I have always wanted to write an intermission. YESSSS.

Many thanks to theindigoprince, thepeopleofthecrysis, Hi miss Alice, obsessed01616, and Bear for your reviews to last chapter (especially Bear who reviewed right away and caught a really embarrassing mistake on my part). THANKS GUISE.


INTERMISSION

Several hours before (two hours and fifteen minutes, to be precise)

It wasn't uncommon to find the cafeteria filled with people, especially around lunchtime. Rose had long since accepted this fact and now only wanted to find a nice, empty table so she could sit down, eat a sandwich, and knit. She didn't think it was too much to ask, but apparently whatever powers held sway over the workings of the universe begged to differ. As she looked around, she noted with a minor wave of annoyance that not a single table remained unoccupied. There were quite a few that had one person only, but none of them looked very friendly—especially that boy in the corner with the thick hipster glasses and angry scowl. She wondered what he had stuck in his craw before she hazarded another look around the room.

There was one girl with her head down. Well, if anything, they didn't have to make conversation. She didn't look to be in a very chatty mood anyway, which suited Rose just fine. She wasn't someone who felt the need to fill every silence with meaningless polite chatter. As long as this girl was okay with the clacking of knitting needles, they would make for quite an amiable pair.

"S'cuse me," she said as politely as she could.

The girl lifted her head, her bobbed dark hair skimming the sides of her ears. Her lips had been painted jade green and her eyeliner, while not thick, was noticeable, lending her a Goth-equse appearance, but Rose somehow sensed that she would bristle at being labeled as such. When the girl locked eyes with her, a small, tentative smile crossed her face. "Good morning," she replied; her voice sounded almost impossibly sweet and her inflection hinted at a surprising intelligence.

"Mind if I sit here? There's no empty tables," Rose explained, not allowing herself to become unhinged by this other girl's pretty face.

"That would be agreeable."

Rose got the impression that this girl was no stranger to formality. "Thanks. I'm Rose."

"I'm Kanaya. It's a great pleasure to meet you, Rose."

Rose couldn't help smiling in return as she set down her backpack. It was a rather foreign feeling—the smiling, that is. She hadn't smiled honestly and sincerely in quite some time. Whenever she smiled, it tended to be mockingly or a half-smile. It wasn't so bad to genuinely smile again, though. "I'll be right back. I need to get some lunch."

"I'll be waiting," Kanaya almost sang as Rose headed toward the chow line.

As she gathered her food, she wondered why Kanaya had been sitting with her head down in the first place. Would Kanaya be agreeable to talking about it? Rose's inner psychologist couldn't help but be curious. Maybe this could be a very interesting lunch after all.

When Rose returned to Kanaya's table, she saw that the other girl had procured a cup of what looked like either coffee or tea—she couldn't tell which. Rose set her tray down and took her seat across from the dark-haired girl. "So, tell me, Kanaya. What sort of emotional upheavals have you experienced recently?"

END INTERMISSION.


ACT 13

Several hours later (two and a half, to be precise)

Eridan didn't really like having a class that started at noon, honestly. More often than not, his classmates would bring in their lunches and eat in front of everyone, and while he wasn't hungry considering he'd eaten in the cafeteria, it was annoying when one of them gave an answer and they had food in their mouths. It was enough to make him contemplate jumping out the second-story window.

He resisted, just barely, by ignoring them all. He had other things on his plate right now, like his revenge stunt with Captor and this business with Vriska Serket's impending return to his life. Last night and this morning had driven the latter from his mind, but after he had his plan fully formed, he mentally set it aside and remembered that the huge spider-bitch was planning on coming to his school. Even worse, he didn't know when that was actually going to happen. This, he supposed, was probably one of her psychological tactics.

Two and a half years. That was how long it had been since he'd seen her last. He'd barely even thought about her for the last eighteen months, but Fef had told him that one of Vriska's ex-boyfriends was traumatized by the revelation that she'd be coming here, so apparently she still wielded the same manipulative power she always had. He didn't like to think about the two months they'd dated (if that was what you'd call it—he wasn't sure that it did, since the only places they'd gone together were his bedroom or her basement). It had been a very dark time in his life. Not even Feferi, who'd been his best friend for seven years now, knew about whatever the sum of their relationship had been. Vriska had wanted it kept secret. "I want to keep you aaaaaaaall to myself," she'd said in that sing-song way she had, stretching her words and adding extra vowels.

She'd had him all to herself for this long, though. Nearly three years after that short time they'd been together, he still hadn't been able to break the dry spell she'd somehow left in his life. It was like she'd cursed him when she left. She had been his first, and to date, she'd been the only one. It was embarrassing—he hadn't even dated anyone else. It was embarrassing and unconscionable and it was something he'd take to the grave if he could help it. Feferi could never know.

And now Vriska was coming back into his life. He knew she had at least one other ex here, probably more, so what could her logic possibly be? Maybe the spider-bitch wanted to see if she could trap anyone else in her web of seduction. Eridan shuddered at the prospect. He would never go back to her, no matter how much he'd missed her at first. The whole thing had been a huge mistake.

He was startled out of his musings as around him, his classmates got to their feet and started shuffling out the door. He put away his laptop and hurried out as well. He only had a half an hour between this class and Art History, and he felt himself crashing. He needed coffee, or else he'd never survive the day.

The line at the school coffee shop was mercifully short, but he had to deal with Roxy behind the register today. Half the time, he would swear she was drunk. Her speech always seemed to be slurred, but somehow, the other baristas were able to interpret what she was saying accurately. It was impressive until she handed him back his credit card with a flirty, "Wonk-wonk," and an exaggerated wink. He took his card and slunk away, feeling vaguely creeped-out.

Behind the counter, Jane snorted with laughter.

Coffee in hand (courtesy of Jane, because Roxy was wisely never allowed to prepare orders), he headed off to his next class, hoping there would be something of interest to be discussed. He needed to keep his mind off Vriska Serket.


He got his wish: his Art History class was interesting enough to keep him focused on the work, and Jane had slipped an extra shot of espresso into his coffee to keep him awake. If she'd been there, he probably would have kissed her. It was exactly what he needed.

The next time he went in there, he decided he was going to use cash so he could leave her a tip.

After class, he dropped Feferi off at her apartment building. He'd been forced to reassure her several times that he had no intention of retaliating against Sollux Captor before she would get out of the car, but once she did, he drove to the nearest grocery store to pick up the few things he would need for his harmless little prank. Items in hand, he went back home and set about preparing for the next day. If anything, it would be an awesome morning.


Sollux didn't run into Eridan for the rest of the day, much to his relief. He was pretty sure the other boy would make fun of him, and he didn't know if he would punch him out or have a mental collapse in the corner. Both options seemed appealing, but he fortunately didn't have to make that choice. It still didn't stop him from thinking about Eridan and all the shit he could potentially pull, but by three-thirty, he was on the bus back home.

Back in his apartment, he dropped his backpack off in his bedroom and went to his living room/dining room. He knew he had to get his mind off Eridan—worrying about him was going to give him a stress ulcer if he wasn't careful—so he tried to immerse himself in Assassin's Creed until he finally gave up. It was pointless. He couldn't get Ampora out of his head.

He groaned and sent a text to Aradia. AA what2 happeniing? Without waiting for an answer, he sent another text to Terezi, hoping at least one of them would answer. hey TZ what2 up? He was still a little annoyed at her for what had happened yesterday, but she wasn't the only one at fault. Besides, she was one of the few friends he had left.

He only had to wait a minute or two. Aradia's response came in first. n0t much. class has been uneventful but equius has been in c0ntact

that2 good new2 riight?

Terezi's answer came next. H3Y SOLLUX. 1V3 B33N DO1NG 4BSOLUT3LY NOTH1NG 3XC3PT T3XT1NG P3OPL3 4LL D4Y.

liike who?

Aradia's reply arrived while he was sending his text to Terezi. yes it's a g00d thing. i think. it's been a bit strange, t0 be h0nest. i think there's s0mething he's n0t telling me

2omethiing bad?

MOSTLY T4VROS 4ND K4RK4T :]

are you actually gettiing along wiith hiim? This was not sufficient for a distraction. Now if Mituna were here... Sollux winced. He loved Mituna, he really did. Even though they were all but identical (the only difference between them being that both of Mituna's eyes were brown), no one would ever mistake one for the other. Sollux's twin was almost always grinning, carefree, and untroubled, something Sollux couldn't help but envy him. He'd gotten saddled with the debilitating disorders and social anxiety (and a deep-seated insecurity about his heterochromia) and Mituna had some sorcery-caused ability to make friends with damn near anyone. Social situations were his thing. He even had a girlfriend now, he said (not that Sollux had ever met her, but she was apparently "super rad, man!"). Still, the constant friendliness was enough to put Sollux off. Mituna had gone to a college upstate on a science scholarship, so Sollux didn't have to see him all the time, but they each went home one weekend a month and it was, more often than not, almost more than he could stand.

At least he would be so preoccupied with Mituna that he wouldn't even have time to think about Eridan Ampora.

He could do anything right now, and here he was obsessing about some guy who hated him. His life had gotten pretty badly fucked if he was at this point. He would have even been grateful for the distraction of homework, but he was already caught up on that. Even his Chemistry assignment today had been easy enough to complete. It was done.

He rubbed his eyes. He hadn't bothered putting the brown contact lens back in once he got home; he wasn't planning on going out tonight, so it didn't make a difference. Half of him wanted to go out and do something, but he didn't have an actual idea, so he knew it would be a stupid endeavor. The other half of him wanted to talk to Aradia again about Eridan, but he knew it would make him feel like an idiot. He didn't need reminding that the hipster douche-wagon basically ran his life now. Even if Eridan was kind of hot, in that annoying "better than you" hipster douche-wagon way. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was even a little attracted to him, no matter how stupid it was, considering Eridan was a bi- and homophobic bastard. (Feferi had insisted that he really wasn't like that, but Sollux wasn't sure.)

He switched over the auxiliary feeds to his television and started channel-surfing. Maybe there would be something good on.


You'd think this would be an even longer chapter since I have an intermission AND an act, but...it didn't quite pan out that way. Not much happened in the chapter, but I didn't want to gloss over anything.

Poor Eridan, so embarrassed he slept with that huge spider8itch...