When Eridan arrived at Kanaya's hive he could no longer hold himself together and the jade blood ended up opening the door to a sobbing mess. The Virgo had been unsure of what to expect when she received the sudden text from her pregnant friend but she was certainly surprised to see him in such a state. "Oh my!" she exclaimed before taking his arm and leading him inside her hive.

"What happened, Eridan?" Kanaya asked calmly once she had situated the hysterical troll on the couch.

"I can't do it!" Eridan blubbered. His face was all wet from his tears and his eyes were all puffy. Kanaya had to admit this was not the sea troll's most flattering moment. "I can't tell him!" he cried.

"Just calm down. Take deep breaths," Kanaya soothed as she rubbed her hand in circles on the other troll's shuddering back. The sea troll made no attempt to calm down nor did he take deep breaths.

"If I tell him he'll probably just leave me!" he shouted as he continued sobbing. "He doesn't want the responsibility so he'll just leave so he won't have to deal with it!" Eridan looked at Kanaya with the most agonizing look of despair written on his face. "I don't want to do this alone," he pleaded. Kanaya removed her hand from his back and grabbed his face. With her hands on his cheeks she turned his head to face her straight on and looked him dead in the eye.

"Eridan, I am more than willing to help you," she said evenly, "but you have got to pull yourself together right now. Do you understand me?" She kept her eyes locked on his. The Aquarius gulped and nodded as best as he could with his face sandwiched between Kanaya's hands. She let go of his face and adjusted her skirt as she got more comfortable in her position on the couch. "Now, tell me what is wrong," she prompted calmly. Eridan finally took that deep breath.

"I was going to tell him, my matesprit, about me bein' pregnant," he explained. "But right as I was about to bring it up he starts goin' off about how shitty it was takin' care 'a his lusus when he was younger an' how he hates responsibility an' shit." Tears began welling up in the sea dweller's eyes once again. "So now what am I supposed to do? 'Oh hey, I know you just said you don't want extra responsibility but in a few months I'm goin' to be layin' eggs an' they're yours.'" He sniffled for a moment. "What do you think he's gonna do, Kan?" Eridan asked bitterly. The jade blood sighed and rubbed her temples for a moment.

"Before I begin with what I have to say on the matter let me get you some tea. You have been crying so much we would not want for you to get dehydrated." Kanaya went over to her dining table where a full spread of tea and finger foods were laid out. It seemed odd at first then Eridan noticed that it looked like two tea cups were used.

"Do you have company?" he asked nervously. Kanaya quirked an eyebrow at him as she returned to the couch holding a fancy porcelain tea cup on a saucer.

"Oh. No," she handed the hot beverage to the male troll before resuming her place on the couch. "I had Nepeta over for some tea before you texted me. I thought it would be best if she were no longer here when you arrived so I wrapped up our visit," she explained. Eridan sighed.

"Great, now I'm fuckin' up other peoples' lives too. I'm sorry I wrecked your tea party," he apologized sadly. Kanaya waved her hand dismissively.

"Do not be ridiculous you did not ruin anything. Nepeta had already been over for a few hours. It was about time for her to go home anyways." She sat up attentively as Eridan took slow sips of his tea. "Now, as for the issue at hand," she began almost business-like. "I do not know who your matesprit is so I cannot be certain whether I know him personally or not, therefore I cannot accurately tell you what I do or do not think he will do. I am sure that when you are ready you will disclose that information with me. He is flushed for you though, right?" she inquired gently.

"Well yeah, I suppose so," Eridan answered meekly.

"The two of you are happy together?" the jade blood asked. Eridan nodded. "Well Eridan, you just need to tell him regardless of what he has said. Sometimes people can be persuaded contrary to what they previously believed when faced with the issue in a different light. Perhaps he was not fond of caring for his lusus but he may find that he rather enjoys caring for his grubs." Kanaya smiled warmly. "What is certain is that you are now a month and a half pregnant. You still have three and a half more months to go before you will be laying your eggs. From what I have read, it will certainly become very difficult to conceal your condition the more the eggs develop." Eridan placed his now empty tea cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of him and sighed for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour.

A muffled chime was heard from the Aquarius's pocket. He pulled his phone out and checked the screen to see that Sollux had sent him a text.

TA: Are you ok? You've been actiing weiird lately.

"Everything alright?" Kanaya asked.

"Yeah it's my matesprit. He can tell somethin's up," Eridan explained. He wasn't sure why he was still hiding the fact that Sollux was his matesprit from the one troll that already knew his biggest secret.

"Well he's bound to have noticed something by now. Your pheromones have gotten a bit stronger since the last time we talked," Kanaya pointed out. Eridan gave her a skeptical look and lifted his arm to his nose to take a whiff.

"I don't smell anythin'," he complained. The Virgo gave a light laugh.

"You would not be able to as it is your own scent," she told him in an amused way. The sea troll rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Figures," he muttered before deciding that it would probably be a good idea to text Sollux back.

CA: im fine sol ill be home in a little wwhile 3

"Hey Kan?" Eridan spoke softly.

"Yes?" she responded while turning her attention to the sea troll next to her.

"Thanks," he said sincerely. "For all of this, I mean, I'm sure you had no life plans to get involved in somethin' as crazy as this. Just," he struggled to find the right words for a moment. "Thank you for everythin'." Kanaya reached out and placed a small hand on top of his.

"It is really no problem at all. Honestly, I am quite fascinated by the situation," she told him earnestly.

"Oh Gog," Eridan muttered. His phone chimed again in his hand and he unlocked the screen to check it.

TA: 3

He felt a smile flutter across his lips. Maybe Sollux was flushed enough for him to stay. Kanaya noticed the sudden change in the other troll's demeanor.

"I really do wish you the best," she whispered to him. The small smile on his lips grew a bit larger.

"Thanks Kan. Do you mind if I use your ablution block to freshen up a bit before I head home? I probably look like hell," he ran a ringed hand through his messy hair.

"Of course. It is directly down the hall on the right," the jade blood obliged. Once Eridan had disappeared down the hall, Kanaya set to work cleaning up the remnants of her tea party. By the time the table had been cleared the violet blooded troll reappeared from the ablution block with a clean face and freshly coiffed hair.

"Well I'd better get back home," he sounded nervous again and was resting his hand on his egg bump out of reflex.

"You will do fine. I will be here should you need to return," Kanaya assured him. He took a deep shaky breath then let it out.

"Here goes… everythin'," he whispered before hugging Kanaya goodbye and then making his way back to his hive.

He could hear the sound of Sollux's voice as soon as he closed the door to the hive behind him. Once he had stepped out of the entry way and into the living room he could see that the yellow blood was sitting on the couch with his husktop on the coffee table in front of him. Sollux's head snapped up from the screen to see Eridan entering the room and a flash of panic crossed his face.

"Hold on a thecond," the psionic said quickly before jumping up and running over to Eridan. Before the sea troll could ask any questions Sollux had his hand clamped over his mouth and was leaning in close to his ear fin.

"Be very quiet. I've got KK on a video chat because I'm trying to help him fix hith computer and I didn't feel like going all the way over to hith hive," Sollux explained as quietly as he could. Another part of hiding their relationship meant that they never invited any of their friends over to their hive so that no one would know they lived together.

Eridan nodded his head in understanding and was about to head over to the meal block for a snack when suddenly he was very aware of the slightly taller troll sniffing him.

"What are you doin'?" he whispered in slight confusion before he remembered what Kanaya had told him about his pheromones. Sollux lifted his face from the nape of Eridan's neck where he had been sniffing. He looked angry.

"Why do you reek of Kanaya?" the low blooded troll demanded. Eridan was caught off guard.

"I was just over at her hive. She invited me for tea," the Aquarius told him. It was mostly true. The next thing he knew he felt Sollux's split tongue gliding up his neck, over his gills, and all the way to the base of his ear fin. A shiver went down his back. "What are you doin'?" he whispered again.

"I don't like you coming home thmelling like other trollth," Sollux growled possessively as he grabbed the high blood's hips and pulled him closer. "You're mine," he whispered into his ear making his fins flutter at the sensation of his hot breath. Before Eridan could say anything else Sollux had smashed their lips together harshly and immediately plunged his bifurcated tongue into his mouth. Eridan couldn't keep himself from moaning slightly because, fuck, it had been a long time since he had let Sollux do anything like this to him.

Sollux began grinding his hips against Eridan's as they stood there making out. After only about a minute of that, the yellow blood was pulling the other troll down to the floor with him and set to work unbuttoning his pants while still attempting to kiss him heatedly.

"Right here?" Eridan whispered in surprise as his pants and boxers were yanked down to his ankles where he could kick them off. "You still have Kar on a video chat literally two feet away from us," he reminded his matesprit.

"Doethn't matter," Sollux responded breathlessly between kisses as he hastily undid his own pants and pushed them along with his boxers down his thighs. The yellow blood wasted no time sticking two of his fingers into Eridan's nook to prepare him for what was to come. The violet blood fought to hold back a moan in fear of being heard by Karkat. He glanced over at the back of the husktop that was sitting on the coffee table. If it were turned around Karkat would certainly be getting an eyeful right now. He was brought out of his thoughts by a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Ow, what the fuck?" he whispered harshly. Sollux had nipped at his shoulder rather hard. He had also apparently decided he had wasted enough time prepping and was now moving on to the main event.

"Everyone ith going to know you're mine after thith," he said in a low voice. Eridan thought it sounded so sexy he nearly came right then. Sollux was never this possessive. Pailing him right when he walked in the door simply because he had the scent of another troll on him? It seemed absurd, but here he was on the floor of his living room with Sollux slowly pushing one of his bulges into his nook while Karkat sat waiting in a live video chat just a few feet away for Sollux to return.

Sollux had worked up to a quick pace of thrusting in and out of his nook, occasionally huffing out small groans into Eridan's ear. The violet blood ended up biting down on part of his scarf in an attempt to keep himself from moaning too loudly. He slipped up and a sound of pleasure escaped his lips once he felt his matesprit's second bulge enter his body. Sollux was too caught up with completely marking Eridan as his own to reprimand him for being too noisy. Instead, the sound went straight to his bulges and the rhythm he had established went off beat momentarily and he released his genetic material into the Aquarius for the second time as he let out a breathy moan into the other's ear fin. The combined sensation of his lover's come flooding his nook and the erotic noises Sollux was making in his ear brought on his own orgasm not too long after. Sollux kissed him passionately for a moment before ending it with a playful nip to his bottom lip.

"I should get back to KK," the yellow blood panted quietly. Eridan kissed him again and the two began pulling their pants back on.

"Are you goin' to be much longer? I need to talk to you about somethin'," Eridan said after much consideration.

"Shouldn't be much longer," Sollux assured him. With his pants securely back in place the psionic went back to his seat on the couch in front of the husktop. His hair was a bit disheveled and his face was flushed. "Thorry about that KK," Sollux told his irritated friend. Just as Eridan was finally on his way to get a snack he clearly heard Karkat shouting from his end of the computer.

"Did you actually just fucking leave our conversation to pail someone in the middle of your fucking living room while I was still on the line? You're a disgusting asshole!"