A/N: I finished the cover thing for this story. Yeah, it is pretty crappy and it's just a picture from my sketchbook…oh well. I didn't want to take someones work without permission^^ Oh and please review. It would be much appreciated :) Anyway, on with chapter three (oh and there is smut-ish stuff at the end, so be warned ;3):

Eridan blinked at the now empty chair in front of him. What the hell did I do wrong? Still confused, he finished his coffee and wondered what had ticked sollux off that much. Maybe he's sick. Or just mad at me for something. He narrowed it down to those two options and sighed, heading back to the apple store. Sollux was already there, making a point of studiously ignoring Eridan. Eridan could tell, however, that Sollux kept shooting him nervous glances out the corner of his multicolored eyes. By the time the store had closed, Sollux had pulled on his coat and stormed out the door, shoulders hunched and hair tousled from the biting wind outside. He hadn't said a single word to Eridan since lunch. Eridan walked slowly and silently towards the glass wall. He pressed his fingertips against the cool glass, longingly watching Sollux's receding form bent into the wind. His great fogged up the cool glass and he turned around, a dejected look on his face.

"Wow," Vriska remarked, "He was sure in a bad mood."

"Yeah no kidding," Eridan sighed, pulling open the door and wincing at the freezing gust of wind. He shivered, wrapping his scarf tighter, and made his way to his car. He hopped into his purple Mini Cooper. The sight of it always cheered him up, and he smiled a little bit. Driving over to his apartment in the Castro, he thanked his car once again for being small enough to fit in the tiny San Francisco parking places. Pulling open the door to his three story apartment that he shared with his mom and brother, he collapsed face first on the couch. He tried to relax but thoughts of Sollux kept drifting through his head. Dammit I can't fuckin' keep him out of my head. He wondered if he was ok. After all, his family situation was far from fine. He wondered if something happened to him. Groaning, he felt around the coffee table for his laptop without moving his position. Fuck. I have to get up.

He huffed as he pulled his face from the pillows and scooted the laptop onto his lap, kicking up his legs to rest them on the table. Logging in, he was slightly surprised to see that Sollux was online.

CaligulasAquarium [CA] began messaging TwinArmageddons [TA] at 11:45 PM

CA: Sol are you OK?

TA: ii'm fiine

CA: Wwhy were you actin like that?

TA: why do you care?

CA: Don't sass me Sollux

TA: PLea2e ju2t leave me alone Eriidan.

CA: Come on. Do you wwant to talk about it?

TA: ii've ju2t been feeliing weiird lately

CA: Wweird, howw?

TA: I keep gettiing the2e weird feeliings iin my 2tomach.

CA: Are you sick? Maybe you should stay home!

TA: No not liike that. Ju2t….nevermiind

CA: Sometimes I wworry about you Sol

TA: Let'2 change the 2ubject. Who are you goiing 2urfiing wiith?

CA: Oh, my friend Feferi. She's been my best friend since wwe wwere little.

TA: Wait, Feferi Peixes?

CA: Uhh yeah, do you know her?

TwinArmageddons [TA] ceased messaging CaligulasAquarium [CA]

Eridan narrowed his eyes at his screen. Jeez, more weird behavior. He shut his laptop and heard a noise from the outside of the door. Slowly, he crept up to the peephole to look out. There was his brother, Cronus Ampora, sloppily making out with another person whom Eridan couldn't see. Eridan groaned with exasperation and trudged to his room, taking his laptop with him. Soon enough, he could hear Cronus and the other person banging around in the room next to his. Pulling off his shirt, scarf, and pants, he climbed into his bed and put his earphones in, turning his phone up to maximum volume. The music wasn't helping, so he decided to text Fef to get his mind off of his brother.

CaligulasAquarium [CA] began messaging CuttlefishCuller [CC]

CA: Hey Fef wwhats up?

CC: )(-Ey -Eridan! I'm so -Exited for tomorrow!

Eridan sighed. Her excitement was contagious, but her texting quirk was a big pain in the ass to read.

CA: Yeah me too! Wwhat time should I plan on arrivin'?

CC: )(mmmm, w)(at about 2:00?

CA: Yeah that sounds great.

CC: Sooo, -Eridaaan, )(ow )(as your looove life been going? 38D

Eridan rolled his eyes. He could practically hear the singsong tone of her voice.

CA: Wwell I dunno there's this one guy but he's completely not interested. He doesn't even like guys :/

CC: Awwww but you n-Ev-Er know, you just )(ave to mak-E your mov-E!

CC: glub

CA: But I'm scared he'll say no…

CC: W-Ell you'll just )(av-E to t-Ell )(im your f-E-Elings if th-Ey'r-E r-E-Ely that strong! 38) Glub W)(at's this guy's nam-E, anyways?

CA: His name's Sollux Captor

CC: Wait, seriously?

He wondered what was so wrong that she stopped with her texting quirk.

CA: Yeah, wwhy?

CC: Uhh Eridan, I don't think you should get very close to him.

CA: So you knoww him?

CC: Yeah, I dated him for three years.

CA: Wwoah, are you serious?

CC:Yeah. Please don't get a crush on him, Eridan. Anyone but him.

CA: Noww wwhy do you say that?

CC: Do you know about his….problems?

CA: Yeah, most of them I'd say

CC: Well you can do what you want but let me just say, they're more severe than he lets on.

CA: Okay…thanks for the advice I guess, but nothing will probably happen anyway, he seems to only like girls.

CC: W-Ell I gu-Ess w-E'll )(av-E to s-E-E )(ow t)(his all plays out.. 38/

CC: Just, tak-E my warning in mind.

CA: Okay, I wwill

CC: S-E-E you tomorrow th-En! I can't wait!

CC: glub

CA: Awwesome! see you then :)

CC: By-E-E-E!

CA: bye Fef.

CuttlefishCuller [CC] ceased texting CaligulasAquarium [CA]

Eridan frowned at the screen and flopped over onto his belly, pulling his pillow over his head. God, I'm so tired. He was looking forward to his day off tomorrow. He really needed to get away from his family and he hadn't been surfing in a really long time. He had to be sure to give Sollux a huge thank you later, if he wasn't off having major mood swing or acting totally weird. He wondered if Sollux was thinking of him.

Sollux,meanwhile, was fast asleep. But instead of the stressful nightmares he would have normally, his dream this time was much, much different.

He stretched out on his bed, lost in the feeling of the person on top of him rubbing his collarbone and weaving his fingers through Sollux's hair. The person was Eridan, straddling his hips and kissing him passionately. Eridan moved his knee to rest between Sollux's legs, right up against his crotch. Sollux moaned against Eridan's mouth, and Eridan moved his lips to suck and lick Sollux's neck. Then Eridan began to grind his hips into Sollux's, blue eyes filled with lust and cheeks flushed. Sollux moaned in his sleep, thrusting his hips into the mattress. The movement woke him up, and his eyes snapped open. He furrowed his eyebrows in surprise and sat up. He felt…different. He pulled back the sheets and looked down. Holy fucking shit no fucking way. He groaned in frustration and embarrassment, pulling off his now dirty boxers and making his way to the shower. His cheeks were flushed as he threw his underwear into the laundry hamper and turned on the water. I am so fucking glad that I don't have to see him at work today. There would be no way I could look him in the eyes without blushing. Getting out of the shower, Sollux remembered that they were getting new workers today. Trying not to think too much of his dream and why the fuck he had it, he got dressed and hopped onto the muni heading downtown.

Opening the door to the store, he saw three new workers. One was a short guy with messy hair who was yelling ferociously at Vriska who was smirking down at him, another was, what the fuck, licking a computer screen, and the last one was looking up cat pictures on google images and squealing. The one who was licking the computer made her way over to Sollux and grinned up at him.

"I'm Terezi Pyrope," she said to him, "and your name is?"

"Uh, can't you read the name tag?" he asked.

"Cant you see," she said with a tilt of her head, "I'm blind." Sollux only then noticed the cane she held, and how her eyes were covered with bright red pointed glasses.

"Ah, I thee," he said, "Tho ith that why you were licking the computer over there?"

"Oh yes, indeed," she replied, grinning again. Sollux wondered why in the world Vriska hired her. He moved on to the guy yelling at vriska. As he approached them, the guy shut up, turning towards Sollux and narrowing his eyes at him. He crossed his arms and glared at Vriska before introducing himself.

"Sollux Captor," he almost yelled, "The name's Karkat Vantas, a pleasure to meet you." he held out his right hand and Sollux shook it. All of a sudden, the girl who was looking at cat pictures ran up from behind him and pounced on him, hooking her arms around his neck and squealing "Karkitty!" Karkat jolted and his eyes widened with shock before he started yelling.

"JESUS FUCK NEPETA GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME FOR THE LAST TIME I DON'T WANT TO PLAY YOUR WEIRD ROLEPLAY GAMES!" She stuck her bottom lip out into a pout but let Karkat go.

"Aww Karkitty you're no fun"

"Ugh stop calling me that!" She then caught sight of Sollux staring at them in amusement and her face brightened.

"Sollux!" she squealed as if he was a long lost friend, "I'm Nepeta!" She smiled from under her blue hat with sewn on cat ears to give him a giant hug. Sollux laughed.

"heh nice to meet you too, I gueth."

The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye, even though Sollux was covering for Eridan's shift as well as his own. By the end of the day, he was wiped out. He had to run around helping the new workers figure things out, and had to help extra customers. He tried (and miserably failed) to keep Karkat from losing his temper at a few of the customers. He also had to try to keep Nepeta from getting distracted by cat pictures. He also had to keep Terezi from licking any of the customers, especially the ones with red shirts. By the end of the day, Karkat was complaining about a sore throat, every tablet, computer, iPhone, and iPod had a picture of a cat as it's background, and most of the touch screens were blurry with Terezi's slobber. He grimaced as Vriska, looking tired as well, threw him a wipe and told him to clean all the screens.

Arriving at his apartment, he fell onto his bed and closed his eyes. It had been a long, stressful week but in general his mood had brightened a bit from getting new friends. This thought brought his mind back to Eridan. And that fucked up dream. He wondered what was up with the feelings he kept getting towards Eridan. He recalled the time in the coffee shop, how distracting his tongue was, how he wanted to brush back that stray strand of hair, and the dream. Suddenly it all made sense. "I-I like him" He said aloud. But he was still confused. That must mean I'm bi. He wondered what Eridan's reaction would be if he told him that he liked him. Probably disgust. That's what you deserve. The voice was back. Eridan said it to you, no one will ever love you. You don't deserve anyone's affection. Sollux sighed, for once agreeing with the voice, and tried to go to sleep. As he layed sideways on the pillow, a single tear slid from under his eyelid, trailing its way down his cheek before soaking into the threads of his pillow.