Sollux opened his eyes. His cheeks were crusted from crying. In the few blurred moments before his tears cleared, he saw Eridan move frantically to shove something underneath the chair. Before Sollux could compose himself enough to ask about it, Eridan spoke. "Are you ok?"

"Yeth? Did thomething happen?"

"You were cryin' in your sleep."

"Oh. Thorry I thcared you." Sollux took a deep, calming breath. "It wath jutht a dream." He spoke it with an almost religious firmness, a sacred prayer mantra recited countless times on end backed by the desperate hope that it will make a difference.

Eridan didn't press the matter. "Did you get enough to eat this mornin'?" He asked nonchalantly.

Sollux mustered a smile. "You mean, am I hungry? No, I'm not."

"Well that's good. I'm not much of a cook." Eridan returned the smile.

Sollux shifted slightly in the bed. The pain, now practically an old friend, greeted him smartly. He grimaced, but it vanished much quicker than he had expected. "Did Rothe and Kanaya ever dethide whether they were going to come back?"

Eridan shook his head. "No. They called after havin' mulled over their notes and decided you were doin' fine. I told them you were healin' fast and they are really busy, anyway. They said to make sure not to feed you too much at a time and change out the bandages and stuff. Which is good." He paused. "To be honest, I was pretty worried when we found you. I thought for sure you were gonna die, and then we'd have to call the police. Can you imagine how suspicious it would look for them to come up into my room and find–" His hand whipped up to cover his mouth, eyes widening in mortification.

Sollux sat up straighter. "Thith ith your bedroom?"

Eridan cursed himself silently. "Yeah."

"Tho where have you been thleeping?!"

"In the guest bedroom." Eridan shifted uncomfortably. "I wasn't supposed to tell you. Feferi said you'd feel awkward, and..." he trailed off lamely.

"I'm tho thorry!"

Eridan sighed. "Well, you were hurt. It only made sense that we'd give you the better bed."

"Oh my god, ED, I didn't know!" Sollux felt strangely touched by this small act of kindness. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. "Let me make it up to you."

"What?"

"Jutht don't move, ED." Sollux slowly began sitting up, moving his legs toward the edge of the bed. He carefully lifted up the covers, tossing them aside.

"Sol, no! You're still hurt!"

"Shut up, ED." He pushed up with his hands, and stood up. The pain was immense, but he didn't collapse. "Thee?" he managed through clenched teeth. "I'm fine."

"Sol, you are definitely not fine. You need to lie down."

"And I will. Ath thoon ath you take me to the guetht bedroom."

"No. You have to stay here."

"I've been in your bedroom long enough. Now I'm leaving."

"I won't let you."

"Yeth, you will. Now help me out, or I'll fall over." Sollux walked toward the door, long limbs stiff from disuse. He tripped over his ungainly, aching legs and would have fallen if Eridan hadn't caught him. Sollux smiled triumphantly. "Now you've got it! The nextht thtep ith to show me to the bedroom." Eridan opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

"Fine."

They ventured out into the hall together, Sollux's right arm around Eridan's shoulders and Eridan's left arm supporting Sollux's back. The hallway was painted a pale blue, with pictures of Eridan and Feferi hung up sporadically along the walls. A door at the other end of the hall bore a pink, sparkly sign reading 'Feferi's room: NO ENTRY'. They went about halfway down the hall before the wall on the left opened to be a balcony overlooking a living room below. A staircase descended threateningly to the immediate left.

Sollux balked. "It'th down there, ithn't it?"

"Yep."

Sollux closed his eyes, grimacing. "I hate stairs."

Eridan tried to hide his smile. "You can still back out, if you want."

"No! You have to have your bedroom back. Let'th do thith." One step at a time, the crept down the stairs. Twice, Sollux almost fell and Eridan gripped the railing for dear life while Sollux found his footing. Nearly five minutes later, they stood panting at the bottom of the stairs.

Sollux turned to Eridan, smirking. "Wath that tho bad?"

"Yes." Sollux burst into abrupt laughter, and Eridan couldn't help but join in.

"Tho where from here?" Sollux managed in between fits of laughter.

"Now we're in the home stretch. It's just through that door." Eridan motioned with his right hand toward a door on the other side of the living room.

"Well, let'th not thtand here all day." They limped across the room, avoiding easy chairs and coffee tables. Eridan kicked the door open, and the practically tripped over each other to the bed. They crashed unceremoniously onto it, breathing hard. Finally, Sollux spoke up.

"I told you we could do it."

"You weren't wrong. And I never doubted you."

"Don't lie." He cracked a smile.

They lay on the bed for a few minutes longer, a tangle of limbs, before Eridan finally sat up and extricated himself. "Well, it seems like you're functional. You know, in a limited sorta way."

"And a good thing, too. I would hate being cooped up in a wheelchair or thomething for the retht of my life."

Eridan smiled at Sollux's sprawled form. "Let me get my things outta here, and then I'll bring the chair down. Just give me two seconds." He went around the room, gathering up bits of clothing, then left.

Sollux stared at where Eridan had disappeared from view for a minute before sitting up on the bed. Something felt weird, and he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. He took stock of his aching body, but nothing hurt any worse than it had before. It didn't quite feel like exhaustion or nausea. Am I hungry? That didn't seem to be it either. So it was something internal, then. He ran through plausible emotions he could be feeling. It wasn't satisfaction, happiness, sadness, anger, guilt, or anything else that easy. It felt familiar, but something he hadn't felt for a while, and definitely not in this context.

Don't keep me in the dark. What is it? The answer hit him like ten tons of brick.

Longing. He couldn't wait for Eridan to come back. No matter how quick Eridan was, he couldn't get back fast enough. Every moment alone was excruciating. Sollux felt his cheeks flush. He hadn't felt like this since...

Since the early days with Aradia. Since outings for ice cream, coffee, movies. Study groups. Before she had moved in with him, he had always felt like this. Waiting for her to come back. Because somehow, he wasn't complete on the inside without her.

And now, with no warning, the same feeling of anxiety was haunting him again.

I can't. I can't do this. Not this soon after Aradia. It's like a betrayal. Before he could convince himself, he heard Eridan coming back down the stairs. In a panic, Sollux tried to bury his confusion deep inside him, where Eridan would never find it. And yet, as Eridan came into view, one hand carrying a wooden chair and the other tucked behind his back, Sollux felt an overwhelming sense of relief. He couldn't stop the smile that crept across his face.

"Took you long enough."

"Sorry." He paused, uncomfortable, as he set down the chair. "I had to get this." He pulled his hand from behind his back, revealing a plain black sketchbook. The hard front cover was absolutely spotless, but the pages within were completely uneven and the poor book looked about to burst with how much paper was crammed into it.

"What ith that?"

Eridan opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. His cheeks were bright red. "Nothin'..." he muttered.

"Oh come on, ED. What ith it?"

"Well...it's my sketchbook."

"Can I thee it?" Before Eridan could answer, Sollux sat up and grabbed it from him. His movements had been slow, but Eridan made no attempt to stop him. Eridan collapsed into the chair as Sollux opened it.

"I don't thee why you're tho embarrethed by thith thtuff. It'th really good." As Sollux flipped through the pages, startlingly real flowers and landscapes jumped off the pages. After that came the pictures of people, caught up in their daily lives. A man in a dark trench coat with a cup of coffee hurrying down the street. A woman and two children entering an apartment building. A young couple meandering happily through the park.

He flipped the next page. A small cry escaped Eridan's lips halfway between a gasp and an unarticulated word. Sollux found himself drawn into the image before he could even fully comprehend what it was. All of the shading and curvature of the lines were absolutely perfect. But something was strange about it.

"ED, ith thith...me?" The picture portrayed Sollux lying in bed, his face shaped in a slight frown of defeat or perhaps discomfort. Quickly, Sollux turned to the next drawing. It was Sollux again, but this time awake and smiling. The plate of pancakes from the previous morning was on his lap, and he seemed animated, his mouth slightly open as if he were just about to say something. As Sollux flipped through more of the sketchbook, he saw drawing after drawing of himself. At last, he closed the sketchbook.

Sollux remembered a clumsy movement he had half-seen this morning of Eridan shoving something under the chair. "Ith thith what you were hiding from me thith morning?" Eridan's cheeks flushed anew, and he nodded.

Sollux handed the sketchbook back. "You shouldn't feel ashamed of thith. It'th really good."

Eridan stared in awe at the sketchbook. "That's it? You're not...mad?"

Sollux smiled. "No. Why should I be? Don't anthwer that." Eridan looked at him timidly, then returned the smile. "That can't have been the only thing that took you forever up there. What else did you do, repaint?"

Eridan seemed at ease once more. "I got distracted reorganizin' my things. Fef must have moved everythin' when she was cleanin' up for you."

"I know what you mean. When Ara..." he stopped and took a deep breath, "when Aradia uthed to clean up, it would alwayth drive me inthane." Sollux waited for the tears to come, but they never did. There was still sadness accompanying the words, but no actual tears. The realization shocked him. What is wrong with me? he screamed silently at himself.

Eridan was saying something, but he couldn't hear what it was. There was a roaring in his ears. Shame and horror at his own lack of caring absorbed him. How can I be forgetting how much she meant to me so quickly? Can five years be erased in just a week and a half? He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Sol?" That one syllable was enough. Tears coursed down Sollux's face yet again. "Oh my god, Sol, did I say somethin' wrong?"

"No. No, of courthe not," Sollux found himself saying. He felt detached from the world, like none of this was really happening. "It'th Aradia. I didn't cry when I thought of her. It'th only been a week and a half, and I'm already lothing our five yearth. I'm a monthter." He turned away from Eridan.

"You're not a monster, Sol. You're anythin' but a monster." Eridan paused, finding the words he needed to say what he wanted to say. "I know what it's like, losin' someone important to you. I know how lost you feel right now. And I know this part of it, too. Feeling yourself gettin' over it, and somehow thinkin' that's not right. But it is. You can't let your life be ruled by a dead person, Sol. You have to mourn for her and respect her for when she was alive, but now that she's gone, you have to move on. You have to find somethin' else to live for." By this point, Eridan was crying, too. "I know you loved her. She must have been the world to you. And you must have meant the world to her, too. So she wouldn't want you to be like this. She'd want you to be happy. Wouldn't she? She'd want you to find someone else to be with, and to get on with your life.

"I think you've mourned for her enough. Hell, you even tried to kill yourself for her. You've been to the depths of sadness, and now you need to find someone that will help you get out of the pit. And I know you won't like it. She was everything to you, but you know that she'd hate to see you spiraling in like this. She'd want you to get back up and running. And that doesn't mean you have to forget about her. But–" Eridan stopped, his own voice now choked with tears.

Sollux turned to stare at Eridan. "Why are you doing thith for me? You don't even know me. I'm jutht thome random kid you found in the ocean. What am I to you?"

Eridan didn't answer. With no warning, the dream Sollux had had flashed into his mind. Finding Aradia, and then Eridan helping him to his feet, leading him away from her. And he made a decision.

"ED," he whispered, unable to make his voice come out any louder.

"Yeah, Sol?"

"I think it'th you. That person you're talking about that'th gonna get me outta thith pit. It'th you." A warmth slowly spread through Sollux, and he knew he was right. "And..."

Eridan leaned closer to hear. "What, Sol?"

Words couldn't help him. Sollux grabbed Eridan's arm, gently pulling him out of the chair, and seating him on the bed. Then, tentatively, he pulled Eridan closer and pressed his lips to Eridan's. He felt Eridan tense up in surprise, and Sollux pulled back. Eridan stared at him, shocked.

"I'm thorry," Sollux began immediately. "I don't know what came over me, that wath highly uncalled for and I'm–"

"Don't be," Eridan interrupted.

"Then...?" Sollux didn't dare to finish his sentence.

Eridan smiled awkwardly. "Why else do you think I drew you so many times?" He pulled Sollux closer, causing their lips to touch once more. Eridan's lips were soft, and moved easily with Sollux's. Sollux shifted his hands from where they had been supporting him on the bed, allowing them to fall naturally around Eridan's thin frame. One of Eridan's hands crept up his back, finding Sollux's hair and tangling itself in it.

Too soon, Eridan pulled away. Sollux looked into his eyes, a smile playing across his tear-streaked features. "Thank you," he whispered. He pulled Eridan into a hug.

"You're welcome," Eridan murmured into his ear. They sat like that, enjoying the bliss of knowing the other one was there, for an indeterminate, perfect amount of time. Sollux's tears turned from ones of sadness to ones of joy, and Eridan never pulled away from him as the tears soaked his shoulder.

From somewhere else in the house, a door slammed. "I'm back!" Feferi called out enthusiastically. Sollux began to pull away from Eridan, but Eridan stopped him.

"There's nothin' to be afraid of. You just keep cryin' for as long as you need to. Don't mind her." Sollux smiled through his tears, offering wordless gratitude.

"Everything was going fine at work, so I decided to come home early," Feferi continued outside. Sollux heard her head up the stairs. Despite his tears, Sollux giggled.

"She thtill thinkth we're upthtairth."

"Well, she's in for a surprise, then."

They heard Feferi stop in the hallway above them. "Eridan? Sollux?" she called out, confused. "Where are you?"

"We're down here," Sollux called out hoarsely amid his tears.

"Oh my god." She sounded horrified. She thundered down the stairs, and burst into the room. She saw Sollux, tears streaking down his face. "Eridan, what did you do to him?!"

"Fef–"

"Eridan Ampora, did you make him walk down the stairs?" Feferi's voice was strained with rage. "I told you not to move him! You could have killed him! Don't you make excuses for yourself! Look at him! He's in tears! Get away from him! What did you do?!"

"Sis, calm d–"

"Feferi, I can exthplain." Feferi and Eridan both turned to Sollux, identical shock painting their features. Sollux took a deep breath, wiping the tears from his eyes, and stood up.

"Firtht of all, it wath my idea to come downthtairth. I found out it wath Eridan'th room, tho I figured I thould give it back. Thecondly, I'm only crying becauthe he wath helping me get over Aradia, my old girlfriend. She'th the reathon I jumped. You know, off the cliff. She'th dead."

Feferi looked dumbfounded. "Sollux, I'm sorry, I didn't–"

"I'm not done," Sollux cut her off. "Thirdly, and motht importantly..." He paused, and looked at Eridan. "I think I'm in love with your brother."

Eridan flushed bright red. Sollux turned to him, concern in his eyes. A silent conversation passed between them.

I didn't mean to assume...

You haven't assumed anything.

Then you're ok with it?

Of course.

I love you, ED.

I love you too, Sol.

Eridan reached out his hand, grabbing Sollux's and intertwining their fingers. Feferi stared at Sollux, then Eridan, and then their clasped hands. She seemed lost for words. Eridan and Sollux exchanged a mirthful glance before erupting into a fit of laughter. Feferi blushed profusely at her own imperceptiveness. Eridan and Sollux seemed to move as one as they stepped forward and enveloped Feferi in a hug. Sollux's pain flared up again, but it didn't matter. Here, in this moment, he was happy.

At last, Feferi couldn't help but join in their laughter. She pulled out of their hug, smiling. "I'm happy for you two," she said, the earnesty blatant on her face. "Oh! Are you hungry?" she checked her watch. "It's almost lunchtime...hmm...I'll see what I can whip up!" she called over her shoulder as she turned and walked away. Eridan and Sollux could only stare at each other in mirthful confusion. "Girlth..." Sollux muttered.

Eridan nodded. "Girls," he said simply.