Lots happened in the past week. Hello to all my new readers, and I finally(!) got my tattoo colored in last night!
Many thanks to MissArsenicChaos, obsessed01616, iDreamBig, Wolfen Artist of Hetalia, Silver Enderwolf, Bitblondetoday, SlytherinUnicorns, CatastrophicAquarius, FanficFinatic2, and one guest for your reviews to the last act!
Sollux dragged himself slowly but surely out of unconsciousness. He stretched out, his back popping comfortably, and tried to remember what day it was. Friday, right? Halloween the night before?
The bee costume on the floor certainly lent credibility to his assumption. Had it really only been hours since Cronus had gotten shot?
That thought sent a shudder of horror through him. He barely knew the guy, but Cronus was his boyfriend's brother. He couldn't even imagine how Eridan would have reacted if Cronus had been seriously hurt. Eridan breaking down last night had freaked him out a little, but that had been an expression of relief. What would despair have been?
He threw off his covers, climbed out of bed, and quickly yanked the sheets back into place. He'd never been one for making his bed before, but Eridan was and he supposed it had rubbed off on him.
He wondered about what had happened last night after they left. How much longer had they all stayed out? He did hope they'd had fun, but he found it difficult to imagine they had a lot. After Damara had left, the whole evening had kind of been ruined, so after finding out it was Cronus who had gotten shot, he had to think no one else had really felt like staying out.
hey ii2 your brother okay
He put his phone away and went to take a shower since he hadn't gotten the chance the day before.
Eridan hadn't answered by the time he got out, so Sollux figured he had decided to stay home for the day and probably not answer his phone. He eyeballed his bee costume before sighing and hanging it up in the back of his closet. Three hundred and sixty-four days would be enough time for him to lose it again, he was sure. Maybe this time it would stay lost. Aradia was right—he couldn't be a bee again. It was time to find something else.
He double-checked that he had everything he needed for school, briefly considered some of the leftovers in his fridge for breakfast but ultimately deciding against it, and headed out the door. He sincerely hoped this would be a relatively drama-free day.
Rose arrived at school and went straight for the cafeteria building to locate Kanaya. She expected her girlfriend would be in there somewhere, presumably talking to Aradia, but Kanaya still hadn't replied to Rose's text message, so she couldn't know for sure. She reminded herself that yes, she had fucked up, but it had been relatively minor, right? It wasn't like she'd dropped a baby or called her a bitch (mostly because she could come up with far more creative insults than bitch) or something like that, but she sensed that Kanaya would still be upset with her.
Considering the silent treatment Kanaya was giving her, she was probably really upset.
Just as she thought, there was Kanaya at a table with Aradia who, for the first time in the past week or so, sat apart from Equius and Nepeta. Rose couldn't see Kanaya's face since she had her back to the door, but Aradia noticed her and glanced over briefly before returning her attention right back to Kanaya.
Shit. That one flicker of a look on Aradia's face spelled Rose's doom and she knew it. Kanaya was definitely not in a forgiving sort of mood this morning. I'll come back later, Rose told herself, and quickly retreated to the campus coffee shop. If Roxy wasn't at home, she would definitely be at work.
"Hi, Rose!" Roxy said happily, waving at her sister as she walked in. She was most likely tipsy right now, which Rose had expected but still found frustrating. Sometimes, she wished her sister could be at least somewhat normal and mostly sober.
"Hey," she said. She set her backpack down at the first unoccupied table she saw and went to the counter. "The usual."
"Everything okay?" Roxy asked.
Rose blinked. "Yeah, everything's... okay, no, but... How could you tell?"
"You seem down. Plus your g-friend left in a huff last night so I figured you two had a fight or something." Roxy shrugged as she scribbled down Rose's order on a venti cup and slid it to Jane.
"When did she leave?"
"Like eight-fifteen or something. Yeah, she seemed pretty upset. What happened?"
Rose groaned, letting her head fall to the counter with a dull thunk. "We were supposed to go trick-or-treating with some friends, but I wanted to take a nap before we left and I guess I overslept or something... Like I think she tried to wake me up around six but I insisted on being left alone, so... Here I am, in the proverbial doghouse."
Roxy patted her head. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Did you talk to her this morning?"
Rose grimaced, finally looking back up. "I sent her a text message that she didn't answer and I saw her in the cafeteria but she was talking to one of her friends and Aradia looked like they were talking shit. I'm presuming I was the topic of discussion so I don't think Kanaya is in a very understanding state of mind."
"Aw, I'm sorry. Give her some time to cool off. She's probably disappointed, but she'll get over it."
"I just don't get it. I mean, I'm supposed to be able to understand girls, right? I am a girl. Shouldn't this be easy?"
Behind the glass half-wall, Jane snorted with laughter. "Relationships aren't easy—come on."
"Hey," Roxy said soothingly. "Newsflash, little sister—not all girls are the same. Just because you'd forgive her in a heartbeat over this doesn't mean she would."
Rose sighed. "I guess you're right. I just... I don't know, I hoped that she would be a little more forgiving."
Roxy resumed patting her head. "Just give her some time. And if she doesn't come around, well, that's going to be up to you. You have to decide if waiting for her to forgive you is worth it. How much do you like her?"
"A lot," Rose admitted.
"So you'd be willing to put up with a lot?"
"Of course."
"And just because she's mad at you doesn't mean she doesn't like you, okay?"
"Okay."
"Order up," Jane said. She slid Rose's drink across the counter.
"Five-fifteen, dearie," Roxy said.
Rose handed over a ten, pocketed the change, and grabbed her drink, turning around. That was when she caught sight of an exhausted-looking Eridan Ampora sitting in the corner and nursing a venti-sized something. What the Hell is this? It looked like he'd had a rough night himself. She wondered whether or not he'd be open to her joining him before deciding against it. All she really felt like doing was hiding and not talking to anyone right now.
Eridan stared at his computer screen without really seeing it. He sought the motivation to finish this homework, but it wasn't coming to him.
He could have gone to the cafeteria and hung out with Fef or Sol, but he didn't really feel like being around anyone right now. He felt too emotionally raw to hang out with anyone—even Rose, he noticed, who looked a little upset as she sat down at an otherwise-empty table. Actually, now that he thought about it, he wondered where she'd been the night before. He thought he'd heard that she and Kanaya were supposed to join their merry band of wandering sugar-seekers, but they'd never shown up. Maybe they'd made other plans.
But Rose didn't look happy. Maybe something bad had happened the night before. Maybe that was why she and Kanaya had never arrived.
He took a swig of his coffee and peered at her, interested in spite of himself. She'd just gotten finished talking to Roxy and Jane—he'd seen them talking—so whatever it was probably wasn't too bad. But Kanaya was nowhere to be seen and she and Rose had been nearly inseparable since he'd met them.
Shit. Maybe they'd broken up. Taking in the dejected way she was drinking her coffee and the sympathetic looks Roxy was shooting her—they could be related, he realized, they looked so similar—that was probably it. He wondered what happened with them and if maybe he should say something to her.
But, no, that was probably a mistake. If she wanted him to talk to her, she would have said something. So he sat there and tried not to fret over basically everything.
That was what last night had done to him—now he couldn't stop worrying. Cronus getting shot had come out of nowhere, and now he was convinced he was going to get blindsided by something like that again. What if he got into an accident tonight? What if his parents' plane went down? What if Fef drowned? (He knew that one was next to impossible since she'd been swimming for twenty years now.) What if Sol got electrocuted or hit by a bus or died in a freak elevator accident?
He needed to stop. He needed to find something else to focus on—he was worrying way too much. Fortunately, it was almost time for his class, so he finished off his coffee, packed up his bag, and headed out.
"You don't look so happy," Aradia said.
"If you'd had the evening I did, you wouldn't be smiling, either," Kanaya grumbled.
Aradia raised an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure about that. There was a pretty eventful night last night as it was."
"What happened to you?"
"You first."
They exchanged looks for a moment before Kanaya let out a sigh. "Alright. Well, you remember that Rose and I were supposed to accompany your group for the festivities last night, correct?"
"Of course."
"And that we didn't."
"Mmhmm. I wondered about that."
"Rose fell asleep."
"And?"
"And... well, that was it. That was the reason we weren't able to join you. She decided to take a nap and when I went to wake her up, she was unreceptive to the idea. So I left her house and went home."
"I'm sorry," Aradia said softly. She ran her fingers through Kanaya's hair for a moment.
"And last night was also Vriska's birthday, so I ended up at home thinking about that all night. We were together on her birthday last year, so..." Kanaya sighed. "I was hoping this year would have better memories, but apparently that wasn't to be."
"Well, she didn't know what happened last year, did she? Rose, I mean," Aradia added. "She didn't realize how important last night was supposed to be for you."
"Should I have to tell her something like that? Shouldn't she just want to make something like Halloween special?"
Aradia almost laughed, but she restrained herself. "It's been a trying few weeks for all of us. I'm not surprised she wanted to take a nap. Besides, how easily woken are you when you've slept long enough?"
"Not very," Kanaya admitted grudgingly.
"Exactly. If you don't tell her it's important, how is she supposed to know? I know she might seem like a mind-reader sometimes, but she's not."
Kanaya rested her forehead against the table and let out another sigh. "But I thought she wanted to spend time with me."
"Oh, dear, just because she fell asleep doesn't mean she didn't want to spend time with you."
"You're not helping."
"I won't be helping by lying to you, either. I'm not going to make you more mad at her for something that's not her fault. Nor will I make you feel bad about something that's not your fault, either," Aradia added, running her fingers through Kanaya's hair again. "It was just miscommunication, right? Nothing wrong with that. And I understand you're disappointed in her and you have every right to be, but... Well, have you tried to talk to her?"
"She sent me a text message this morning."
"And?"
"And I didn't answer."
"Oh, dear. What do you want from her? It's not like you can go back in time and fix things."
"An apology."
"Then you need to give her a chance to apologize, okay?"
"Okay." Kanaya sighed, keeping her head down.
Aradia saw movement out of the corner of her eye and focused right on it. There was Rose standing there, looking nervous, clutching the strap of her backpack. She tried to beam a mental message to Rose—Not now, it's not a good time—and Rose seemed to get it because she turned around and left the way she came in.
"So what happened with you all last night? Something as bad as Rose and me?"
"Um. Not exactly."
"What was it?"
"Eridan's brother got shot."
Kanaya immediately straightened up. "What?"
"Yeah. Covering for a shift that should have been Damara's. Cronus is okay and everything, we found out—I guess the bullet just scraped the side of his head or something—but we were all really worried about him for awhile. Eridan and Sollux went to the hospital to see him. From what Sollux tells me, he's home now."
"Wow. If something happened to Porrim..."
"I know. And it could have—should have—been Damara. That's the scariest thing to me. And Eridan nearly lost his brother. Everything is fine and all, which is great, but still."
Kanaya nodded solemnly. "I suppose it kind of puts everything into perspective, doesn't it?"
"It does. So maybe you should talk to Rose and get this taken care of. I know she didn't mean to upset you, Kan, so if you give her a chance, I'm sure she'll apologize. She probably feels horrible."
Kanaya nodded again, resting her elbows on the table. "I suppose you're right. I wouldn't want to do to her what Vriska did to me, after all."
"Exactly." Aradia threw her arm around Kanaya and gave her a side-hug, placing a quick kiss on the side of her head. "Everything will be alright. Just give it a chance."
Erebody on the site gettin' tipsy.
In which I say things about relationships. (Also the girl I have a massive crush on just broke up with her girlfriend but she lives three time zones away so I'm just sitting here like WWEHHHHHHH.)
