I really want to work on that other fic but! I've decided that I will only work on a chapter after I've finished my Coming to Terms update for the day. (Since I got this done and it's only about 6:30 pm here, I will get cracking on it now!)

Many thanks to BlOo KiSsEs, thepeopleofthecrysis, Bitblondetoday, CatastrophicAquarius, LinkinPark X, SmileyFaceSmile, and DarkBlueMahogany for your reviews to the last act, and I love each and every single person who's followed me on Tumblr! I'm at 822 followers right now so once I hit 888, I'll probably do a giveaway or something. (And to the guest named Dan, I'm not visiting San Diego, it's where I actually live. Hi, I guess?)


Sollux was the first person in Equius's truck to be dropped off. Aradia hopped out long enough to give him a hug, and then she scampered right back in. His backpack slung over his shoulder, he waved as the Suburban pulled away from the curb in front of his apartment building. Once it was out of sight, he turned to look up at the building before he walked inside.

The lobby was deserted, so he adjusted his backpack and fished his iPod out of his back pocket. He paused for a moment to put on his headphones and hit play before he pushed the button for the elevator and waited. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking toward him and he turned his head ever so slightly to see who it was. For a second, he thought it was Dave, until he realized that this guy was dressed differently than Dave had been when they left, and he really didn't think Feferi would have stopped just for Dave to execute a wardrobe change. Plus, this guy was wearing different sunglasses. This was probably Dave's brother (Sollux remembered Dave mentioning him at some point), but if Dave had ever mentioned his name, Sollux didn't remember it.

Dave's brother stood next to him, waiting for the elevator, and Sollux wondered if Dave had already made it back, and what about everyone else? He'd had a fun weekend, albeit a draining one, and he wasn't exactly in a hurry to see anyone just yet, but he did wonder.

Sollux was relieved to discover that Dave's brother seemed pretty similar to Dave in that he didn't try to force awkward elevator conversation, especially when Sollux was clearly listening to music and had no fucks to give.

The elevator bumped to a stop on his floor and he went down the hall to his apartment, fit the key into the lock, and went inside. He flipped on the light, set down his backpack, and looked around.

Nothing looked different than how he'd left it, but it all felt different somehow. Maybe it was because of how fundamentally one weekend had changed everything. On Friday about this time, he'd been regretting the decision to agree to go to Eridan's stupid house party—who knew that forty-eight hours later, he'd actually be glad he went?

Then he remembered that Eridan had actually invited him over to his place after school the next day, and he couldn't help grinning. Eridan was actually trying to involve Sollux in his life. Already, it was more promising than last time, plus if it continued, he'd be able to plan bigger and better pranks. That reminded him that he still had a metric ton of toothpaste to pick up, so he emptied out his backpack on his bed (mentally vowing to sort out the mess later, but right now he didn't have time), slung it back over his shoulders, and headed out to bike to the nearest Rite-Aid to stock up on as much Colgate as he could carry.


After dropping off Tavros in front of Karkat and Gamzee's apartment building, Eridan finally headed back home. He had no idea what he was going to do with the rest of the booze in his trunk, but he had a solid three months before he turned twenty-one and he wasn't sure that a lot of this would survive until then. Worst-case scenario, he supposed, he could have Cronus bring it back up to the apartment and they could drink it. Ideally, he should have had everyone take their booze with them (Nepeta had taken her Everclear, but that was because it was actually hers that she'd brought from home), but he hadn't thought about it until after he'd dropped Rose and Kanaya off at the Lalondes' house.

It was just him now. He pulled into the second of two parking spaces for Cronus's apartment (Cro's boatlike car was parked in the other one), hopped out, and grabbed his bag out of the trunk. He paused for a few moments, staring at the alcohol back there before sending a text. hey kan its eridan do you wwant the rest a this vvodka an if not can i havve it

Vodka, he figured, would be better than tequila or Feferi's whiskey. The one time he'd had Jagermeister, it made him throw up—it was too sweet and he hated the taste of licorice anyway, and that's exactly what it tasted like: black licorice. Vodka was his best option.

Kanaya and Rose must not have been doing anything too serious, because Kanaya's response came within a few minutes. Go Ahead. I Have No Immediate Need Of Alcohol. The Lalondes' Home Is Well-Stocked On That Front.

Eridan raised an eyebrow, put the quarter-full bottle of vodka in his bag, and slammed the trunk of his car closed.

To his utter lack of surprise, Cronus had the TV on when he walked in. The elder Ampora had his feet up on the coffee table and he was buzzing through a box of Cheez-Its. Eridan couldn't tell what show his brother was watching, but it was in black-and-white and there was the TV Land logo in the corner. He stood there in the doorway for a moment, just looking in and wondering if Cronus had turned off his brain—he couldn't smell any weed, but he was pretty sure the smell of Cheez-Its would overpower marijuana—when, still watching the television, Cronus asked, "You gonna stand there all day or are you gonna close the damn door?"

Eridan closed the door and slunk across the room, crossing in front of the TV momentarily. He was nearly to his room when Cronus said, "You have a good weekend?"

"You were there for most a' it," Eridan said. "You would know."

Cronus finally looked away from the television, and Eridan couldn't quite read the look on his face. "Yeah, I was there. An' thank God I was, or you might still be out there lookin' for your boyfriend."

"Sol's comin' over tomorrow. Don't be a dick to him."

"I'm nothin' if not angelic to all a' your friends." Cronus grinned. "Speakin' a' which, you need me to get you condoms?"

"Jesus fuck, Cro! I'm not fuckin' him!" Face turning red, Eridan darted into his room and slammed the door behind him. Cronus's muffled laughter floated into his room from the living room, and Eridan dropped his bag and sank to the floor, his back against the door. Across the room, the empty fish tank bubbled merrily, sending waves of light across the darkened walls and making Eridan feel like he was completely underwater. This time tomorrow, Sol would be here, in this room with him. Eridan had no idea what they were going to do besides make out (presumably), but he knew that with Cronus in the next room, that would probably be about all they did. They could watch a movie on Eridan's computer or something, unless one of them had a bunch of homework to do. He hoped that wouldn't be the case, though.

Dinner. They'd have to get dinner. They could eat dinner while they watched a movie and hope Cronus didn't decide it would be fun to interrupt them. Eridan would have to lock the door. He was actually surprised that Cronus hadn't found some way to appear in his bedroom and bother them before they left the house that afternoon. Now that he was actually here, though, Eridan was pretty sure that Cronus would be making at least one intrusion the next evening.

He glanced at his nightstand. He was pretty sure things wouldn't progress past sloppy makeouts tomorrow, but what if they did? The idea of actually sleeping with Sol made him nervous. It wasn't that he didn't necessarily want to—it was just that sleeping with another guy was something he'd never done before. It was like skydiving or going to college: he'd heard mixed reviews and he didn't know how he was going to feel when it was all over.

He bit his lip and stared up at the fish tank again. It would either happen or it wouldn't, and all he could do right now was wait.


Sollux should have felt really bad about spending a hundred dollars on toothpaste when a grand total of none of it would actually be used to clean teeth, but he couldn't summon the energy to care. It would be used for a better cause: pranking the hipster douche who, for some reason, liked making out with him. He had to smile at that.

He shoveled the twenty-five or so tubes of toothpaste into his backpack and sailed out of the drugstore, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction. Eridan wouldn't know what hit him.

He pedaled back to his apartment as fast as he could, locked his bike up, and headed inside. It had been warm most of the weekend, but it was starting to turn a bit cool with the impending arrival of Halloween in a few days. He zipped up his hoodie as he went inside, shoving his hands in his pockets and wiggling his shoulders to readjust his backpack. The boxes that the tubes of toothpaste were in poked awkwardly into his back, and he wondered how he was going to get it all from his place to school to Eridan's place all in one piece tomorrow while his books jostled around in there as well. Since he planned to take all the tubes out of the package before tomorrow, the tubes ran the risk of bursting in his backpack, so he was going to have to put them in bags and find some way to muffle the sound, lest Eridan's suspicions be aroused. Cotton balls in two gallon-sized Ziploc bags would probably work (he hoped, otherwise he would have a toothpaste-covered cotton ball mess to deal with, but at least the mess would be in plastic bags and not on his books), but his backpack would still probably bulge awkwardly. He was going to have to think of some way to keep Eridan from noticing.

hey aa are you bu2y

As soon as he sent the text to Aradia, he got to work putting away the clothes he'd worn this weekend. He'd washed them before he left Eridan's house, so all he had to do was put them in the dresser. When he'd finished ten minutes later, Aradia still hadn't responded. Sollux frowned. Apparently Aradia was busy, which was a first. Unless she was asleep—and it was too early for that—she was really good about getting back to his test messages right away. He decided to try Kanaya and sent her the same message.

Another fifteen minutes passed by with no word from either of them, so as a last-ditch effort, he tried Feferi.

Nope, not at all! W)(y? W)(at's up? Need some kelp? 38D

Sollux furrowed his brows at the really bad pun. um 2o ii may or may not be playiing a prank on ed twomorrow and ii need to know iif you thiink hed notiice iif my backpack bulged awkwardly

O)(, wow, Sole, I )(ave no idea. Probably not, since you and I bot)( min-now )(e's a bit clueless. W)(en are you planning on playing t)(is prank? I can make sure )(e's t)(ere!

Well, this was interesting. Feferi didn't seem to know that Eridan had invited Sollux over. ii would be 2urprii2ed iif he wa2nt there 2iince iits goiing two be after 2chool twomorrow at hii2 apartment he iinviited me two come over there twomorrow whiile we were talkiing earliier twoday

)(-E INVIT-ED YOU OV-ER?! 38O

um ye2

O)( MY COD JUST B-E G-ENTL-E WIT)( )(IM PL-EAS-E! 38D

ii wa2nt planniing on phy2iically hurtiing hiim or anythiing the prank wiill be mo2tly harmle22

I M-EANT AFT-ER T)(-E PRANK YOU D-ENS-E DOOFIS)(!

um ff ii really dont thiink iit2 goiing two get two that... level

JUST YOU WAIT! 38D

Feeling a bit unsettled, Sollux pocketed his phone and got to work removing every tube of toothpaste from its box and tossing them on his bed. No matter what Feferi hinted at, he would be incredibly surprised if anything besides sloppy makeouts happened tomorrow.


So it'll probably be Act 48 that has the actual date-like shenanigans at Eridan's apartment since you know how much I like to go into obnoxious details about random things... But there will be more than sloppy makeouts happening.