This was the day Eridan Ampora booked his first gig at the Core.
He could barely swallow his Cheerios after Sollux left that morning. His chest felt so full he thought his rib cage might crack against the pressure. Trying to focus on eating his cereal did nothing to help either. Every time he dipped his spoon into the milk and watched the little brown rings converge around it, he found his vision flying inexplicably back to the night before.
Everything had been so cloudy. Like a golden haze—all amber liquids and worn fabric and the salty sour smell of sweat. But in that summer fog of beer and longing, there had been a hand. A pair of lips. A sweet dream pierced by the fragile needle of touch. And in that moment the dream had spilled forth from its confines in the imaginary and come surging out into reality. A reality where no matter how much alcohol and heat blurred the edges, there was an anchor lodged in Eridan's chest, its edges sure and sharp and hard as cut crystal.
He was in love with Sollux Captor.
Stupidly, irreconcilably, and hopelessly in love.
He eventually gave up on the Cheerios, pushing them away before digging his phone out of his pocket and tapping on Feferi's name from his list of recent calls. As he pressed the device to his ear, he could feel his heart thrumming in his chest. He put a hand to it, feeling it ache and surge and flutter.
It was a broken thing. But it could feel no less keenly. He found himself overcome with the urge to laugh at that, his eyes stinging with senseless joy.
"You're lucky it's a Saturday, mister," came Feferi's voice as the dial tone finally ceased. "I am going to start having to set up hours like a real call service if this keeps up. I do have a life outside of yours, you know."
He couldn't even respond to any of it. Partly because he knew she would never make good on her threats and partly due to the fact that his throat was too tight to form a coherent sentence. All he could do was swallow and drown in the hot throbbing of his heart.
"Or maybe I could start charging you! Five bucks a minute for my services. What do you think about that, hmm?" Her voice was as light as ever, and he could hear the tinkle of a spoon against the ceramic edges of a coffee mug.
"Fef, I think I'm dyin'," he finally choked out.
Her voice did a sharp about-face toward worry. "Is everything all right, Eridan? Do you need me to call someone?"
"I love him," he gurgled, putting his head down on the table. "I just love him so much and I think I might die from it, Fef, this is the worst fuckin' feeling."
He could hear her expel a relieved breath before she responded. "Oh my god, Eridan, you really scared me for a second there. I thought this was something serious!"
"It is fuckin' serious, what do you think I'm playin' at?" Eridan snapped, jerking up from the table with an indignant scowl.
"Oh, well, of course it is. How silly of me to ever suggest otherwise! I have your cardiologist on speed dial. Do you want me to call him up and alert him to the really horrible love attack you're currently having?"
Eridan slammed a hand down on the table, making his spoon rattle. "Goddammit, why can't you ever take a single thing that happens to me seriously? I am sittin' here in the throes a some really serious fuckin' emotions and all you can say about it is that you got my fuckin' cardiologist on speed dial like it's all some huge joke to you. You are honestly the worst person to contact in a serious crisis a feelings and I can't believe I even called you about this, what a fuckin' idiot I am."
She giggled. "Calm your dumb gills down, Eridan, I was only joking!"
"Okay, well, you can stop with that, because this is not an area for japes of any kind to be makin' an appearance. This is the most dire situation you could possibly imagine, okay, and it's gotta be fuckin' treated as such."
"All right." Feferi's voice was suddenly comically serious. "What's the first order of business, Captain?"
"Just ask me about what happened last night. Just fuckin' ask me."
"What happened last night, sir?"
"Oh my god, I can't even tell you."
If it was possible to hear an eye roll over the phone, Eridan would have sworn he had. "You are so ridiculous sometimes. I guess I will just leave you to hoard that little piece of information all to yourself then."
"All right, just hold on, I gotta get myself under control here. Do some fuckin'…deep breathin' or whatever. Jesus…"
"In through the nose, out through the mouth," Feferi instructed, laughter nipping at the edges of her voice.
"Okay, I'm doin' it. I'm breathin'. All right, I'm ready. I am now sufficiently prepared to drop this fuckin' bombshell of a revelation onto your unsuspecting cranial cortex, are you even ready for this?"
"Aye aye, captain, fire away!"
"Okay. So we got drunk last night—"
"Oh my god, did you two do it?"
"Jesus fuckin' christ, Fef, can you at least let a guy finish? No we did not do it. But he did, like, get all snuggly with me and spend the night in my bed. I wouldn't even fuckin' believe it except for the fact that he just left my house and that I can still distinctly remember him leanin' down and kissin' me and pettin' my hair."
Feferi laughed. "That sounds super cute, Eridan. You two seem like you make very good drunk cuddle buddies."
"That's the thing, we weren't even that drunk. He tried to pass it off like it was nothing, but I'm seriously startin' to doubt it when he says he doesn't have feelings for me, like the cover is comin' off a this ruse and revealin' the heapin' pile a horse manure that it is."
"Hmm… That's funny. I'm remembering a conversation where I told you this exact thing, and you passed it off as me being naïve and silly." Her voice was needling.
Eridan sighed. "All right, well, you were being naïve and silly, okay? Things were a lot more complicated after that kiss and Sol goin' off on me like that. But after Rufio's funeral and shit, it was like…something happened, I don't know, I can't explain it."
"That's right, you told me about that…" Feferi's glib tone dipped a bit. "How is Tavros doing? Is he handling it okay?"
"Yeah, like weirdly okay. I think he and Gam probably handled it the best outta any of us to be perfectly fuckin' honest."
"Out of any of you…?"
Eridan shifted in his seat, flicking the bottom of his spoon and watching it spin around on the table. "Yeah… I guess I probably could've handled it a bit better than I did."
"What makes you say that?"
Another spoon flick. "It just got me all scared. Like, thinkin' about dyin', I guess. In a serious way, and not just those little flashes a terror I get whenever my heart starts actin' up if I try to take walks or have those awful fuckin' fallin' dreams. Like, I guess I just was standin' there watchin' them bury that cat and I just kept seein' myself in that box, you know? And it scared the shit outta me."
Feferi's voice became somber. "Well, that's only natural, I think. Death is a scary thing. Not bad, really, it's just like being afraid of the dark or the deep part of a lake where you can't see the bottom. It's this mysterious thing that nobody really knows a whole lot about and so we all feel a little scared about what might be lurking down there. But I wouldn't really worry about it so much, Eridan."
"I can't help myself, Fef, half the time I feel like I'm treadin' water over that dark spot in the lake. I mean, that's the reason I decided to do the music thing instead a goin' through more school like you did and gettin' a doctorate in bio or whatever. I mean, science is great and shit, but every time I have to pack myself off to the hospital or feel my heart goin' nuts inside a me, I get worried that I just don't have the fuckin' time for it. Like I gotta only do the stuff I really love doin' because who knows when the next time at the hospital is gonna be the last?"
"Eridan…" Feferi's voice was halting. "I wish you wouldn't talk about stuff like this. The doctors said that your prognosis was really good. And you followed all your post-op instructions pretty well this time. Sort of. You're doing better than you were after your last surgery, okay? And you're all done growing now, so that should be the last one you'll ever have! So there's really no need for all this doom-saying, all right?"
"God, you're just like him," Eridan muttered, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "I'm not doom-sayin', Fef. I'm just tryin' to be realistic, here. Nobody expected Tav's cat to die. Nobody expects any a that shit. So I guess that's why I just…really want to do something. I don't want to sit on my ass and waste time anymore. Sol and I have been pissin' around this weird thing between us for over a month now, and I'm just finally ready to actually get up and go for it. It's not right to waste the time we have when some kid's fuckin' kitten was shafted out of it. That's all I'm tryin' to get at here. It's an insult to all the time that Rufio never had that Sol and I are content to sit here in emotional limbo like this forever. I fuckin' love him, Fef, and regardless a his feelings or how he might react to it, I'm gonna go for it. And I'm gonna do it in the biggest possible way like I'm slated to die tomorrow. Because for all we know, that might just be the fuckin' case. And if it is, I'll at least die knowin' that I gave it the best fuckin' shot that I could."
Feferi was silent for a long time. When she finally responded, her bubbly tone was punctuated by a wavering note. "That's really great, Eridan. I'm glad you're feeling ready to do this."
"I've never been more ready for anything in my life," he replied, feeling the ache in his chest sharpen. "I just wish I knew what the fuck to do."
She laughed. "Really? I figured you would do what any musician in love does."
"What's that?"
"Write him a song, stupid!"
Eridan felt as though he'd swallowed a live fish. It flopped in his stomach as he forced out, "I don't know about that. Sure, I've been puttin' a lot a practice in lately with the bed rest bein' a thing, but I still don't know if I'm at the skill level where writin' an honest to god song is like, a distinct possibility."
"Come on, Eridan! What happened to all the enthusiasm? You've gotten me all excited! You can't just pull up on the reigns after giving a speech like that."
Eridan put his head down on the table. "I just was not expectin' to do something that required that much preppin' time, Fef, I was more thinkin' along the lines a showin' up at his door with a taco pizza and all the love in my heart and just sorta hopin' he goes for it."
"That is the lamest setup for a romantic confession ever!" Feferi rebuked. "You have the guitar and the music in your heart, don't you? It's time to put them to use and stop being a useless baby!"
"Wow, Fef, way to make this sound even cheesier than it already is. I will be fuckin' shocked if Sol doesn't just toss up his lunch over that god-awful pair a mismatched sneakers he has on account a how fuckin' pathetic I'll be."
"I don't think it will be pathetic at all, Eridan. Besides, you've been saying you're going to get a music gig for ages now, but I haven't seen you do anything about it. If you want to live like you're going to die tomorrow, you have to start doing it! Come on! I am super excited about this now. Put your money where your mouth is, mister. It's time to pick up that guitar and get your musical courtship going, epic style!"
After that, there was absolutely no arguing with her. In a way, Eridan was grateful. In the days following, his clumsy encounters with the guitar were punctuated by her phone calls. It was odd, having Feferi call him instead of the other way around. But it gave him the lift in spirits that he needed to avoid throwing his instrument against the wall and signing off of all things musical for the rest of his inept existence.
It was a week before he had anything that could be considered a real composition. As he sang the lyrics over the phone to Feferi, she sat on the other end of the line with bated breath, and he could hear the electric excitement snapping in her every syllable as he finished.
"That sounds really great, Eridan! You're voice is actually pretty nice. I'm surprised I never noticed it before."
"Thanks," Eridan muttered, folding up the crinkled notebook paper he'd scribbled the song on. "But it's not the singin' I'm worried about. It's the singin' and also hopin' my fingers cooperate at the same time that's got me in fuckin' knots about the whole thing."
"Stop worrying so much. That's just going to make you mess everything up. I've talked to Sollux in private about you, so I can say with extreme confidence that even if it's awful, he'll probably love it."
"Wow, thanks for that stunnin' vote a confidence, I really appreciate it," Eridan replied flatly.
"Come on! What are you so crabby about? He's going to love it no matter what you do, Eridan, so I don't know why you're getting so worried."
"Because, Fef, I'd rather he loved it because I'm a dashin' and accomplished musician. Not to mention the fact that I was talkin' myself up to him about my guitar playin' today and basically just settin' the stage for my fantastic fuckin' failure here."
Feferi's voice perked with intrigue. "Oh, did you talk to Sollux today?"
"Yeah. Told him about my plans for tomorrow, what with gettin' off a bed rest and everything."
"You didn't actually tell him what you're going to be doing, right?"
Eridan rolled his eyes. "Come on, Fef, what sorta moron do you think I am? A course I didn't. I told him I was goin' shoppin' for clothes or some shit. Which I actually kinda wish was the truth since my wardrobe's been lookin' pretty dismal lately."
"You can do that later. For now you have to focus on getting that gig booked."
Eridan flopped back on his bed. "Yeah, I guess."
"Eridan!" Feferi sighed exasperatedly. "What is it now? I was thinking you were going to be a lot more excited about this than you are currently being."
Eridan rolled onto his side and put an arm over his face. "I dunno, Sol just sounded really down when I got done speakin' with him and it's got me wonderin' if he's even gonna want to come to this stupid thing once I go through all the trouble a settin' it up. Feels like I'm clawin' at the walls a futility here."
"You are not doing anything with futile walls, Eridan. I swear, you two just feed off each other's bad moods. You're both just big passive-aggressive idiots is what I think! So buck up and stop moping. He's going to come to your thing. You just have to set it up first."
"I suppose," Eridan said, sighing a bit more loudly than he really needed to.
Feferi responded with an even larger sigh before she giggled. "Just get some sleep, grouch-face. You've got some planning to do tomorrow!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fuckin' workin' on it, okay?"
The next day found him wearing some of his nicest clothes. He'd slipped on tight, dark purple pants that clung to his legs all the way down, where he had stuffed his feet into a pair of teal high tops. A blue and teal striped T-shirt covered his top half, his wrists laden with beaded bracelets and his neck covered by a purple argyle scarf. He wanted to make a decent impression with whoever it was he was going to have to talk to in order to set up a gig.
As he walked into the Core, the jingle bells in the door jangling behind him, he saw that whoever it was happened to be the bitch with the blue lipstick.
He proceeded to shrink into a corner table to curse his very existence.
"I haven't seen you in a while."
Eridan lifted his head to see Kanaya staring over at him from her place at the table beside his. It was an almost exact replication of the first time he'd met her. She was wearing a maroon blouse and black skirt, not a strand of her short, dark hair out of place as she delicately turned a page of the book she was reading. She offered him a small smile.
His own lips quirked up as well, and he grabbed the edges of his table. "Will there be any threats to invert my table if I slide on over by you, Kan?"
"I am feeling in a particularly generous and non-threatening mood this morning." She folded up her book and picked up her drink, scooting over to make room for Eridan. He pulled his table over to hers, a more graceful maneuver than he had performed during his first encounter with the woman. As he dragged his chair over as well and sat back down, he found her looking him over carefully.
"So what seems to be the problem?" she asked at last.
"What's got you harborin' the idea that I've got a problem?" Eridan retorted indignantly, smoothing his scarf over his chest.
"People with a normal amount of baggage usually at least buy themselves a drink before retreating to the edges of the café to drown their sorrows." She closed her eyes as the corners of her mouth pulled up even further. "This is even ignoring the fact that you seem to enjoy seeking problems out from every cranny they could possibly think to lurk in."
Eridan found his expression souring. He had forgotten how much of an irreprehensible, snobby know-it-all Kanaya was.
"For your information, I do not go lookin' for problems, okay, they fuckin' search me out like heat seekin' missiles to blast my life apart into an even finer ash and rubble than it already is. Like, I don't ask for fuckin' any a this." His lip curled at her as he spoke, leaning back in his chair.
She opened her eyes, and he found them glittering with mirth. "I'm sorry. I know your life is quite difficult. I don't mean to imply otherwise."
He squinted at her for a long time, but her impassive expression and shining eyes never changed. So he threw a leg up on the chair across from him and sighed, casting a glance over to the woman working behind the counter.
"And now she's here and just makin' things about ten times more unpleasant than they have any right to be. I'm freakin' out about shit enough as it is."
"'Freaking out about shit?' What shit, may I ask?" Her smile dissolved to be replaced with a curious expression.
"Like, I'm tryin' to book myself a time where I can have a performance a some sort on my guitar. A course it's important for me to sorta establish myself musically in this area, but it's got a deeper purpose than that, not like I'm ever gonna let you be privy to that information."
She sighed, her eyes raising toward the ceiling. "Based on the numerous text messages I've been receiving from Karkat alerting me to the trading of poorly aimed romantic blows between you and Sollux, I am going to go out on a limb and guess that this is likely something to do with that."
Eridan made a face of repulsed shock. "Are you fuckin' kiddin' me, Kar texts you?"
"A lot of people text me," she replied.
Eridan bristled. "What are you, the fuckin' village gossip hub or something?"
Her lids lowered and she regarded Eridan through narrowed eyes. "It's not exactly a life position I was aiming to secure." She lifted her drink to her lips and took a sip. "I'm always happy to help people when I can, but sometimes the invitation gets pulled a bit further than I ever want or mean it to."
He regarded her with a vague sneer before shrugging and slouching further down in his seat. "Well, whatever. I suppose if you're already in the know regardin' my situation with Sol, I can tell you about my predicament as it's standin' now. I need to be able to book a gig here so that I can invite Sol and sing him this song I wrote for him."
Kanaya stared at him for a few moments. She then put her fingers to her lips.
Eridan lurched upright, his teeth bared. "Are you—you're laughin' at me!"
"Not at all."
"You fuckin' are! Why does everyone think this is like high class entertainment or something, these are serious emotions I'm dealin' with and the fate a my relationship with that jackass depends on my ability to charm him with music. Also, this was not my idea, all right, so you can just shut up and stop lookin' at me with that awful smirk a yours."
Kanaya pulled her hand away, her expression folded neatly back into place. "No, I think it's a wonderful idea. I just don't see what the problem is. If you want to schedule a romantic solicitation cleverly disguised as a musical performance, Vriska is right there. She can help you."
Eridan grimaced. "I don't want her help, okay? She's a horrid fuckin' hag and isn't gonna be willin' to do me any favors not even if it's for a good cause like this is."
Kanaya lifted an eyebrow. "Well, she certainly won't be in a very auspicious mood if you choose to address her like that."
"Whatever, as if it fuckin' matters what term of address I choose to use, she's gonna be fuckin' awful and shitty just the same." He folded his arms over his chest, pursing his lips bitterly.
Kanaya lifted her eyes again before sighing and standing, gathering her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder. Eridan lifted his head and uncrossed his arms, gazing up at her with an imploring look.
"Wait, are you seriously just gonna leave me here like this?"
"No," she replied. "I'm going to take you over there and hold your hand through this interaction so you don't make an embarrassment of yourself."
Eridan pushed away from the table and stood, his expression considerably lighter. "Wow, you have no idea how fuckin' relieved that makes me. Because I wasn't gonna say anything, but you seem to have a fuckin' way with her, like her first instinct isn't to chew your face off or whatever else she does with her hapless victims."
Kanaya broke out a full eye roll this time, adjusting the bag at her hip before making her way to the counter. It was currently vacant, the door to the kitchen propped open with a broom. Eridan fiddled with his scarf beside Kanaya, trying to squint inside. That was when Vriska backed out of the room carrying a platter with several plates of sandwiches piled on top. She looked more frazzled than usual, her coarse black hair falling from its ponytail and her blue mascara smudged. She curled a lip at the two of them as she passed before taking the tray to a group of four gathered at a table. Once she returned to the counter, she held her bangs away from her face as she punched something into the computer and rang up a slip, which she then stabbed on a spike near the register.
"Busy today?" Kanaya asked.
"You could say that," Vriska replied, the tray she'd used to carry the plates still dangling from one hand. She scratched her head, sighing and causing even more hair to slip from the confines of the rubber band holding it back. She then let her eyes fall to Eridan.
She smirked. "I was starting to think I'd never see your smiling face back here. What gives, Eridan? Don't tell me you're still getting your pants in a knot about those smokes I asked you for at Karkat's lame party."
"That is hardly the fuckin' case here," Eridan snapped. "In fact, I am now completely comfortable with lettin' you know that I can't smoke at all because I have health issues. So you'll never be seein' those cigarettes from me ever."
"Like I really ever gave a shit about you giving me cigarettes in the first place. I could tell you weren't a smoker, what kind of an idiot do you think I am?" Vriska said before sticking a pen in her mouth and rifling through a drawer full of papers beneath the till. "And I've heard all about your sob story, too. Seems like you're pretty hot news around here, Eridan." She gave him a leer around the pen clenched between her teeth.
Eridan wrinkled his nose. "The way you say that makes it seem like a really undesirable thing."
"No way. This is what you wanted, isn't it? To be the hotshot new guy? The guy who everyone was talking about? Especially all this stuff with Sollux lately, wow. Talk about a lot of dramatic horsecrap." She laughed, slamming the drawer shut and taking the pen from her teeth.
"Oh my fuckin' god, how does everybody know about this?" Eridan cried, throwing an accusatory glance at Kanaya. The woman only blinked.
"Not everybody, god. Only the people like me who are savvy enough to have the right connections in the right places. Even if the only thing I get out of it is a bunch of junk about two guys and all their lame, idiotic feelings."
"Why can't anyone ever just take my emotions seriously, this is really startin' to piss me off now."
Kanaya stepped between them with raised hands, cutting Eridan short. Vriska herself shrugged and looked down to her pad of paper, beginning to scribble something on it. Kanaya put two fingers to her temple before turning to face the woman.
"I'm sure you have work to be getting back to, Vriska, so we'll keep this brief. Eridan is looking to schedule a performance here." She looked back to the man. "About how long do you think you'll need?"
Eridan opened his mouth to reply when Vriska cut in. "It doesn't matter how long he thinks he'll need. Because I can't book him. I don't own this place, even though I probably do more work around here than the idiot who does."
Kanaya frowned. "That can't be right. I've seen you book musicians before. And not even professionals. Dave has come in here to do his rhythmic monologues a few times while John played the bongos behind him."
"Shruuug," Vriska replied, performing the word as she said it. "New rules I guess. I didn't make them up. If I did they'd be a lot less dull." She snapped down her pen before pulling the broom from the doorway of the kitchen and beginning to sweep up behind the counter.
"Great. That's just fuckin' great," Eridan moaned.
Kanaya's perfectly groomed brows pulled together. "Are you sure there isn't something you could do?"
"Why do you care, anyway?" Vriska snapped, slamming her broom against a garbage can and knocking it away so she could sweep beneath it. "Who cares if a couple of cowards can't get together because they need all these lame trappings to get things off the ground? Talk about a really shitty excuse for a band night. I'd be a complete joke for booking something like that."
Eridan tried again. "Come on, Vris, please—"
She rounded on him. "Shut up. God, you are so annoying! All of you are. Your entire little brigade of idiots where all you guys ever do is sit around and play your little games and toke up and get drunk and are basically useless in every way. I have real plans to run. And I'm sick of running them for the sake of a bunch of morons who never appreciate all the lengths I go to in order to make them worth something."
She tossed her broom away, ripping the rubber band out of her hair and redoing her ponytail, her teeth bared behind her blue painted lips. Kanaya frowned.
"Vriska, I think this has stopped being about Eridan."
"Who cares who it's about! They're all the same. Useless losers who can't plan anything and just run around like headless chickens, not giving a fuck about the rest of us who are actually trying to do things and go places. I tried to help someone before, and do you want to know how many returns I got out of it?"
She shot a glare at Kanaya. The woman held her gaze for a moment before looking away.
"Zero!" Vriska snarled. "None of the returns! None of them! I'm not going to keep shelling out all these awesome favors when all it does is make more people ignore and hate me. It's just a big waste of my time. And I have a lot of other things I could be spending that time on. Worthwhile things."
She tossed her broom aside and grabbed up her notepad before going to check on the table of four. Eridan glanced at Kanaya, who was staring after Vriska with a forlorn expression.
"So this isn't goin' very well," he muttered.
"She'll come around. She just needs to be able to see some kind of personal gain."
"Wow, that's a fine display of avarice if I've ever seen one," Eridan scoffed, glowering back over at Vriska as he crossed his arms. "Seriously, as if any a this involves her in any way."
Kanaya sighed, her expression sad. "If you've had to cut as many losses as she has, you wouldn't think that way."
Eridan frowned, about to ask the woman to explain when Vriska returned, empty cups and plates stacked in her arms. She tossed them in the kitchen before she stuck her head back out.
"Are you guys planning on ordering something, or what?" she asked.
"We're not done talking," Kanaya said delicately. "I still think a negotiation can be reached here. You need this as much as Eridan does."
"Ugh. You just have to stick your fingers in everything, don't you?" Vriska snarled before ducking back into the kitchen. Eridan heard the hum of the dish washer starting up before she reappeared, flicking water from her hands. "I guess I'll humor you, since I know you well enough by now to realize you won't get lost until I do. So what's the deal?"
"He invites everyone. Not just Sollux. Everyone in that house."
Eridan felt as if every drop of blood had suddenly drained from his body.
Vriska crossed her arms over her chest. "You must think I'm pretty pathetic if I'm still hung up over that old news."
"I don't think you're pathetic, Vriska, but I do think you would benefit by being forced into a situation in which an interaction would occur. Think of it as giving yourself the chance to catch up."
Vriska's incredulous expression melted from her face. Soon she was simply standing there, her arms still crossed, looking a little lost. At last she shrugged.
"Fine. I wouldn't mind catching up. Even though I know nothing's changed and he's probably as pathetic as ever without me around to get him to shape up."
A small smile tugged at one side of Kanaya's mouth. "So you'll book Eridan a time, then?"
Vriska sighed heavily. "I guess. God, you're persistent." She rummaged around in a drawer before yanking out a notebook. "I've got an opening for next week Friday. Take it or leave it." Her eyes flicked up toward Eridan.
The man pulled at his scarf, suddenly feeling very hot. "Uh, yeah, that should be fine I guess, if you've got no other times…"
"Nope. None at all." She scratched something down before turning the notebook around and sliding it across the counter toward Eridan. "I'll handle everything, like I always do, but you have to give me your contact information so I can tell you about all the great things I'm getting set up for you that you hardly deserve."
"I'm not givin' you my number, Vris, are you fuckin' serious?"
She sneered. "What do you think I'm going to use it for? I have better things to do than text whiny little boys like you. But I need to make you sound halfway legitimate if my boss is going to let you take up a slot on the music schedule."
Kanaya frowned. "This won't jeopardize your employment, I hope."
Vriska shook her head, a few strands of hair falling out of her ponytail again. "I practically run this place, his ass would be out on the streets if I didn't pick up all the slack he leaves lying around. I'll never get fired, I'm too good at running everything over here. All of the things."
She looked over Eridan's phone number as he finished writing. She then snatched the notebook back and shoved it in the drawer under the till. "All right, that seals the deal. You loiterers can get off the premises now."
Kanaya gave Vriska a small smile. "Thank you."
"Whatever. I'm not doing it for either of you. Or for him. So don't get any ideas." She picked up a pair of mugs and stalked back to the kitchen.
Eridan felt Kanaya grip his arm, pulling him away from the counter and toward the door.
"Hey! Fuck, let go, I can walk by myself, all right?"
He slapped her away and she withdrew her hand, sighing. As he dusted off his arm and they made their way out onto the sidewalk, he paused, the door of the café swinging shut behind him.
"Mind tellin' me what all that was about?"
Kanaya looked back at him. Her expression was exhausted. "Yes. I do mind."
"Come on, Kan, I'm a part a this now, so I deserve to be in the loop here. What's goin' on with Vris, why do I have to invite the entire household to come witness me sing a love song to Sol? This is like the worst sorta exploitation ever, and I'm bein' fuckin' serious about that."
"I mind because you have a very bad habit of allowing your own feelings to obfuscate the emotions and situations of others," Kanaya snapped. "This is a very delicate situation and the last thing I need is for you to go mucking about in it with your raving ignorance."
"So fuckin' enlighten me then. Help me not be ignorant, that's all I'm askin' a you," Eridan pleaded. "Come on, Kan, I deserve to know. It's my fuckin' thing that's gettin' all shit on because Vris is a selfish fuckin' bitch with some serious issues to work on—"
"This is what I'm talking about. Your ability to see things beyond your own personal world of self-interest is atrocious."
"Then help me, Kan," Eridan burst out. "Help me fuckin' see. That's all I'm askin' for here. Just a little simple clarification. Like, does she have a history with someone in that house, I heard her mentionin' a 'he' or some shit."
Kanaya put a hand to her forehead, glaring at the sidewalk for a while. At last she looked back to Eridan. "Yes. She has a history with Tavros."
Eridan blinked. "Like what kinda history are we talkin' about?"
"To put it in the simplest terms: the romantic kind."
"Oh. Oh, fuck, really?" Eridan pulled at his scarf again. "Listen, are you sure it's really a good idea to be invitin' Tav to my thing if he and Vris have a history a that nature? Because I don't know if you're aware a this or not, but he and Gam are like, a definite thing."
"I know they are. And so does she," Kanaya replied evenly.
"And you still want me to invite both a them? Gam and Tav? To a thing that Vris is gonna be at?" Eridan spluttered.
"Yes."
Eridan clenched his hands into fists. "Okay, well, sure, that's just fuckin' great. I just want to take the time to let you know that if anyone starts instigatin' any catfights durin' my performance, I swear on every speck a space dust in the universe that I will hunt you down and murder you, Kan, that is a fuckin' promise."
Kanaya lifted a hand to massage her forehead. "The situation is obviously more complicated than a simple competitive romantic relation with three intersecting sides. And I am not setting it up simply to ruin your experience. Please stop twisting my actions as if they are performed with your personal displeasure in mind. You got the booking, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but now it's all fuckin' complicated."
"I think you'll find that life is often complicated, Eridan."
Eridan opened his mouth to make an angry retort when he felt his phone go off in his pocket. Blinking, he looked down as it vibrated in his pants. Tugging it from his pocket, he looked at the number, expecting it to be Feferi.
But it wasn't.
His mouth dry, he accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear. "Sol?"
There was silence on the other end for a time before a hoarse voice replied, "Yeah."
He swallowed hard, trying to keep his tone casual. "It's not usual a you to call me in person. Like, I don't think you've done it once. Ever. So who fuckin' bribed you, that's what I want to know."
There was another pause.
"…Are you busy?" the man finally asked.
"Uh. Well, yeah, I mean sorta. I'm at the Core just now. Hangin' out with Kan. Tradin' intellectual blows over music and literature and a bunch of other pedantic bullshit that you would have no personal interest in whatsoever." Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kanaya raise her other hand to her head, kneading both temples.
"Oh. Yeah. It's your first day out and stuff. Sorry, this was stupid of me. I'm just going to go."
"Wait, no," Eridan yelped. He then swallowed hard, trying to reign his composure back in as he was met with a stunned silence. "Seriously, Sol, why did you call? Is everything okay?"
"…I just really need to see you."
"Like, right now, is this an emergency?"
There was a pause. And then a laugh. "God. I can't believe I almost said what I was almost going to say."
Eridan frowned, cupping his hand over his other ear and turning away from the street. "You're losin' me here, Sol. What's going on?"
"I just really need you to come over before I can change my mind again."
Eridan felt himself gripping the phone so tight he thought it might crack under his fingers. "All right, Sol. I'll be over right away. Just hold on, all right?"
He hung up the phone and turned to Kanaya. "Would you mind terribly givin' me a ride, Kan? I'm in a hurry."