Sorry for the delay in finishing/uploading this chapter. I bought a new truck a few weeks ago and then some really shitty things happened over the past week (none of which involve my new truck, but there it is). The point is, I've been very busy and it's only through the mercy of a shipmate that I was given today off, so I'm writing today. You could say I...*puts on sunglasses* have a lot of irons in the fire.
Many thanks to KatzeSchnee, dragonspirit1223331, Zexioniezo, and one guest for your reviews to the last chapter! I haven't given up on this story! (It's just really hard to write without an outline.)
Sollux's alarm went off at six-thirty the next morning. He tapped the screen of his phone to snooze the alarm and buried his head under his pillow. He did this every morning he had school, but it never got easier.
He'd just settled back into a light doze when the same song pierced into his consciousness. He let out a groan and groped for his phone to silence the alarm, but his fingertips knocked the phone off his nightstand and the song kept right on playing. Sighing in resignation, he tumbled out of bed, turned off the alarm, and went to his closet.
Yellow shirt, gray jeans, black sneakers with the red and blue laces all went flying onto his bed before he grabbed a change of boxers and went to take a shower. If nothing else, water hitting him generally woke him up.
Ten minutes later, he toweled himself off, put in his contact lens, brushed his teeth, and started getting dressed, tossing his dirty clothes in the basket in his closet. Since he had leftover pizza, he unwrapped two slices, stuck them on a plate, and put them in the microwave to heat up.
He was out of his apartment by seven-fifteen, slinging his messenger bag across his chest and closing the door tightly behind him. He patted down his pockets to check for his phone, wallet, and keys, and, as he verified he had all his necessary belongings, the elevator doors slid open and he stepped inside.
There was only one other occupant of the elevator, a slightly-shorter young man with sunglasses and bleached-blond hair. He had a bag over his shoulder as well and his white shirt had a picture of a scratched record on it. Sollux was pretty sure he recognized him from school. What was his name? Dan? Dan Walker?
"Hey," Sollux mumbled, trying to figure out who the Hell this guy was.
"Sup," the blond answered, barely inclining his head in Sollux's direction.
He dismissed it, giving up on the boy's name. The apartments in this building (and, honestly, on the whole block) were popular residences for the student population—cheap and close to campus. He wasn't surprised he recognized other students.
The other boy had obviously had a long weekend, though. His head was bowed and his eyes were closed behind his sunglasses. The headphones hanging around his neck were issuing some song that Sollux couldn't quite make out, but it had a heavy bass beat. He'd probably gotten to sleep late, and Sollux rubbed his own eyes in sympathy. If he didn't get at least nine hours, he was utterly unable to function.
The ride down to the first floor was silent save the song from the other boy's headphones. The elevator didn't make another stop until it bumped and the doors slid open on the first floor. The blond practically dashed out of the elevator, absconding with such speed that Sollux was temporarily stunned. It almost seemed like he was being chased by invisible ninjas.
Recovering, he stepped out of the elevator and headed for the door that the other boy had just darted through.
Aradia was already at school, in the building that housed the cafeteria and the rooms where all the campus's clubs and organizations met. She was sitting in a corner, nursing a cup of coffee, and lazily carding her fingers through the hair of someone who had her head down on the table. Feeling his eyebrow quirk up in curiosity, he approached them and waved to Aradia. "Hey, AA."
"Good morning, Sollux."
"Who's this?" he asked, hyperaware of his lisp. He felt the bizarre compulsion to check his reflection in his phone to make sure he'd put in his contact lens even though he distinctly recalled putting it in this morning.
"This is my friend Kanaya."
The girl with her head down raised her hand in a wave but didn't look up. Her dark hair was cut short, a bob with the ends curled up, and it skimmed the table top.
"She's not having a good morning."
"I'm not having a pleasant month," Kanaya corrected, her voice slightly muffled by the table.
"Right. She's not having a good month."
As a few more people started trickling into the building—including the blond guy he'd seen on the elevator; he was accompanied by a boy he didn't recognize with dark hair and a good-natured grin, and he seemed to be talking the other boy's ear off-Sollux pulled out the chair next to Aradia and pushed the bag that currently occupied it onto the floor. Aradia shot him a dirty look and righted her bag. "Sorry about that," he said. He internally debated on whether or not to ask what was wrong with Kanaya—she seemed genuinely upset even though he couldn't see her face—but the lady in question let out a frustrated groan.
"I fail to comprehend how I so horribly misunderstand females, considering I am one myself," she said finally, lifting her head. She smoothed out her bangs and Sollux saw that her lipstick was black.
Funny. She wasn't dressed like a Goth. Sure, that red floor-length skirt was a little odd, but her shirt was white and she wasn't wearing three pounds of eye makeup. She was actually quite pretty in a classic way, with deep brown eyes and full lips.
"Her now-ex-girlfriend is..." Aradia mentally fumbled for an appropriate description. "Well, a bitch is the simplest explanation," she finished.
"Kindly refrain from being overly harsh. I do still regard her fondly," Kanaya grumbled.
"Kanaya, she treats you like crap with no regard for your feelings and she plays with you and at least one other person. It's not fair and you know it." Aradia's tone had taken on a gentleness, and Sollux got the feeling that they'd had this discussion before.
"I am aware," the other girl murmured. She sighed again and set her head back down, covering her face with her arms. "I simply wish that you would not speak of her so discourteously."
Aradia rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Alright. Just because you asked, I'll keep my opinion to myself."
"Thank you."
Sollux felt awkward there, but it was shortly after eight and his first class didn't start until nine. With no other choice, he quickly excused himself, went to the small meal line along the far wall, and started preparing a cup of tea. He grabbed a bag of Lipton Black Tea (he didn't typically favor something so simple, but the school didn't have a lot of variety) and stuck it in a Styrofoam cup. After adding the hot water from the cappuccino machine, he upended one of the bear-shaped bottles of honey and squeezed almost a tablespoon into the cup. He took a plastic spoon from a little further down the line and stirred it in before lifting the cup to his lips.
Perfect. He could barely taste the bitterness of the tea underneath all the honey. Just the way he liked it.
He started to head back to Aradia and Kanaya's table when the door opened again and in sailed that Eridan Ampora guy from Saturday night.
Eridan had a girl next to him, but Sollux barely noticed her. For three interminable seconds, he found himself staring at the other boy, unable to look away.
He hadn't been able to really register Eridan's appearance while he'd been at Karkat's place, but now that he saw him in the light of day, he could easily see, even from this distance, that his eyes almost looked purple. Maybe he's wearing contacts, Sollux thought, or maybe it's the hair. He had a purple streak in his hair, a four-inch-long stripe of color from his bangs back, standing out against the black of the rest of his hair. Even though it was easily sixty-five degrees outside, Eridan was wearing a blue scarf wound around his neck at least three times, a black shirt, and black-and-blue striped jeans. For Sollux, everything screeched to a halt when Eridan Ampora in his ridiculous getup and douchebag hipster hair and too-big glasses amplifying his too-intense stare walked into that room.
But then he snapped himself out of it and quickly turned on his heel, heading right back to Aradia and Kanaya.
"HEY! BEANPOLE!" an annoyingly familiar voice screeched across the cafeteria, and Sollux visibly winced.
"Fuck," he muttered, and turned right back around to level a bored stare at Karkat, who had managed to slip in unnoticed behind Eridan and the girl.
Ampora, the female standing next to him, and just about everyone else in the cafeteria looked from Karkat to Sollux—the only person in his general vicinity to warrant the nickname of "beanpole'—and back, and it was more than enough to have him wonder wildly how long it would take for him to sprint back to Aradia's table, snatch his backpack, and abscond from the scene. Probably too long, considering he wasn't a runner by any stretch of the imagination, and besides, everyone was looking. Karkat had already caught sight of him, and he'd already acknowledged the clarion call. It was too late. With a sigh of resignation—and one last glance at Eridan, who was still looking at him—he finally headed toward Karkat. "What do you want?" he asked, carefully not using words with sibilance.
"Hey, I owe you one for helping me out on Saturday," Karkat answered with uncharacteristic humility—and a decidedly lowered volume. "I know you didn't have anything for breakfast," he added, causing Sollux to roll his eyes, "so you should have some real food. Something besides tea. My treat."
Sollux took a moment to sip his tea, arching an incredulous eyebrow toward the food line. "You think that could be called real food?"
Karkat shrugged, his typically-annoyed expression sliding back into place. "It's better than nothing at all, asshat. Accept the return of the fucking favor."
"Actually, KK, I did eat today. I had leftover pizza. I'm really not that hungry."
"Maybe lunch, then. We could all catch a bite. I wouldn't mind getting chummy with a few more of your friends," the girl beside Eridan said brightly. For the first time, Sollux really noticed her and got a good look. She was about six inches taller than Karkat, who made nearly anyone look like a giant in comparison. Her long brown hair was curly and looked like it was still a bit damp from that morning's shower, and he was pretty sure there was a bathing suit strap peeking out from underneath her magenta-colored shirt. He wondered if she was a swimmer. Then he caught sight of a set of sport goggles dangling from the side of her backpack, basically confirming his hypothesis. She was probably a great swimmer—and the bit of leg he glimpsed underneath her blue-and-green skirt seemed to support that as well. She had some really nice legs.
Karkat groaned and rolled his eyes. Eridan scoffed. "As fish puns go, that one was pretty fuckin' tame," Ampora said. Sollux realized it was the first time he'd heard the guy actually talk. His voice wasn't unpleasant—it was a bit deeper than he expected, and a little more drawling than he was used to. He had the air of one who was used to being the center of attention, enjoyed it, and expected it.
"Hush. Don't you make fun of my fish puns! I'm Feferi, by the way," she added with a wave.
"Um." There was no way he could get out of introducing himself now, unless—
"Right. This is Sollux Captor, high school best friend, and tech whiz extraordinaire," Karkat explained.
"Hi," Sollux mumbled. Feferi was still smiling at him and her bright green eyes were actually really pretty. She was a really nice-looking girl. A little rounder than most of the girls he liked, but it looked to be more muscle than anything else.
"So lunch then?" Karkat asked, returning his attention to Sollux.
"Yeah," he sighed. "I—that'll be fine. Why not?" He glanced again and Feferi and Eridan, and wondered if both of them would be present as well. He didn't know how long he could avoiding using words with an S. Maybe he could play off not speaking much as a total social ineptness.
"Awesome! My class before lunch ends at twelve-fifteen so I can meet you guys somewhere," Feferi said excitedly. Bubbly was the word that floated up in Sollux's head, and he nearly laughed at the description.
"Well, our bio class ends at noon," Karkat started, but Eridan cut in smoothly.
"I can drive us somewhere. No sense in takin' the bus if we don't gotta."
A lot of students at school lived on their own or in apartments near campus. A lot fewer had their own cars. Sollux raised his eyebrow, wondering how rich Eridan was to be able to afford a car, and why he was going to a third-rate college like this one anyway.
"Where are we going then?" Sollux asked suspiciously. He thought this was going to be a cafeteria lunch, but it seemed like Feferi had inadvertently turned it into a big excursion.
"Oooh, how about that one vegan place a couple miles from here?" Feferi suggested.
Karkat groaned again. "Fef, I think you overestimate my budget."
"It's not that expensive!" she said with a pout.
Jesus. This is insane. "Look, how about we go to Rubio's?" He realized, a beat too late, that Rubio's had an S. He waited for the inevitable snicker at his lisp.
It didn't come. Feferi didn't seem to notice, Karkat already knew about it, and Eridan subtly glanced at him, raising his eyebrows slightly, but said nothing aside from, "I'm okay with that if you are."
"Yeah, that's a fuck-ton better for my budget," Karkat said.
Feferi's pout grew more pronounced. "I don't know what you're angling for, but I guess that's okay."
Karkat smacked his forehead at the fish pun and Sollux quickly said goodbye, returning to Aradia's table with his tea all but cold in his cup. He was pretty sure he felt eyes on him as he left, but he didn't turn to see who was watching him.
Still giggling a bit over "Dan Walker" (it's Dave Strider, but we'll meet him later! All of the Alternian trolls and Beta Kids, along with a few Beforus trolls and maybe one Alpha Kid, will be in this story!). I slay me.
I can't write fish puns for crap...
