head and to Thiberia."

She looked down. "I can see this is going to be much more difficult than I assumed." She looked back up. "Are you actually willing to talk about your problems with your emotions, or am I wasting my time here?"

He sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll talk. I jutht don't know what to talk about."

"I believe that's because no one has ever made you confront your feelings before. Am I getting somewhere?"

"Thiberia."

"Sollux."

"Thorry," he said. "I told you, I'm not good at thith thtuff!"

"Because you keep pushing it away, Sollux," she said a little louder than normal. "I don't mean to be rude, but you're kind of defeating the purpose of this conversation because you continue to put up this sarcastic asshole as your front instead of actually trying to resolve your issues, and if that's the case, I can't help you."

"No, no, KN, don't. I'm thorry, okay? Let'th talk, okay?"

The chime of a bell caught Sollux's attention as he glanced at the door. He gulped, and Kanaya turned to see Eridan entering the coffee shop. He spotted them both and waved, heading over and saying, "Hey! If I had know-wn you tw-wo w-would hav-ve been here, I w-would have called first."

Kanaya gave him a bit of a glare. "Aren't you supposed to be at home resting?"

"I just came for a cup of coffee," he said innocently. "An' an old friend of mine is actually in this area, so I'v-ve agreed to meet up with her. I told her I couldn't stay long, but she w-wanted to talk to me nonetheless."

"An old friend?" Sollux asked.

"Rose LaLonde," Eridan said. "She's quite a nice girl. I met her w-when she came to Northern Ireland once. W-We w-were in the Harry Potter section and struck up a conv-versation, so w-we exchanged e-mails and hav-ve been talking ev-ver since. Her family happens to hav-ve mov-ved into the city, so I told her w-we should meet up today."

"LaLonde? Don't we have LaLondes at school?"

Kanaya nodded. "Karkat's friends. I've never really spoken to them. I've only ever seen them around." She turned to Eridan. "I think it's nice for you to come out to see your friend, but I believe you should be at home, Eridan. I'm sure Mr. Ampora and Cronus are worried about you, and your health, of course." She tilted her head thoughtfully.

He only rolled his eyes. "Dad's at work, and Cronus hasn't come out of his room. I bet he's still in there, snoozing the weekend away. I won't stay long, if that'll make you feel better, Kanaya."

"I insist you let me take you home," she said. "I don't want you to suddenly forget where you live and to get lost in the city."

"Like that could- W-Who are you again?" Eridan teased. Kanaya smirked and shook her head before telling him to get his coffee. Sollux watched him, his eyes scanning over Eridan's form before turning back to Kanaya, who was looking at him with a knowing gaze.

"Oh thhut up!"

"I didn't say anything," she said with a sly smile. "But, shall we continue our conversation or are you going to be distracted by the purple-haired wonder over there?"

"I'd thay the latter," Sollux said with a slight smirk.

"Then I guess we both better not get our hopes up," she said. "You can leave if you want. I have to stay here to walk Eridan home."

"Actually, no, I got a better idea," Sollux said. "You thaid you wanted to thtay here and read, tho let me walk him home."

"Please don't pull one of those overly-cliché moves where you push him up against a wall and confess your love to him. I may puke," Kanaya said. She went to sip her coffee, but found the cup empty.

Sollux got up. "What do you get?"

"Just a regular coffee. Black. Nothing special, really," she said, pulling out her book. Sollux nodded and took his own empty cup to go throw them away and stand in line behind Eridan, who didn't notice. After a moment, Eridan did, and he turned to smile at Sollux and say, "Oh, hello, Sol."

"Hey, ED. KN and I thwapped, tho I'll be walking you home after thith."

Eridan rolled his eyes. "You know-w, I can w-walk myself home. Just because I've been getting a few-w headaches does not mean I am some helpless little thing you all need to take care of. I sw-wear, Kanaya treats this like I've gotten stuck in a w-wheelchair. It's not that bad, is it? Or am I just not looking at this the w-way you all do?"

"According to KK, Kanaya is alwayth like that. Thhe tendth to fret over thhit like thith," Sollux said with a shrug as the line inched closer to the cashier. "He thaid that thhe got all upthet over him getting a paper cut, too, tho it'th not just you."

"That's a little absurd."

"I gueth," Sollux said.

Eridan was quick to order his drink, and after Sollux got his, he went back to sit by Kayana. Her interest was on the pale blonde with black lipstick in the orange blouse that Eridan had gone to sit by. She murmured, "I've never seen her around. That must be his friend, Rose."

"Thhe'th pretty," Sollux said.

"Indeed," Kanaya muttered under her breath. Sollux sighed and turned back towards her, muttering, "We thhouldn't thtare. They'll thuthpect thomething."

"For once, you're right," Kanaya said, turning her attention to her coffee. "We should take advantage of this moment to talk about your feelings. If only I can get you to pay attention on something other than Eridan. Really, Sollux, stop."

He was leaning forward in his chair, his gaze dreamy as her continued to press his weight into his elbow. He didn't notice it was sliding until it slipped off the end of the table, causing him to knock over his coffee and bust his chin. He looked away and tried to play it off as not happening, but that was difficult with the sudden silence in the coffee shop.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, KN," he said. She quietly got up and grabbed some napkins to wipe up Sollux's now spilled coffee. After she had cleaned off the table, she turned back to Sollux and raised an eyebrow at him, murmuring, "That's not a very discrete way to avoid being seen making heart-eyes at your boy-crush."

"Thhut up."

She rolled her eyes, slightly amused. "Alright, Sollux. Talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

"I told you, I don't know how to do that."

"Try."

He sighed, running his hand through his messy black hair then pushing his glasses up his nose. "Fine. I'll try. Like you thaid when we thpoke earlier, I don't want to uthe him ath a rebound."

"Okay, good. So we know you don't what to hurt him, which is good. It means you're not a complete douche. However, is it because you like him, or is it because you just don't want to be a jerk?"

"Thome weird combination of both, I gueth," Sollux said. "Thankth for thinking I'm not a total douche, by the way."

"Oh, I still think you're an absolute fool. You just happen to care about the feelings of others." She smiled. "But that's not the point here. The point is, can we confirm that you have feelings beyond friendship for Eridan?"

Sollux nodded.

"Then we're moving forward," she said. "Since we know you like him, we need to see what you want to do about it. Earlier, you said you didn't want to rush into a relationship because you didn't want a rebound relationship. However, I'm curious to see how long you're planning to wait, because I don't want you to miss your chance. Hell, we don't even know if there's a chance of him liking you back."

"Large chance," said a soft voice behind them. Kanaya's gaze went up and she raised an eyebrow.

"And who might you be?" Kanaya asked.

"Roxy LaLonde," she said with a Cheshire grin. "I'm Rose's older sister, and one of the Karkat's friends, and let me tell you!" She started cackling. "You have a much better chance with him than with her, dude." She grinned at Sollux. "He's completely gay. Rose learned that the hard way!"

"What do you mean?" Kanaya asked. Sollux scrunched up his nose as the stench of alcohol radiating off of the girl.

"Rose was the girl he was dating before he dropped the gay-bomb!"

Sollux's eyebrows knit together in surprise. Eridan didn't seem like the type to do that, but then again, Sollux had only known him for a week. Sollux barely knew anything about this guy, and that's what really struck him. Things shouldn't be moving this fast. Nothing ever moves this fast. This is not some crack-comedy-version of Romeo and Juliet. Oh hell no.

"Thank you, for your information, Roxy,"Sollux said eventually. Roxy grinned and went over to Rose and Eridan's table before the two sisters left. Eridan got up and walked over to Sollux and Kanaya. He sat down and said, "Apparently, they go to our school. I'v-ve either been out of the loop, or I just hav-ven't been paying w-well enough attention, but apparently they mov-ved here last year, not this year, and they w-were ev-ven at the party and saw-w me get hurt. It's actually a bit embarrassin'. And since then, according to Rose, Roxy and Dirk Strider had a bit of a fling!"

"Dave'th brother? Really?" Sollux asked. "Didn't know Bro Strider was thtraight."

"I'm finding out a lot of people here are anything but straight," Kanaya said, looking at Sollux. The two exchanged looks before Sollux stood, saying, "Well, I gueth we should get you home, Eridan."

Eridan stood. "Thank you, Sol. Kanaya, I'll text you later?"

"That would be nice," she said with a smile. "You two be safe."

"W-We w-will!" Eridan said, turning to head out the door. Sollux followed him, flipping Kanaya off behind his back before heading outside.