Hey, I stayed up past my bedtime to accomplish my goal! The US government could learn something from me! (I already changed my Tumblr URL for October, and it's now orphanerspookyscar. Once November 1 hits, I'm going back to eridayumampora though.)

Many thanks to Rand0mAn0nym0u2, Soapdino, LinkinPark X, SlytherinUnicorns, Wolfen Artist of Hetalia, Leok, iDreamBig, Kerra-chan, LyssaInTheSky, Heki564, FanficFinatic2, walomadolo, DJMeow, tricksternepeta, region-discontinued, Fabylou55, pendaly, CatastrophicAquarius, and Bitblondetoday (wow, what is it about traumatic events that brings out the screaming reviewers?) for your reviews to the last act!


Sollux didn't end up seeing Eridan until after lunch, but the moment he did, he almost peed himself laughing.

He supposed it shouldn't have surprised him—Eridan said he was going to be a wizard for Halloween—but he hadn't expected this. This was on a level far beyond what he imagined even Eridan to be capable of (and considering Eridan was a rich kid, he expected he was capable of a lot).

For one thing, Eridan's pointed hat stuck about two feet in the air and somehow hadn't made friends with his hair—it was perched awkwardly on his head, heedless of the usual metric ton of product he'd put into it that morning. For another, the billowing cape fastened around his neck had a rigid, foot-high collar and it probably skimmed the floor at the bottom (since he was sitting, though, it dragged on the floor for at least six inches). Beneath the cape, his robes had been adorned with stars (they may have been constellations, but Sollux couldn't tell) and crescent moons, and they brushed the tops of his pointed boots. He couldn't figure out where Eridan had stashed his wand, but he knew there had to be one somewhere. The most hilarious part of all was that every part of the costume was the exact same shade of deep purple.

"What?" Eridan demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. His ridiculous sleeves flared as if in anger and it was all Sollux could do not to start laughing again.

"Um..." He finally stopped giggling and straightened up. Eridan was sitting at the table with Aradia, Feferi (who seemed to be dressed as a mermaid, but it was hard to tell since she was sitting and there was the table in the way), Nepeta, and Equius, and all of them looked pretty interested in what was going on, including Equius, which frankly surprised Sollux since he usually seemed more absorbed in his homework or whatever the Hell it was he did on his computer all day. "You said you wore that before?"

Eridan looked down and then back up. "Yeah. Last year an' the year before. Why?"

"Um." Sollux covered his mouth and tried to figure out how to ask his question without sounding like a jackass, but there really wasn't a way. Maybe it was better he didn't ask, either. After all, Eridan hadn't really said he was bisexual. Still, he wondered—How the Hell was it not obvious he likes guys? "Nothing. Just... that costume is very..." He deliberated and finally said it. "Gay."

His boyfriend looked shocked as the rest of the table cracked up. Eridan immediately turned to Feferi and demanded, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She managed to suppress her giggles long enough to say, "I thought that was what you were going for!"

Eridan pulled his hat down over his eyes, turning red. "Really? Does it really look that gay?"

"Just a little," Sollux said, trying not to laugh.

He sighed. "Alright, fine, well, I've already started to embrace my inner homo, so I might as well continue the trend."

Sollux felt like a bit of an asshole now—it seemed like he'd actually managed to hurt Eridan's feelings and that definitely hadn't been his intention. Eridan had sort of seemed to laugh it off, but it could have just been a cover, so he decided to apologize the second they were alone. He didn't want to make a big deal of it right now.

He sat down in the only unoccupied seat, the one between Eridan and Aradia, feeling a bit awkward. He was the only one not wearing at least some of his costume at the table—Nepeta had her full outfit on, as did Aradia, and Equius had horse ears and probably a tail but Sollux couldn't see it from this angle. He wished he'd thought to bring his bee antennae from home, but he figured it was a miracle he'd even been able to find the costume in the first place.

Around him, the conversation turned back toward the plan for the evening. As far as he gathered, they were meeting at Aradia's apartment and starting the party there, and her sister Damara would be joining them. They'd be trick-or-treating in her building and then move on to someone else's apartment complex, probably Feferi's, and then it would be on to Nepeta and Equius's neighborhood (they were renting a small two-bedroom townhouse in a neighborhood otherwise filled with sailors and their families). If they had time after that, they would go to Eridan's apartment building and then finish at Sollux's apartment. They had less than four hours to start the party, too, since it was two-thirty and they wanted to start collecting candy before six.

"Alright, team, grab anyone else you want to come with us and meet at my place by five-thirty," Aradia announced with the air of a football coach. "Ready? Break!"

Oh, Jesus. Sollux resisted the urge to smash his head against the table as their group started getting up and meandering away. He had to figure out when the next bus would be arriving at his bus stop and how to time his travels so he could show up at Aradia's place without feeling like a total idiot for wandering around to various bus stops dressed as a bee. Maybe it would be easier to be drunk for this.

"Hey, Sol, you comin'?" Eridan asked.

"Huh?"

"Um, I'm drivin' you to your apartment I thought. It's gotta be faster than takin' the bus, anyway."

"Oh." Sollux looked around—everyone else had vanished from sight. "Um, yeah, I guess. Are you mad at me?"

Eridan bit his lip. "Not mad. Just a little..."

"Yeah, I know, that was a shitty thing to say. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to upset you."

He gave Sollux a small smile. "It's okay. I'll be over it in a couple hours. So, yeah, we leavin' or what?"


Sol made him wait in the living room while he unearthed his costume from somewhere in his closet, but Eridan was okay with that. He'd never been to Sol's apartment before, so it gave him a chance to look around.

It was somehow smaller than he'd expected—he'd known Sol couldn't afford a really nice place or something, but he'd still expected more than this. He felt like he had barely any room to sit down even though the sofa probably seated three. There was a small TV on a stand, and the stand itself had sliding glass doors that displayed the two gaming systems and dozens of games for each console. The rest of the room seemed organized and clean, certainly not like his living room at Cronus's apartment. That was kind of a relief, even with the lingering scent of honey in the air.

What the Hell, does the guy have a honey-scented air freshener? Even as he thought it, he realized it was probably the case.

After a few minutes of idle looking, he quickly grew bored and wondered what was taking him so long. Sol had told him that he knew where the costume was—there was no reason for this drawn-out wait. He pulled his wand out of a pocket he'd sewn into the inside of his robes and waved it at Sol's door as if he could somehow hurry him up.

Sol didn't emerge from the bedroom, but there came a knock at the front door and he called through the bedroom door, "Can you get that?"

Eridan rolled his eyes. "Alright." He stashed his wand again, went to the front door, and opened it up.

What fresh Hell is this?

Standing in the doorway was... Sol? Those weren't his glasses, and both of his eyes were brown again, and Eridan was sure that was not how he was dressed earlier, but that was unmistakably him.

"Um, what the fuck is goin' on?"

Sol was grinning. "Hey, man, what's happening?" He spoke without a lisp now, which was also weird as Hell.

"I am extremely confused right now, that's all."

"Ah, shit," a voice from behind Eridan said. He turned and there was Sol again, half-dressed in his bee costume and staring at the Sol double in the doorway.

"I swear to God I have no idea what happened," Eridan started babbling by way of apology, feeling panic start to rise in his chest. "I didn't even know what I was doin', I just waved my wand an' now there's two of you an' I don't know how it happened but this might be kinda cool but I seriously don't—"

Sol—the one in the bee costume—put his hand over Eridan's mouth. "Yeah, okay, I have no idea what you're talking about right now."

The other Sol started laughing. "Jesus, Sollux, you never told him?"

Eridan wrenched Original Sol's hand away from his mouth. "Told me what?"

Original Sol sighed. "This is Mituna, my twin."

Eridan suddenly felt like an idiot. Of course he couldn't use magic—he'd already accepted that he was a hopeless Muggle. If he had any magic in him, it would have manifested itself already. "Oh."

"Oh, God, this kid's hysterical—who is he?" Mituna asked.

"Eridan, boyfriend. Mituna, leaving." Sol strode past him to stand between him and Mituna.

"But I just got here!"

"And what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were coming."

"What? We hung out on Halloween last year," Mituna protested.

"Yeah, and I already have plans this year."

Eridan got the distinct feeling he was missing something important, but he couldn't tell what.

"Like what?"

"Hanging out with friends."

"Oooh, that's cold," Mituna said, but he was grinning again. "Well, alright, suit yourself, little bro, but if you get bored, just text me and me and Latula will come get you, okay?"

"Yeah, no," Sol grumbled.

"Ha-ha!" Mituna pulled Sol into a tight hug, let him go before it got too awkward, and sailed down the hallway toward the elevators. Sol slammed the door as hard as he could.

"Wow. An' I thought things with me an' Cro were weird."

Sol rubbed his temples, slumping back against the door. "So, yeah, that's my brother. Seems nice enough but I can't stand him."

"Why?"

"I'll explain later, okay? Just trust me when I say he's a jerk."

Eridan couldn't help but be slightly amused, but he wrapped his arms around Sol and said, "Aw, it's okay, I'll make you feel better."

Sol laughed in spite of his mood and slung his arms around Eridan's waist. "Alright, fine.

"Were you about to suggest a threesome with him? Because I'm pretty sure he doesn't swing that way," he added.

"What, me? Not at all. I have a pure mind."

"Pure as a septic tank."

Eridan swatted at his shoulder and found himself staring at Sol's lips. He had the sudden urge to kiss him, and since it had been, what, at least a day since the last time they'd kissed anyway, he did just that, pressing his mouth to Sol's and completely ignoring the way their glasses smashed awkwardly together.

"Sorry your brother is an ass," he murmured, pulling back for a moment.

"Meh. I'm used to him. I don't have to see him that often, so..." Sol shrugged. "Although he was at the club the night of TZ's birthday. Oh, yeah, another funny thing, Latula, his girlfriend, is TZ's sister."

"Weird."

"Yeah, we didn't know it until we all got there and he just appeared out of nowhere."

"No, I meant the part about you goin' to a club," he joked.

Sol glared at him for a second. "I'll have you know I punched a guy in the face while I was there."

Eridan snorted with laughter. "Yeah, right."

"I did," he insisted. "I threw up right after, too. You can ask AA or EQ or NP—they all saw."

"What happened?"

"Just... some creepy guy wouldn't leave AA alone, so 'subtle' and 'not-so-subtle' weren't quite working. I just punched him in the face and he got the message. Then I sprinted outside and did the Technicolor yawn."

"Wow. You really know how to tell a story, Sol." He made a face. "That was a disgustin' description."

Sollux snorted with laughter. "Yeah, I know. It was great." He gave Eridan a light kiss. "Now I have to finished getting dressed."

"But we got hours before we gotta be at Ara's place," Eridan practically whined.

"I am not inviting my brother back for a three-way," Sol joked, finally unwinding his arms from around Eridan. "I'll be back out in a few minutes."

So Eridan went and sat back on the couch, waiting for his boyfriend to finish getting ready to they could finally start having fun.


Ah, yes, the Eridan/Mituna meeting. Joy of joys.

In the next act: Eridan (and everyone else) discovers Cronus's fate.