[Complimentary Black: Chapter III]
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arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]
AG: Heya, fishface!
CA: wwhat the glub do you wwant
AG: Still insisting on 8eing cranky with me, huh? 8ooooooooing!
AG: You know, you don’t have to always 8e such a party pooper just 8ecause I don’t want to 8e your dum8 caliginous affair!
AG: This is why you’re such a drag. You don’t have the firey passion that it takes to 8e a decent h8m8. You just get all moody and som8er and introverted. Unlike me, who has enough 8lack tar fire in my soul to heat all the irons in this universe and the next!
AG: So many irons.
AG: 8ut you’re too down in the dumps to even listen to what I have to say.
AG: May8e I’m getting in touch with you to give you great news!
AG: MAY8E I want to tell you that I changed my mind a8out 8eing your kismesis…
AG: M8Y8E I’m telling you that I want to 8e eternally yours! Like eternally eternally! Like, at least 8 sweeps.
AG: The universe will trem8le like a small infant hoof8east in the 8lackest shadow of our 8lackest h8d8 lit 8y the 8lackest candlea8ra holding a delicately scented vanilla candle.
AG: Vaaaaaaaanillaaaaaaaa!
CA: wwoah wwait
CA: are you bein serious
AG: HAHA, NOPE!!!!!!!!
AG: What a riot! You’re soooooooo easy to 8am8oozle, fishface!
CA: im leavin
AG: Aw, don’t do that. Jeez, you’re such a 8ORE!
AG: You still won’t even listen to what I have to s8y.
AG: It was SUPER8LY important, too!
CA: alright
CA: wwhat is it
AG: So……..
AG: While I was just sitting around, minding my own 8usiness, tending all the irons in my fire, of course…
AG: I heard some talk around this stinking hunk of meteor!
AG: Some m8y even call it GOSSIP.
CA: wwhat the glub are you talkin about
CA: youre actin wweird vvris
AG: You coy devil, you. :::;)
AG: What’s this I he8r a8out Mr. Orphaner Dualscar and the nerdy yellow gutter8lood?
CA: wwhat
CA: oh cod wwho told you
CA: howw did you knoww
AG: It’s pretty o8vious, fishf8ce.
AG: You wax 8lack for him almost as intensely as you did for me.
AG: Even though he’s just a stupid dum8 gutter8lood that pro8a8ly doesn’t ev8n h8ve 8ny of the cool doomsd8y devices that I h8ve.
AG: And he most cert8nly doesn’t h8ve as m8ny irons in his fire as I do!
AG: SO.
AG: M8NY.
AG: IRONS!!!!!!!!
CA: yes vvris your irons an your fire are both equally marvvelous
CA: i am completely painfully awware a this fact
CA: but it doesn’t matter anywway
AG: I don’t know, 8ridan……..
AG: The others h8ve 8een talking.
AG: Th8y’ve 8een talking a8out he8ring you two fighting all the time.
AG: All 8y yourselves!
AG: Sounds like it gets really he8ted. Pretty sc8ndalous, if you ask me! :::;)
CA: wwell vvris its a good thing no one did then
CA: wwhy do you care anywway
AG: H8y, 8ELIEVE me, I don’t!
AG: I couldn’t c8re l8ss!
AG: I just th8nk 8t’s WE8RD, is 8ll!
AG: Why would I 8e 8oth8red?
AG: 8t’s none of my 8usin8ss 8f you want to move on!
AG: To a g8tter8looded n8rd, no l8ss!
AG: 8ut I just th8nk 8t’s m8ghty f8shy 8s 8ll.
AG: L8KE 8T’S SOME 8NNOY8NG PLOY TO M8KE M8 JE8LOUS OR SOMETH8NG. ::::/
CA: wwoww vvris maybe back down off the 8 key it might file charges
AG: >::::(
CA: wwhat’s your fuckin problem
CA: i told you none a this matters anywway
CA: sol turned dowwn my ass just like you did
CA: like a really long time ago
CA: i mean the guy hates me still
CA: just not enough
AG: Oh.
AG: Really?
CA: uh yeah
AG: …Hahahahahahahaha!
AG: You poor sap!
AG: I can’t 8elieve you got turned down 8y a gutter8lood!
AG: You know I thought this was all some nefarious plot to make me jealous enough to come running 8ack to you.
AG: And I was thinking that it was just dastardly and underhanded enough to work!
AG: 8ut it turns out you really are too pathetic to 8e a suita8le h8m8. I should have trusted my gut instincts.
AG: Haha, what a luckless loser!
CA: wwoww
CA: okay my feelins have been sufficiently stirred around trampled on an shat upon at this point
CA: so im
CA: gonna go
CA: bye vvris
caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
AG: Hm.
----
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AG: Hey, nerd!
AG: I wanted to talk to you a8out a very important matter.
AG: There’s 8een some horrendously suspicious 8ehavior going on, and I wanted to dou8le-check with you 8efore I allow this particular iron to a8scond from the fire.
TA: ugh.
TA: what do you want?
TA: ii already have a headache.
AG: This’ll 8e quick!
AG: 8ut it’s a8out you and Eridan.
AG: I just finished talking to him a8out it all, 8ut it left me feeling pretty fucking exacer88ed! You know that pathetic fishy 8astard, though.
AG: So tell me this:
TA: no.
AG: Uh
AG: Wh8t?
AG: I didn’t ev8n finish!
AG: ::::/
TA: no.
TA: no.
TA: NO.
TA: JU2T NO.
AG: Hey, w8, what’s your fucking pro8lem all of a sudden?
TA: ii don’t want to fuckiing talk about eriidan.
TA: no.
TA: not now, not evver.
TA: oh cod ii mean ever
TA: ii mean oh god.
TA: waiit no ii
TA: fuck.
TA: FUCK.
TA: NEVERMIIND.
TA: WHY THE FUCK AM II EVEN 2TIILL TALKIING TWO YOU
twinArmageddons [TA] blocked aracnidsGrip [AG]
----
grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]
CA: hi kan howw’s it goin
GA: Hello Eridan
GA: I Just Wanted To Inform You That I Was Just Contacted By Vriska
GA: She Notified Me In A Nigh Indecipherable Flurry Of Viciously Accented 8s That She Plans On Finding You
GA: And Punching You Square In The Snout
GA: And Then Doing Similar To Your Computer
CA: wwhat the fuck
GA: She Couldnt Be Stopped
GA: Nor Did I Think It Wise To Attempt To Contain Her In Fear Of What She Could Perform Alternatively In An Attempt To Sate Her Spectacular Rage
GA: I Just Wanted To Give You Fair Warning
CA: oh cod shes here already kan help
GA: It Seems Im A Day Late And A Boonbuck Short
GA: I Apologize For My Failure As A Moirail And Possible Auspistice
GA: I Wish To Make Up For This Grievous Behavioral Malfunction
GA: I Shall Organize A Parade For The Purposes Of Your Remembrance
GA: Perhaps Erect A Large Statue In Your Honor
GA: I Am Short In The Ways Of Supplies But I Will Try My Hardest To Make Due For Your Sake
GA: …Eridan Be Honest With Me Am I Developing Some Sort Of Psychological Disease With This Sarcasm
GA: An Intervention May Be In Order
caligulasAquarium [CA]’s computer was punched square in the snout
GA: Oh
----
Eridan sniffed pitifully, holding a towel to his nose in an effort to staunch the flow of blood coming from it, grimacing as he pressed a little too hard on the tender, bruising bridge. Equius had graciously let Eridan borrow the towel from him after Eridan had belligerently screeched at him to do so, the blueblood being the closest troll to him after Vriska had punched him.
Eridan could only pray to all the gods in this universe and the next that it was a fresh towel.
At that moment, Eridan couldn’t really care anyway. It just hurt too much for him to do anything. He didn’t think Vriska had broken his nose, but his pride and spirits were another thing. As it was, he had been especially cranky since they had be transported to the Veil, and an unprompted punch in the face just made things worse. After Vriska had left and Eridan had finagled Equius out of a towel, he quickly retreated to his own quarters to nurse at his wounds, and to wonder what the everloving fuck had just happened.
Eridan sniffed again, pouting to himself. He didn’t deserve this. He had to admit, he did deserve some of the bad things that happened to him once in a while; but this was not one of them. He was just sitting there, glubbing around and minding his own business, when Vriska had just walked up to him and popped him in the face unceremoniously. In. The. Face. He was lucky his precious glasses hadn’t been broken. No, she was lucky. He was going to punish her for such improper behavior, wasn’t he? Yeah. Maybe later though. When his face didn’t hurt so bad. He just couldn’t believe that bitch had hit him without having the decency to hate snog him afterwards.
As he thought about what could have possibly prompted such an attack, he suddenly began to raise up his lip in a snarl. He soon found that this movement strained his injury, and he dropped it with shrill whine. But he was still extremely angry, you just had to trust him.
He tried to make the angriest pout he could as he remembered what Vriska had been babbling before she punched him in the face. Something along the lines of “I don’t know, DUALSCAR, doncha think Sollux’s actin’ kinda FIIIIIIIISHYYYYYYYY?”
Eridan didn’t know exactly what that meant, and he really didn’t have the energy to think about it for too long, so he immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was all Sollux’s fault.
It had been quite a few weeks since Eridan had confessed to Sollux about his caliginous intents, and since the lowblood had apologized for turning him down so roughly. However, Eridan was far too stubborn to let Sollux off the hook that easily, nor did he have the motivation to stop harassing the psionic. He couldn’t let Sollux out of his sights just yet. Whether this was because Eridan was still waxing hardcore black for him or because of how close Sollux had gotten to Feferi was uncertain. Probably both. But honestly Eridan had been feeling way too many many feelings lately, and scarcely knew how to handle any of them. Eridan didn’t even know what the glub he was thinking these days. He was beginning to imagine whatever section of his think pan responsible for working through these emotions had simply shut down from frantic over-usage.
But regardless, he had been quick to pick a fight with Sollux over the last few weeks. Sollux chose to ignore it at first, as Eridan had unfortunately expected. And he hated being ignored. So he continued to pester Sollux, more frequently, and about more nonsensical things. He harassed Sollux day in and day out until he was purple in the face, and just when he felt like he couldn’t keep it up anymore, when he felt like just quitting and leaving to go weep over his wand pile by himself forever-
Sollux fought back. Well, that sounds a bit dramatic. But that’s what it felt like to Eridan the first time Sollux had finally shot back at one of the seadweller’s complaints with a snippy comment of his own. Eridan had retreated to his wing to lay down for the remainder of the day.
After that, Sollux had seemed to lose his patience, and things gradually became more heated as time went on. He felt pathetic for thinking it, but in a weird way Eridan was grateful for it. Even if Sollux didn’t hate him a romantic way, it was strangely invigorating having someone to argue with, someone you wanted to spend every waking minute trying to prove wrong, humiliate, degrade, show up, etcetera. Eridan guessed that that must be what black romance was in the end. It was still pretty confusing for young trolls like them, but when it came right down to it Sollux ironically was the only thing Eridan was still waking up for in the mornings. Feferi had run off, no one else wanted to bother with him, he had no quadrants filled; his life, presently, was just overall a hot mess.
At this point, the only thing Eridan could count on was that he hated Sollux Captor. And that Sollux, romantically or otherwise, hated him back. That’s why Eridan felt a sense of satisfaction when the yellowblood argued with him.
And it was also why it hit him all the harder when Sollux began ignoring him again. It had happened just a few days before. After a long while of steady rivalry, Sollux suddenly went back to paying little heed to Eridan. He barely looked up at him when they were in the same room, he wouldn’t answer if Eridan started talking to him, he stopped answering the seadweller’s challenges on Trollian; it was like he never even existed.
Eridan had been mopey enough dealing with this fact as it was, but this mishap today was just going too far. Sollux must have egged Vriska on to do this. He must have.
Figures. Dirtscrapin’ piece a’ trash don’t even care enough to beat the crap out of me himself. Eridan bit his lip at the thought, and brought the towel away from his face to wring it anxiously in his hands.
No. No, no, no. This was the last straw. Eridan couldn’t handle this wacky roller coaster a’ emotions much longer. He shouldn’t have to. He was royalty, for fuck’s sake! A glubbin’ prince! It was ridiculous that the gutterblood had even put him through this for so long already. No, Eridan finally had to put his foot down.
He stood up then, definitively, dropping the towel and leaving it on the ground behind him. He made sure he had his wand on him before huffing to the transportalizer that led to the main hall. He then proceeded to the transportalizer that led to Sollux’s chambers, figuring that even if Sollux wasn’t there he could have a little fun and mess with the lowblood’s stuff. He didn’t hesitate to step onto the pad, and almost instantly materialized into Sollux’s room. He appeared with a hand on his hip and an indignant pout, looking like he owned the place, and just stood there for a minute if he were the opening act to some grand production. He slumped over in disappointment after a few moments of stillness, realizing that Sollux wasn’t there.
He stepped off the pad with a huff, wondering how Sollux could have the gall not to be there when Eridan was ready to dramatically confront him. In order to keep from moping, he busied himself with looking around the room he had appeared him. It was a horrendously plain little space, as Eridan expected from a bore like Sollux (although in reality Eridan had not done much with his quarters either). He noted, however, that Sollux was keeping multiple spare computers and parts here, perhaps extra things that he had found around the building. Pieces of hardware were hastily stacked atop one another and seemingly unorganized. Some of the computers looked to be in decent working condition, but most were completely broken down, tipped carelessly on their side, or even hollowed out and harvested of any useful parts. Eridan regarded these objects with disgust, finding Sollux’s hobby to be distasteful, but it was an odd feeling, something familiar and therefore… comfortable. The face he made was some hellish concoction of a sneer and a grimace, a smirk that just felt stupid, and he reserved himself to a simple frown after he realized he was doing it.
Eridan walked over to one of the computers that looked barely operable and studied it carefully, dragging a finger across the top of it and scowling at the dust it picked up. He supposed he could delve deeper into Sollux’s chambers and actually look for the psionic. If he wasn’t there, then he would scour the entire meteor, make sure every nook and cranny was 100% Captor-free before moving forward, would even risk going into Feferi’s chambers, despite how likely it was to be a cacophonous cesspool of thick, sticky, adolescent sexual tension if Sollux did end up being in there.
Or he could stay here for a while and try to make this computer explode.
Eridan ran his tongue over his top lip concentration as he tried to dig the wand out of his pants pocket. He pulled it out and aimed it at the computer mercilessly, smirking to himself.
Sollux thought he was so cool with his stupid hacker schtick and all his shitty computers. Well, he won’t be so cool when his computer gets blown up right in its piece a’ crap face. Wait until you get a taste of what Eridan Coddamn Ampora can dish out, you stupid technological marvel oh fuck why was his wand glowing blue and red.
Before Eridan could even think about what was happening, an eerie aura enveloped his wand and the object was promptly yanked from his hand by an unseen force. He made a sound of protest as the wand flew behind him, and he whipped his head around to see Sollux standing a few feet away. The wand had stopped in midair to float beside the psionic’s head, but Sollux didn’t acknowledge it as he kept a steady glare locked onto Eridan.
Sollux spoke slowly and deliberately, in a low rasp that kind of sent a shiver down Eridan’s spine. “Who. The fuck. Thaid you could come in here?”
For a split second Eridan actually had the sense to be wary of Sollux’s tone, almost fearful. But he quickly gathered up his ego and unfounded courage as he scowled. “Give it back.” He replied just as venomously, puffing out his chest and trying to sound dignified. It was at times like this he tried to drop the odd, annoying drawl he had to his accent. He hated the way he talked and could control it if he really tried, but the only time he couldn’t hold it back was when he was really upset. Unfortunately, Eridan was upset most of the time, about a lot of things. But right now, he was just in control enough to pull it off. “And I don’t need a fucking mustardblood’s permission to go wherever the glub I want.”
Sollux simply looked at him like he was exhausted, not at all impressed by the seadweller’s improved diction. “Firtht of all: no.” With a light flick of his wrist, he suddenly launched the wand by his head into a dark corner of the room, the red-blue glow dissipating as the object whistled helplessly through the air and out of sight. Sollux kept his eyes on Eridan the entire time, barely even acknowledging his actions before speaking again. “Thecond of all: no. Get out.”
Eridan’s eyes widened as he tried to launch himself towards the direction where Sollux had sent his wand. “No! Give it back!” He whined pitifully.
Sollux literally shrunk back when Eridan moved, and before the seadweller knew what was happening he was enveloped by the same colorful, eerie aura that had entrapped his wand, and was pushed back and lifted off the ground a few inches.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Sollux shouted angrily, keeping a good distance between himself and Eridan.
Eridan bristled in anger, baring his teeth in a snarl. “I wasn’t fuckin’ tryin’ to, you grubfistin’ piece a’ shit!” His true accent was now back in full force, but he didn’t even care. “You know it’s really fuckin’ rude to treat someone else’s piece a’ property like that, but I wouldn’t expect any better a’ a stupid glubbin’ mustardblood like you! An’… an’… it’s glubbin’ mine an’ I want it back!” To his dismay his snarl devolved into a furious pout, and his voice rose in pitch to a whine. “So… so… Gimme!”
“You were about to blow up my fucking computer!” Sollux replied, a look of indignant disbelief on his face.
“Gimmeeeeeee!”
“No. Fuck you,” Sollux said curtly, though lowered Eridan to the ground and loosened his hold on the purple-blood. “Why the hell did you even come in here anyway?”
Eridan blinked, suddenly remembering himself, and merely pointed at his face expectantly, knowing the large bruise and crusted blood around his nose would be easily noticed.
Sollux stared at him in confusion. “…What?”
Eridan pouted and tried pointing harder.
“…What am I thuppothed to be looking at here?”
“Are you fuckin’ blind?”
“Thtop acting like a retard and tell me what you want me to thee.”
“My nose, you dirtscapin’ fuck monger! It’s glubbin’ obvious.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, fuckin’ ‘oh’.”
Sollux let a smirk cross his face suddenly. “I jutht thought you hadn’t put on your makeup yet.”
“Ha. Fuckin’. Ha. Tholluckth.” Eridan mocked, absolutely not amused. He continued indignantly: “Do you know who did this?”
Sollux rolled his eyes. “Who, Eridan? Who did thith?”
“Vriska.” Eridan waited to see a glimpse of recognition fall across Sollux’s face, or a glimpse of guilt, triumph, cockiness, anything.
But Sollux only blinked blankly at the seadweller. “Good for her?”
Eridan clenched his fists at his sides, his frustration coming up and feeling heavy behind his eyes. Don’t fucking cry, coddammit, don’t give the nooksniffer the satisfaction. “You fuckin’ put her up to this, didn’t you?”
Sollux scoffed in surprise. “Where the fuck did that come from? I didn’t tell Vrithka to do anything. Why would you-”
“She was fuckin’ talkin’ about you, asshole!” Eridan interrupted, scowling. “Why the hell else would she mention you if you didn’t have anythin’ to do with it?”
Sollux raised his eyebrows, looking honestly confused and vindicated, and the sight was enough to make Eridan’s blood boil. “Thhit, Eridan, calm down. I didn’t tell to Vrithka to do anything. Even if I did want to thee your fathe punched in, I wouldn’t glubbing thhirk the duty off on thomeone else. I’m not a coward like you. I haven’t even talked to Vrithka-” The psionic’s hold on Eridan was released completely as Sollux suddenly cut himself off, and a look of horrified recognition briefly crossed his face. It disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced, only shown itself for merely a fraction of a second. But a fraction of a second was all Eridan needed.
The purple-blood’s brow furrowed in rage, and the weight behind his eyes grew heavier. “You. Fuckin’. Bastard.” Eridan growled, spitting out the last word like it was too bitter to hold onto any longer.
One thing Eridan could say about Sollux Captor was that the troll kept a good poker face. “What?” He pretended to still be in disbelief, still uninterested, pretended that Eridan couldn’t possibly have seen that stupid-ass, guilt-ridden look on his face.
“I fuckin’ knew it,” Eridan spat lowly. He hoped the words weren’t undercut by his disbelieving tone, a tone that gave away how much he had been hopefully denying the fact to be true.
Sollux glared back him, but Eridan could see his façade wavering as he spoke. “No, you don’t know thhit. I told you I didn’t tell Vrithka to do anything.”
“Shut up.” Eridan realized now that he was out of Sollux’s control, that he could try to attack him, or go for his wand. Sollux might be too distracted with being a lying asshole to stop him in time. But Eridan couldn’t move, could only stand there paralyzed with anger.
Sollux was becoming wary, noticing a change in Eridan but not exactly knowing what it was. He almost looked sheepish as he continued, “Look… Eridan. What Vrithka doeth ithn’t my fucking problem. I don’t control her, and I don’t even want to. Tho why would I-”
“I FUCKIN’ TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP.” Eridan himself was almost surprised at the level of his own voice, and he saw Sollux completely freeze as soon he had spoken up. “I. AM. FUCKING. SICK. OF YOUR SHIT.”
Sollux remained silent, standing there stupidly with his eyes wide, and Eridan could feel tears welling up at the corners of his. Desperately trying to keep them in, he gritted his teeth and lowered his voice slightly, though the venom was still dangerously evident. “What is your fuckin’ problem?”
At this, Sollux seemed to shake away his stupor, and the anger returned to his face. “My problem?” He repeated incredulously, and Eridan could see his eyes beginning to spark. “How about what’th your problem?”
Eridan blinked at him in disbelief, floored that he could even ask that. “You fuckin’ are, you asshole!”
“Well, I don’t-”
“No. I’m fuckin’ serious, you do not get to glubbin’ talk right now,” Eridan interrupted quickly. Every instinct screamed at him to charge at Sollux, to hurt him as bad as he was hurting right now, but Eridan could not bring himself to move. He could only stand there, shaking in rage, letting the words pour out. “It’s all your fuckin’ fault. It’s your fault I’m fuckin’ miserable right now. First you gotta take Fef away from me like a huge fuckin’ douchewad, an’ she couldn’t even stand bein’ my moirail, an’ she said we can just be friends but she hardly even talks to me anymore ‘cause… ‘cause…” Eridan’s voice trailed off as his voice cracked, but he couldn’t stop now. “’Cause she’s too glubbin’ busy talkin’ to you.
“An- an’ then I genuinely feel somethin’ black towards you, an’ you just fuckin’ laugh at me, but then you have to apologize like a fuckin’ asshole…. An’ you don’t feel the same, so I just gotta keep buggin’ you but you ignore me like everyone fuckin’ else-” Eridan cut himself off suddenly as he felt a single tear spill over and quickly went to wipe it away, but he almost didn’t care anymore, didn’t care that he looked like a pitiful blubbering mess. “An’ you fuckin’ ignore me, ‘cause everyone fuckin’ ignores me. But- but- but then you started arguin’ with me. An’… an’… it’s fuckin’ stupid, and I fuckin’ hate you, but maybe it felt fuckin’ okay, knowin’ that there was ONE FUCKIN’ TROLL on this entire fuckin’ rock who wouldn’t fuckin’ ignore me if I tried talkin’ to you.” To his dismay, a weak sob escaped his throat, and more tears fell. He lamely wiped at his face with his sleeve, his words becoming more choked and indecipherable as he went on. “An’- an’, I was startin’ to feel okay about everythin’, I really was, Sol. An’ then all a’ a sudden you- you just fuckin’ ignore me again. Like everyone fuckin’ else, an’- An’ then you wanna kick me when I’m down, an’… you don’ even have th’ fuckin’ courtesy to do it on your own time.”
The entire time Sollux was just watching Eridan carefully, his expression unreadable through the seadweller’s tears, and even as his babbling quietly tapered off Sollux stood silent for a little while longer to make sure he was done. When it was quiet for a few moments, save for Eridan’s soft whimpers and shuddering breaths, only then did Sollux react.
“You make me thsick, you know that?” The unabashed bitterness to the psionic’s voice made Eridan shudder, and he couldn’t even pinpoint the feeling he was shuddering with. “Theriouthly. You’ve got thome fucking problemth. You think I’m ruining your life? How about thith? Thtop blaming other people for being a fucked-up methh. Why don’t you jutht fucking let go of Feferi, by the way. Thhe didn’t dump you becauthe of me. Thhe dumped you becauthe you’re jutht a high-thtrung fucking blubbering methh.” A small smirk fell across his lips, and Eridan swore it felt like his next words were literally stabbing him through the heart. “Thhe wath jutht lucky enough to have a real troll thtand up to take your plathe.”
At that point, Eridan stopped crying. He felt his tears dry up, his self-pity disappear, his grief pass, and his loneliness momentarily crumble.
The only thing he could feel now was rage.
He finally found it in himself to move his legs, and he immediately stormed towards the lowblood. “YOU FUCKIN’ PIECE A’ SHIT!” He screeched. Sollux obviously was caught off-guard by the sudden moment, because he didn’t even make a move to stop him, and before he could gather himself Eridan was already there, grabbing fistfuls of the psionic’s shirt in his hands.
If Eridan hadn’t been so concentrated on his anger, he may have noticed how odd it was that Sollux did nothing to defend himself against the seadweller’s grip, only began shrinking backwards wildly while panic took over his features. “I thaid don’t fucking touch me, athhhole!”
Eridan didn’t listen, and he followed Sollux’s backward retreat until he almost had him up against the wall, and he started screaming in his face. “You know what?! FINE! Fine, you can fuckin’ have Fef, an’ you both can fuckin’ be a couple a’ fuckin’ grubfistin’ welps the rest a’ your fuckin’ life! SEE IF I FUCKIN’ CARE. I hope you an’… an’… that fuckin’ WHORE are real fuckin’ happy together-”
Eridan was too livid to process what was happening as Sollux suddenly cocked his right arm back, his hand balled into a fist. So he didn’t react as Sollux punched him in the side of his face, his fist clipping Eridan’s left cheek. Eridan was aware that the hit was powerful enough that his glasses had flown off, and heard them clatter to the floor and slide against the metal. But the pain only set in once Eridan had fallen back against the floor in shock, and suddenly he was staring up and Sollux’s enraged face and coddammit his face fucking hurt.
“No.” Sollux snapped, the electricity in his eyes sparking dangerously behind his glasses. He reached down and grabbed Eridan’s scarf with one hand, pulling upwards on it and making Eridan choke slightly as he scrambled to stand up to get his breath back. Once he was up, Sollux quickly grabbed onto his shirt with both hands and looked him dead in the eye. “You don’t”-he suddenly whipped them both around, so that Eridan was now the one with his back to the wall-“fucking get”-he shoved Eridan hard into the wall, and the seadweller gasped as the unforgiving metal ground into his back and drove all the air out of him-“TO FUCKING CALL HER THAT.” And suddenly, Eridan was cornered, pushed back into the wall by Sollux’s weight alone, and the psionic was right there, screaming in his face, which was now throbbing like all fucking hell.
It all happened so quickly, and Eridan was still in shock as Sollux glowered at him furiously from this position. This close, with his eyes open wide, he could see every twitching muscle in the other troll’s face, twitching in rage and pent-up frustration that was just begging to be let out. Eridan was actually a little scared by it, scared that Sollux would want to punch him again, and again, and again, until he was just a bloody, pulpy mess.
He remained still in tense fear as Sollux snarled at him, not even able to close his eyes to whatever horrible wrath he was about to suffer next. Sollux was pushing hard into the seadweller’s chest, so hard that it was somewhat difficult to breath, and between that and the yellowblood’s rage they were both panting. The heat of Sollux’s breath made Eridan shudder, and once again he was unable to pinpoint the emotion leading to the shudder. Their faces were already close, and Eridan felt hopelessly closed in as Sollux moved even closer, their noses almost touching and his breathing becoming even hotter on the seadweller’s face. Sollux was a little shorter than Eridan, so the purpleblood was looking down while Sollux looked up, matching his glare to Eridan’s wide-eyed stare. Sollux’s breath, so close and so hot, was hitting the bridge of Eridan’s nose squarely, and had been since he was pushed into the wall. But Sollux wavered suddenly, and although Eridan was unable to read the expression on his face from this angle, he felt the psionic’s hot breaths shift positions. He seemed to be looking at the fresh wound he had inflicted to the seadweller’s face, as the hot sensation fell over the newly sensitive area. He then slowly moved his head downward, the hotness leaving a trail on Eridan’s cheek that made him pant even heavier. He finally felt that hot, humid breath coming towards his mouth, felt Sollux hovering there. What was only a few seconds felt like a lifetime, a lifetime of feeling those heated breaths against his lips, his teeth, his tongue. He felt their breaths intermingling, making the air around them almost unbearably hot, and the heat traveled to Eridan’s face in a purple blush. And then the breathing went away, and Eridan’s lips were covered by a new source of heat because suddenly, just like that, Sollux was there.
Sollux was kissing him. Eridan made a noise of surprise when the realization hit him, the sound muffled by Sollux’s mouth. He kept his eyes wide open and raised his hands awkwardly, as if he was going to do something, but…. Eridan knew he was still angry with Sollux. Oh, he was absolutely livid. But as he watched the sight in front of him - Sollux fervently mashing his lips against Eridan’s, his eyes closed but brow still furrowed in irritation; as if the yellowblood was challenging him with his ardor, was just daring Eridan to kiss back - Eridan found himself… redirecting his passion. It was then that Sollux pulled back slightly for moment, only far away and for long enough to bare his teeth in frustration, and he pushed them against Eridan’s lips slightly. He let out a growl, a fucking growl, low in his throat and completely laced with impatience. The sound made Eridan gasp quietly, and he could feel his gills twitching spastically as his entire body went hot.
When Sollux put his lips back on Eridan’s, the seadweller was now more than willing to reciprocate. He closed his eyes, his hands, which were still hovering in the air, flying to take hold of Sollux’s face. The yellowblood’s cheeks felt hot to the touch, and Eridan wondered if he was as flushed as he was. He used his new grip on Sollux’s face to gain some leverage as he pushed back against the kiss, moaning slightly around the lips in his. Sollux still had Eridan pushed up against the wall, pinned at his shoulders, so he had to crane his neck forward to be able to gain any dominance. The psionic moaned back at the challenge, the sound buzzing pleasantly through Eridan’s mouth.
Eridan sucked at Sollux’s bottom lip heatedly, rubbing the other troll’s cheeks with his thumbs and occasionally letting out a small whimper into the kiss. He decided to try opening his mouth a little wider, and as he did so he let his tongue dart out and ran it against Sollux’s lip slowly. Sollux gasped lightly, pulling away a bit as he did so. When the moist hotness left his mouth, Eridan was immediately panting again, already worn out and breathless. He dipped his head only to bump his forehead clumsily against Sollux’s. The impact made him open his eyes half way, and he looked down past the other troll’s blue and red shades to see his eyes still closed. But then, as if he had felt Eridan open his, Sollux’s own bifurcated eyes revealed themselves from behind his lids, and for the first time since he’d met him Eridan realized that he was looking at him straight in the eyes.
They were both panting, and that was the only sound in the room for a moment, until Sollux opened his mouth to try to speak. “Oh-” It seemed as if he couldn’t get his thoughts into diction and the word caught in his throat. He tried again, and quietly breathed, “Oh my god.”
Eridan thought this sounded like a good thing, and he almost went back in for more before he realized that Sollux had suddenly grown stiff, and a look of dread slowly took over his features. “Oh my god.” He repeated. This time the statement sounded less dreamy, and more like Sollux had just seen a rabid pouncebeast take down and casually maul the cutest baby grub he had ever seen.
Eridan was significantly less confident about where this was going now.
Sollux was still holding onto Eridan as he began to back up, taking a step away as he looked at the seadweller in horror. “You- you have to leave,” Sollux sputtered.
Eridan blinked at him in confusion, still feeling too hot and bothered to be able to fully process what was happening. “Wh-what?”
Eridan didn’t even know how Sollux had gotten off him so quickly, but suddenly the psionic had released the death grip he had on Eridan’s shirt and all but leapt at least five feet away from him, and was still backing up in a panic. “You have to leave,” Sollux repeated. His eyes started sparking then, and he began looking around the room frantically. His eyes fell upon Eridan’s glasses, laying almost forgotten on the metal floor, and something distant, Eridan’s wand, in the corner. Suddenly, both objects were levitating in a red-blue aura and were thrown haphazardly towards Eridan in a rush. As the seadweller tried to catch his things, his glasses whacking him on the side of the head and his wand nearly stabbing him in the shoulder, Sollux continued speaking. “You have to leave,” he repeated, his words nearly becoming an urgent chant. “You have to leave, you have to leave, oh my god, oh my GOD, YOU HAVE TO FUCKING LEAVE.”
Eridan now held onto his things awkwardly, not even able to put on his glasses with how utterly dumbstruck he was. “S-sol, what are you- Why did-”
Eridan noticed the psionic’s eyes glowing and sparking violently a little too late. The other troll proceeded to flip his fucking shit. “GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT.” As Sollux screamed at him, Eridan suddenly felt himself being pushed roughly towards the transportalizer pad by an angry, invisible force, and he couldn’t even think to protest before the red and blue force had forced him all the way to his exit. He fell on his knees on the pad, having just enough time to look back up towards Sollux, who already had his back turned towards him and was retreating farther back into his chambers.
And then he was gone.
Eridan realized he was in the hall about two minutes after he had actually materialized there. Even after he figured out where he was and that someone could simply walk in and see him there in shambles on the ground, he simply sat outside of Sollux’s transportalizer for a while to wonder what the everloving fuck had just happened.
Eventually, the very least Eridan could do was take his glasses and shove them back on his own face in frustration. It was then that he remembered the hard way that he had been punched in the face twice that day, and that being punched in the face twice really fucking hurts, especially when you shove your glasses back on in an angry manner. But he was a strong, dignified troll, and he resolved to not overreact to the situation any more than necessary.
And that was why Eridan went straight to his chambers and cried for only twenty minutes.
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arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]
AG: Heya, fishface!
CA: wwhat the glub do you wwant
AG: Still insisting on 8eing cranky with me, huh? 8ooooooooing!
AG: You know, you don’t have to always 8e such a party pooper just 8ecause I don’t want to 8e your dum8 caliginous affair!
AG: This is why you’re such a drag. You don’t have the firey passion that it takes to 8e a decent h8m8. You just get all moody and som8er and introverted. Unlike me, who has enough 8lack tar fire in my soul to heat all the irons in this universe and the next!
AG: So many irons.
AG: 8ut you’re too down in the dumps to even listen to what I have to say.
AG: May8e I’m getting in touch with you to give you great news!
AG: MAY8E I want to tell you that I changed my mind a8out 8eing your kismesis…
AG: M8Y8E I’m telling you that I want to 8e eternally yours! Like eternally eternally! Like, at least 8 sweeps.
AG: The universe will trem8le like a small infant hoof8east in the 8lackest shadow of our 8lackest h8d8 lit 8y the 8lackest candlea8ra holding a delicately scented vanilla candle.
AG: Vaaaaaaaanillaaaaaaaa!
CA: wwoah wwait
CA: are you bein serious
AG: HAHA, NOPE!!!!!!!!
AG: What a riot! You’re soooooooo easy to 8am8oozle, fishface!
CA: im leavin
AG: Aw, don’t do that. Jeez, you’re such a 8ORE!
AG: You still won’t even listen to what I have to s8y.
AG: It was SUPER8LY important, too!
CA: alright
CA: wwhat is it
AG: So……..
AG: While I was just sitting around, minding my own 8usiness, tending all the irons in my fire, of course…
AG: I heard some talk around this stinking hunk of meteor!
AG: Some m8y even call it GOSSIP.
CA: wwhat the glub are you talkin about
CA: youre actin wweird vvris
AG: You coy devil, you. :::;)
AG: What’s this I he8r a8out Mr. Orphaner Dualscar and the nerdy yellow gutter8lood?
CA: wwhat
CA: oh cod wwho told you
CA: howw did you knoww
AG: It’s pretty o8vious, fishf8ce.
AG: You wax 8lack for him almost as intensely as you did for me.
AG: Even though he’s just a stupid dum8 gutter8lood that pro8a8ly doesn’t ev8n h8ve 8ny of the cool doomsd8y devices that I h8ve.
AG: And he most cert8nly doesn’t h8ve as m8ny irons in his fire as I do!
AG: SO.
AG: M8NY.
AG: IRONS!!!!!!!!
CA: yes vvris your irons an your fire are both equally marvvelous
CA: i am completely painfully awware a this fact
CA: but it doesn’t matter anywway
AG: I don’t know, 8ridan……..
AG: The others h8ve 8een talking.
AG: Th8y’ve 8een talking a8out he8ring you two fighting all the time.
AG: All 8y yourselves!
AG: Sounds like it gets really he8ted. Pretty sc8ndalous, if you ask me! :::;)
CA: wwell vvris its a good thing no one did then
CA: wwhy do you care anywway
AG: H8y, 8ELIEVE me, I don’t!
AG: I couldn’t c8re l8ss!
AG: I just th8nk 8t’s WE8RD, is 8ll!
AG: Why would I 8e 8oth8red?
AG: 8t’s none of my 8usin8ss 8f you want to move on!
AG: To a g8tter8looded n8rd, no l8ss!
AG: 8ut I just th8nk 8t’s m8ghty f8shy 8s 8ll.
AG: L8KE 8T’S SOME 8NNOY8NG PLOY TO M8KE M8 JE8LOUS OR SOMETH8NG. ::::/
CA: wwoww vvris maybe back down off the 8 key it might file charges
AG: >::::(
CA: wwhat’s your fuckin problem
CA: i told you none a this matters anywway
CA: sol turned dowwn my ass just like you did
CA: like a really long time ago
CA: i mean the guy hates me still
CA: just not enough
AG: Oh.
AG: Really?
CA: uh yeah
AG: …Hahahahahahahaha!
AG: You poor sap!
AG: I can’t 8elieve you got turned down 8y a gutter8lood!
AG: You know I thought this was all some nefarious plot to make me jealous enough to come running 8ack to you.
AG: And I was thinking that it was just dastardly and underhanded enough to work!
AG: 8ut it turns out you really are too pathetic to 8e a suita8le h8m8. I should have trusted my gut instincts.
AG: Haha, what a luckless loser!
CA: wwoww
CA: okay my feelins have been sufficiently stirred around trampled on an shat upon at this point
CA: so im
CA: gonna go
CA: bye vvris
caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]
AG: Hm.
----
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AG: Hey, nerd!
AG: I wanted to talk to you a8out a very important matter.
AG: There’s 8een some horrendously suspicious 8ehavior going on, and I wanted to dou8le-check with you 8efore I allow this particular iron to a8scond from the fire.
TA: ugh.
TA: what do you want?
TA: ii already have a headache.
AG: This’ll 8e quick!
AG: 8ut it’s a8out you and Eridan.
AG: I just finished talking to him a8out it all, 8ut it left me feeling pretty fucking exacer88ed! You know that pathetic fishy 8astard, though.
AG: So tell me this:
TA: no.
AG: Uh
AG: Wh8t?
AG: I didn’t ev8n finish!
AG: ::::/
TA: no.
TA: no.
TA: NO.
TA: JU2T NO.
AG: Hey, w8, what’s your fucking pro8lem all of a sudden?
TA: ii don’t want to fuckiing talk about eriidan.
TA: no.
TA: not now, not evver.
TA: oh cod ii mean ever
TA: ii mean oh god.
TA: waiit no ii
TA: fuck.
TA: FUCK.
TA: NEVERMIIND.
TA: WHY THE FUCK AM II EVEN 2TIILL TALKIING TWO YOU
twinArmageddons [TA] blocked aracnidsGrip [AG]
----
grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling caligulasAquarium [CA]
CA: hi kan howw’s it goin
GA: Hello Eridan
GA: I Just Wanted To Inform You That I Was Just Contacted By Vriska
GA: She Notified Me In A Nigh Indecipherable Flurry Of Viciously Accented 8s That She Plans On Finding You
GA: And Punching You Square In The Snout
GA: And Then Doing Similar To Your Computer
CA: wwhat the fuck
GA: She Couldnt Be Stopped
GA: Nor Did I Think It Wise To Attempt To Contain Her In Fear Of What She Could Perform Alternatively In An Attempt To Sate Her Spectacular Rage
GA: I Just Wanted To Give You Fair Warning
CA: oh cod shes here already kan help
GA: It Seems Im A Day Late And A Boonbuck Short
GA: I Apologize For My Failure As A Moirail And Possible Auspistice
GA: I Wish To Make Up For This Grievous Behavioral Malfunction
GA: I Shall Organize A Parade For The Purposes Of Your Remembrance
GA: Perhaps Erect A Large Statue In Your Honor
GA: I Am Short In The Ways Of Supplies But I Will Try My Hardest To Make Due For Your Sake
GA: …Eridan Be Honest With Me Am I Developing Some Sort Of Psychological Disease With This Sarcasm
GA: An Intervention May Be In Order
caligulasAquarium [CA]’s computer was punched square in the snout
GA: Oh
----
Eridan sniffed pitifully, holding a towel to his nose in an effort to staunch the flow of blood coming from it, grimacing as he pressed a little too hard on the tender, bruising bridge. Equius had graciously let Eridan borrow the towel from him after Eridan had belligerently screeched at him to do so, the blueblood being the closest troll to him after Vriska had punched him.
Eridan could only pray to all the gods in this universe and the next that it was a fresh towel.
At that moment, Eridan couldn’t really care anyway. It just hurt too much for him to do anything. He didn’t think Vriska had broken his nose, but his pride and spirits were another thing. As it was, he had been especially cranky since they had be transported to the Veil, and an unprompted punch in the face just made things worse. After Vriska had left and Eridan had finagled Equius out of a towel, he quickly retreated to his own quarters to nurse at his wounds, and to wonder what the everloving fuck had just happened.
Eridan sniffed again, pouting to himself. He didn’t deserve this. He had to admit, he did deserve some of the bad things that happened to him once in a while; but this was not one of them. He was just sitting there, glubbing around and minding his own business, when Vriska had just walked up to him and popped him in the face unceremoniously. In. The. Face. He was lucky his precious glasses hadn’t been broken. No, she was lucky. He was going to punish her for such improper behavior, wasn’t he? Yeah. Maybe later though. When his face didn’t hurt so bad. He just couldn’t believe that bitch had hit him without having the decency to hate snog him afterwards.
As he thought about what could have possibly prompted such an attack, he suddenly began to raise up his lip in a snarl. He soon found that this movement strained his injury, and he dropped it with shrill whine. But he was still extremely angry, you just had to trust him.
He tried to make the angriest pout he could as he remembered what Vriska had been babbling before she punched him in the face. Something along the lines of “I don’t know, DUALSCAR, doncha think Sollux’s actin’ kinda FIIIIIIIISHYYYYYYYY?”
Eridan didn’t know exactly what that meant, and he really didn’t have the energy to think about it for too long, so he immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was all Sollux’s fault.
It had been quite a few weeks since Eridan had confessed to Sollux about his caliginous intents, and since the lowblood had apologized for turning him down so roughly. However, Eridan was far too stubborn to let Sollux off the hook that easily, nor did he have the motivation to stop harassing the psionic. He couldn’t let Sollux out of his sights just yet. Whether this was because Eridan was still waxing hardcore black for him or because of how close Sollux had gotten to Feferi was uncertain. Probably both. But honestly Eridan had been feeling way too many many feelings lately, and scarcely knew how to handle any of them. Eridan didn’t even know what the glub he was thinking these days. He was beginning to imagine whatever section of his think pan responsible for working through these emotions had simply shut down from frantic over-usage.
But regardless, he had been quick to pick a fight with Sollux over the last few weeks. Sollux chose to ignore it at first, as Eridan had unfortunately expected. And he hated being ignored. So he continued to pester Sollux, more frequently, and about more nonsensical things. He harassed Sollux day in and day out until he was purple in the face, and just when he felt like he couldn’t keep it up anymore, when he felt like just quitting and leaving to go weep over his wand pile by himself forever-
Sollux fought back. Well, that sounds a bit dramatic. But that’s what it felt like to Eridan the first time Sollux had finally shot back at one of the seadweller’s complaints with a snippy comment of his own. Eridan had retreated to his wing to lay down for the remainder of the day.
After that, Sollux had seemed to lose his patience, and things gradually became more heated as time went on. He felt pathetic for thinking it, but in a weird way Eridan was grateful for it. Even if Sollux didn’t hate him a romantic way, it was strangely invigorating having someone to argue with, someone you wanted to spend every waking minute trying to prove wrong, humiliate, degrade, show up, etcetera. Eridan guessed that that must be what black romance was in the end. It was still pretty confusing for young trolls like them, but when it came right down to it Sollux ironically was the only thing Eridan was still waking up for in the mornings. Feferi had run off, no one else wanted to bother with him, he had no quadrants filled; his life, presently, was just overall a hot mess.
At this point, the only thing Eridan could count on was that he hated Sollux Captor. And that Sollux, romantically or otherwise, hated him back. That’s why Eridan felt a sense of satisfaction when the yellowblood argued with him.
And it was also why it hit him all the harder when Sollux began ignoring him again. It had happened just a few days before. After a long while of steady rivalry, Sollux suddenly went back to paying little heed to Eridan. He barely looked up at him when they were in the same room, he wouldn’t answer if Eridan started talking to him, he stopped answering the seadweller’s challenges on Trollian; it was like he never even existed.
Eridan had been mopey enough dealing with this fact as it was, but this mishap today was just going too far. Sollux must have egged Vriska on to do this. He must have.
Figures. Dirtscrapin’ piece a’ trash don’t even care enough to beat the crap out of me himself. Eridan bit his lip at the thought, and brought the towel away from his face to wring it anxiously in his hands.
No. No, no, no. This was the last straw. Eridan couldn’t handle this wacky roller coaster a’ emotions much longer. He shouldn’t have to. He was royalty, for fuck’s sake! A glubbin’ prince! It was ridiculous that the gutterblood had even put him through this for so long already. No, Eridan finally had to put his foot down.
He stood up then, definitively, dropping the towel and leaving it on the ground behind him. He made sure he had his wand on him before huffing to the transportalizer that led to the main hall. He then proceeded to the transportalizer that led to Sollux’s chambers, figuring that even if Sollux wasn’t there he could have a little fun and mess with the lowblood’s stuff. He didn’t hesitate to step onto the pad, and almost instantly materialized into Sollux’s room. He appeared with a hand on his hip and an indignant pout, looking like he owned the place, and just stood there for a minute if he were the opening act to some grand production. He slumped over in disappointment after a few moments of stillness, realizing that Sollux wasn’t there.
He stepped off the pad with a huff, wondering how Sollux could have the gall not to be there when Eridan was ready to dramatically confront him. In order to keep from moping, he busied himself with looking around the room he had appeared him. It was a horrendously plain little space, as Eridan expected from a bore like Sollux (although in reality Eridan had not done much with his quarters either). He noted, however, that Sollux was keeping multiple spare computers and parts here, perhaps extra things that he had found around the building. Pieces of hardware were hastily stacked atop one another and seemingly unorganized. Some of the computers looked to be in decent working condition, but most were completely broken down, tipped carelessly on their side, or even hollowed out and harvested of any useful parts. Eridan regarded these objects with disgust, finding Sollux’s hobby to be distasteful, but it was an odd feeling, something familiar and therefore… comfortable. The face he made was some hellish concoction of a sneer and a grimace, a smirk that just felt stupid, and he reserved himself to a simple frown after he realized he was doing it.
Eridan walked over to one of the computers that looked barely operable and studied it carefully, dragging a finger across the top of it and scowling at the dust it picked up. He supposed he could delve deeper into Sollux’s chambers and actually look for the psionic. If he wasn’t there, then he would scour the entire meteor, make sure every nook and cranny was 100% Captor-free before moving forward, would even risk going into Feferi’s chambers, despite how likely it was to be a cacophonous cesspool of thick, sticky, adolescent sexual tension if Sollux did end up being in there.
Or he could stay here for a while and try to make this computer explode.
Eridan ran his tongue over his top lip concentration as he tried to dig the wand out of his pants pocket. He pulled it out and aimed it at the computer mercilessly, smirking to himself.
Sollux thought he was so cool with his stupid hacker schtick and all his shitty computers. Well, he won’t be so cool when his computer gets blown up right in its piece a’ crap face. Wait until you get a taste of what Eridan Coddamn Ampora can dish out, you stupid technological marvel oh fuck why was his wand glowing blue and red.
Before Eridan could even think about what was happening, an eerie aura enveloped his wand and the object was promptly yanked from his hand by an unseen force. He made a sound of protest as the wand flew behind him, and he whipped his head around to see Sollux standing a few feet away. The wand had stopped in midair to float beside the psionic’s head, but Sollux didn’t acknowledge it as he kept a steady glare locked onto Eridan.
Sollux spoke slowly and deliberately, in a low rasp that kind of sent a shiver down Eridan’s spine. “Who. The fuck. Thaid you could come in here?”
For a split second Eridan actually had the sense to be wary of Sollux’s tone, almost fearful. But he quickly gathered up his ego and unfounded courage as he scowled. “Give it back.” He replied just as venomously, puffing out his chest and trying to sound dignified. It was at times like this he tried to drop the odd, annoying drawl he had to his accent. He hated the way he talked and could control it if he really tried, but the only time he couldn’t hold it back was when he was really upset. Unfortunately, Eridan was upset most of the time, about a lot of things. But right now, he was just in control enough to pull it off. “And I don’t need a fucking mustardblood’s permission to go wherever the glub I want.”
Sollux simply looked at him like he was exhausted, not at all impressed by the seadweller’s improved diction. “Firtht of all: no.” With a light flick of his wrist, he suddenly launched the wand by his head into a dark corner of the room, the red-blue glow dissipating as the object whistled helplessly through the air and out of sight. Sollux kept his eyes on Eridan the entire time, barely even acknowledging his actions before speaking again. “Thecond of all: no. Get out.”
Eridan’s eyes widened as he tried to launch himself towards the direction where Sollux had sent his wand. “No! Give it back!” He whined pitifully.
Sollux literally shrunk back when Eridan moved, and before the seadweller knew what was happening he was enveloped by the same colorful, eerie aura that had entrapped his wand, and was pushed back and lifted off the ground a few inches.
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Sollux shouted angrily, keeping a good distance between himself and Eridan.
Eridan bristled in anger, baring his teeth in a snarl. “I wasn’t fuckin’ tryin’ to, you grubfistin’ piece a’ shit!” His true accent was now back in full force, but he didn’t even care. “You know it’s really fuckin’ rude to treat someone else’s piece a’ property like that, but I wouldn’t expect any better a’ a stupid glubbin’ mustardblood like you! An’… an’… it’s glubbin’ mine an’ I want it back!” To his dismay his snarl devolved into a furious pout, and his voice rose in pitch to a whine. “So… so… Gimme!”
“You were about to blow up my fucking computer!” Sollux replied, a look of indignant disbelief on his face.
“Gimmeeeeeee!”
“No. Fuck you,” Sollux said curtly, though lowered Eridan to the ground and loosened his hold on the purple-blood. “Why the hell did you even come in here anyway?”
Eridan blinked, suddenly remembering himself, and merely pointed at his face expectantly, knowing the large bruise and crusted blood around his nose would be easily noticed.
Sollux stared at him in confusion. “…What?”
Eridan pouted and tried pointing harder.
“…What am I thuppothed to be looking at here?”
“Are you fuckin’ blind?”
“Thtop acting like a retard and tell me what you want me to thee.”
“My nose, you dirtscapin’ fuck monger! It’s glubbin’ obvious.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, fuckin’ ‘oh’.”
Sollux let a smirk cross his face suddenly. “I jutht thought you hadn’t put on your makeup yet.”
“Ha. Fuckin’. Ha. Tholluckth.” Eridan mocked, absolutely not amused. He continued indignantly: “Do you know who did this?”
Sollux rolled his eyes. “Who, Eridan? Who did thith?”
“Vriska.” Eridan waited to see a glimpse of recognition fall across Sollux’s face, or a glimpse of guilt, triumph, cockiness, anything.
But Sollux only blinked blankly at the seadweller. “Good for her?”
Eridan clenched his fists at his sides, his frustration coming up and feeling heavy behind his eyes. Don’t fucking cry, coddammit, don’t give the nooksniffer the satisfaction. “You fuckin’ put her up to this, didn’t you?”
Sollux scoffed in surprise. “Where the fuck did that come from? I didn’t tell Vrithka to do anything. Why would you-”
“She was fuckin’ talkin’ about you, asshole!” Eridan interrupted, scowling. “Why the hell else would she mention you if you didn’t have anythin’ to do with it?”
Sollux raised his eyebrows, looking honestly confused and vindicated, and the sight was enough to make Eridan’s blood boil. “Thhit, Eridan, calm down. I didn’t tell to Vrithka to do anything. Even if I did want to thee your fathe punched in, I wouldn’t glubbing thhirk the duty off on thomeone else. I’m not a coward like you. I haven’t even talked to Vrithka-” The psionic’s hold on Eridan was released completely as Sollux suddenly cut himself off, and a look of horrified recognition briefly crossed his face. It disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced, only shown itself for merely a fraction of a second. But a fraction of a second was all Eridan needed.
The purple-blood’s brow furrowed in rage, and the weight behind his eyes grew heavier. “You. Fuckin’. Bastard.” Eridan growled, spitting out the last word like it was too bitter to hold onto any longer.
One thing Eridan could say about Sollux Captor was that the troll kept a good poker face. “What?” He pretended to still be in disbelief, still uninterested, pretended that Eridan couldn’t possibly have seen that stupid-ass, guilt-ridden look on his face.
“I fuckin’ knew it,” Eridan spat lowly. He hoped the words weren’t undercut by his disbelieving tone, a tone that gave away how much he had been hopefully denying the fact to be true.
Sollux glared back him, but Eridan could see his façade wavering as he spoke. “No, you don’t know thhit. I told you I didn’t tell Vrithka to do anything.”
“Shut up.” Eridan realized now that he was out of Sollux’s control, that he could try to attack him, or go for his wand. Sollux might be too distracted with being a lying asshole to stop him in time. But Eridan couldn’t move, could only stand there paralyzed with anger.
Sollux was becoming wary, noticing a change in Eridan but not exactly knowing what it was. He almost looked sheepish as he continued, “Look… Eridan. What Vrithka doeth ithn’t my fucking problem. I don’t control her, and I don’t even want to. Tho why would I-”
“I FUCKIN’ TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP.” Eridan himself was almost surprised at the level of his own voice, and he saw Sollux completely freeze as soon he had spoken up. “I. AM. FUCKING. SICK. OF YOUR SHIT.”
Sollux remained silent, standing there stupidly with his eyes wide, and Eridan could feel tears welling up at the corners of his. Desperately trying to keep them in, he gritted his teeth and lowered his voice slightly, though the venom was still dangerously evident. “What is your fuckin’ problem?”
At this, Sollux seemed to shake away his stupor, and the anger returned to his face. “My problem?” He repeated incredulously, and Eridan could see his eyes beginning to spark. “How about what’th your problem?”
Eridan blinked at him in disbelief, floored that he could even ask that. “You fuckin’ are, you asshole!”
“Well, I don’t-”
“No. I’m fuckin’ serious, you do not get to glubbin’ talk right now,” Eridan interrupted quickly. Every instinct screamed at him to charge at Sollux, to hurt him as bad as he was hurting right now, but Eridan could not bring himself to move. He could only stand there, shaking in rage, letting the words pour out. “It’s all your fuckin’ fault. It’s your fault I’m fuckin’ miserable right now. First you gotta take Fef away from me like a huge fuckin’ douchewad, an’ she couldn’t even stand bein’ my moirail, an’ she said we can just be friends but she hardly even talks to me anymore ‘cause… ‘cause…” Eridan’s voice trailed off as his voice cracked, but he couldn’t stop now. “’Cause she’s too glubbin’ busy talkin’ to you.
“An- an’ then I genuinely feel somethin’ black towards you, an’ you just fuckin’ laugh at me, but then you have to apologize like a fuckin’ asshole…. An’ you don’t feel the same, so I just gotta keep buggin’ you but you ignore me like everyone fuckin’ else-” Eridan cut himself off suddenly as he felt a single tear spill over and quickly went to wipe it away, but he almost didn’t care anymore, didn’t care that he looked like a pitiful blubbering mess. “An’ you fuckin’ ignore me, ‘cause everyone fuckin’ ignores me. But- but- but then you started arguin’ with me. An’… an’… it’s fuckin’ stupid, and I fuckin’ hate you, but maybe it felt fuckin’ okay, knowin’ that there was ONE FUCKIN’ TROLL on this entire fuckin’ rock who wouldn’t fuckin’ ignore me if I tried talkin’ to you.” To his dismay, a weak sob escaped his throat, and more tears fell. He lamely wiped at his face with his sleeve, his words becoming more choked and indecipherable as he went on. “An’- an’, I was startin’ to feel okay about everythin’, I really was, Sol. An’ then all a’ a sudden you- you just fuckin’ ignore me again. Like everyone fuckin’ else, an’- An’ then you wanna kick me when I’m down, an’… you don’ even have th’ fuckin’ courtesy to do it on your own time.”
The entire time Sollux was just watching Eridan carefully, his expression unreadable through the seadweller’s tears, and even as his babbling quietly tapered off Sollux stood silent for a little while longer to make sure he was done. When it was quiet for a few moments, save for Eridan’s soft whimpers and shuddering breaths, only then did Sollux react.
“You make me thsick, you know that?” The unabashed bitterness to the psionic’s voice made Eridan shudder, and he couldn’t even pinpoint the feeling he was shuddering with. “Theriouthly. You’ve got thome fucking problemth. You think I’m ruining your life? How about thith? Thtop blaming other people for being a fucked-up methh. Why don’t you jutht fucking let go of Feferi, by the way. Thhe didn’t dump you becauthe of me. Thhe dumped you becauthe you’re jutht a high-thtrung fucking blubbering methh.” A small smirk fell across his lips, and Eridan swore it felt like his next words were literally stabbing him through the heart. “Thhe wath jutht lucky enough to have a real troll thtand up to take your plathe.”
At that point, Eridan stopped crying. He felt his tears dry up, his self-pity disappear, his grief pass, and his loneliness momentarily crumble.
The only thing he could feel now was rage.
He finally found it in himself to move his legs, and he immediately stormed towards the lowblood. “YOU FUCKIN’ PIECE A’ SHIT!” He screeched. Sollux obviously was caught off-guard by the sudden moment, because he didn’t even make a move to stop him, and before he could gather himself Eridan was already there, grabbing fistfuls of the psionic’s shirt in his hands.
If Eridan hadn’t been so concentrated on his anger, he may have noticed how odd it was that Sollux did nothing to defend himself against the seadweller’s grip, only began shrinking backwards wildly while panic took over his features. “I thaid don’t fucking touch me, athhhole!”
Eridan didn’t listen, and he followed Sollux’s backward retreat until he almost had him up against the wall, and he started screaming in his face. “You know what?! FINE! Fine, you can fuckin’ have Fef, an’ you both can fuckin’ be a couple a’ fuckin’ grubfistin’ welps the rest a’ your fuckin’ life! SEE IF I FUCKIN’ CARE. I hope you an’… an’… that fuckin’ WHORE are real fuckin’ happy together-”
Eridan was too livid to process what was happening as Sollux suddenly cocked his right arm back, his hand balled into a fist. So he didn’t react as Sollux punched him in the side of his face, his fist clipping Eridan’s left cheek. Eridan was aware that the hit was powerful enough that his glasses had flown off, and heard them clatter to the floor and slide against the metal. But the pain only set in once Eridan had fallen back against the floor in shock, and suddenly he was staring up and Sollux’s enraged face and coddammit his face fucking hurt.
“No.” Sollux snapped, the electricity in his eyes sparking dangerously behind his glasses. He reached down and grabbed Eridan’s scarf with one hand, pulling upwards on it and making Eridan choke slightly as he scrambled to stand up to get his breath back. Once he was up, Sollux quickly grabbed onto his shirt with both hands and looked him dead in the eye. “You don’t”-he suddenly whipped them both around, so that Eridan was now the one with his back to the wall-“fucking get”-he shoved Eridan hard into the wall, and the seadweller gasped as the unforgiving metal ground into his back and drove all the air out of him-“TO FUCKING CALL HER THAT.” And suddenly, Eridan was cornered, pushed back into the wall by Sollux’s weight alone, and the psionic was right there, screaming in his face, which was now throbbing like all fucking hell.
It all happened so quickly, and Eridan was still in shock as Sollux glowered at him furiously from this position. This close, with his eyes open wide, he could see every twitching muscle in the other troll’s face, twitching in rage and pent-up frustration that was just begging to be let out. Eridan was actually a little scared by it, scared that Sollux would want to punch him again, and again, and again, until he was just a bloody, pulpy mess.
He remained still in tense fear as Sollux snarled at him, not even able to close his eyes to whatever horrible wrath he was about to suffer next. Sollux was pushing hard into the seadweller’s chest, so hard that it was somewhat difficult to breath, and between that and the yellowblood’s rage they were both panting. The heat of Sollux’s breath made Eridan shudder, and once again he was unable to pinpoint the emotion leading to the shudder. Their faces were already close, and Eridan felt hopelessly closed in as Sollux moved even closer, their noses almost touching and his breathing becoming even hotter on the seadweller’s face. Sollux was a little shorter than Eridan, so the purpleblood was looking down while Sollux looked up, matching his glare to Eridan’s wide-eyed stare. Sollux’s breath, so close and so hot, was hitting the bridge of Eridan’s nose squarely, and had been since he was pushed into the wall. But Sollux wavered suddenly, and although Eridan was unable to read the expression on his face from this angle, he felt the psionic’s hot breaths shift positions. He seemed to be looking at the fresh wound he had inflicted to the seadweller’s face, as the hot sensation fell over the newly sensitive area. He then slowly moved his head downward, the hotness leaving a trail on Eridan’s cheek that made him pant even heavier. He finally felt that hot, humid breath coming towards his mouth, felt Sollux hovering there. What was only a few seconds felt like a lifetime, a lifetime of feeling those heated breaths against his lips, his teeth, his tongue. He felt their breaths intermingling, making the air around them almost unbearably hot, and the heat traveled to Eridan’s face in a purple blush. And then the breathing went away, and Eridan’s lips were covered by a new source of heat because suddenly, just like that, Sollux was there.
Sollux was kissing him. Eridan made a noise of surprise when the realization hit him, the sound muffled by Sollux’s mouth. He kept his eyes wide open and raised his hands awkwardly, as if he was going to do something, but…. Eridan knew he was still angry with Sollux. Oh, he was absolutely livid. But as he watched the sight in front of him - Sollux fervently mashing his lips against Eridan’s, his eyes closed but brow still furrowed in irritation; as if the yellowblood was challenging him with his ardor, was just daring Eridan to kiss back - Eridan found himself… redirecting his passion. It was then that Sollux pulled back slightly for moment, only far away and for long enough to bare his teeth in frustration, and he pushed them against Eridan’s lips slightly. He let out a growl, a fucking growl, low in his throat and completely laced with impatience. The sound made Eridan gasp quietly, and he could feel his gills twitching spastically as his entire body went hot.
When Sollux put his lips back on Eridan’s, the seadweller was now more than willing to reciprocate. He closed his eyes, his hands, which were still hovering in the air, flying to take hold of Sollux’s face. The yellowblood’s cheeks felt hot to the touch, and Eridan wondered if he was as flushed as he was. He used his new grip on Sollux’s face to gain some leverage as he pushed back against the kiss, moaning slightly around the lips in his. Sollux still had Eridan pushed up against the wall, pinned at his shoulders, so he had to crane his neck forward to be able to gain any dominance. The psionic moaned back at the challenge, the sound buzzing pleasantly through Eridan’s mouth.
Eridan sucked at Sollux’s bottom lip heatedly, rubbing the other troll’s cheeks with his thumbs and occasionally letting out a small whimper into the kiss. He decided to try opening his mouth a little wider, and as he did so he let his tongue dart out and ran it against Sollux’s lip slowly. Sollux gasped lightly, pulling away a bit as he did so. When the moist hotness left his mouth, Eridan was immediately panting again, already worn out and breathless. He dipped his head only to bump his forehead clumsily against Sollux’s. The impact made him open his eyes half way, and he looked down past the other troll’s blue and red shades to see his eyes still closed. But then, as if he had felt Eridan open his, Sollux’s own bifurcated eyes revealed themselves from behind his lids, and for the first time since he’d met him Eridan realized that he was looking at him straight in the eyes.
They were both panting, and that was the only sound in the room for a moment, until Sollux opened his mouth to try to speak. “Oh-” It seemed as if he couldn’t get his thoughts into diction and the word caught in his throat. He tried again, and quietly breathed, “Oh my god.”
Eridan thought this sounded like a good thing, and he almost went back in for more before he realized that Sollux had suddenly grown stiff, and a look of dread slowly took over his features. “Oh my god.” He repeated. This time the statement sounded less dreamy, and more like Sollux had just seen a rabid pouncebeast take down and casually maul the cutest baby grub he had ever seen.
Eridan was significantly less confident about where this was going now.
Sollux was still holding onto Eridan as he began to back up, taking a step away as he looked at the seadweller in horror. “You- you have to leave,” Sollux sputtered.
Eridan blinked at him in confusion, still feeling too hot and bothered to be able to fully process what was happening. “Wh-what?”
Eridan didn’t even know how Sollux had gotten off him so quickly, but suddenly the psionic had released the death grip he had on Eridan’s shirt and all but leapt at least five feet away from him, and was still backing up in a panic. “You have to leave,” Sollux repeated. His eyes started sparking then, and he began looking around the room frantically. His eyes fell upon Eridan’s glasses, laying almost forgotten on the metal floor, and something distant, Eridan’s wand, in the corner. Suddenly, both objects were levitating in a red-blue aura and were thrown haphazardly towards Eridan in a rush. As the seadweller tried to catch his things, his glasses whacking him on the side of the head and his wand nearly stabbing him in the shoulder, Sollux continued speaking. “You have to leave,” he repeated, his words nearly becoming an urgent chant. “You have to leave, you have to leave, oh my god, oh my GOD, YOU HAVE TO FUCKING LEAVE.”
Eridan now held onto his things awkwardly, not even able to put on his glasses with how utterly dumbstruck he was. “S-sol, what are you- Why did-”
Eridan noticed the psionic’s eyes glowing and sparking violently a little too late. The other troll proceeded to flip his fucking shit. “GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT.” As Sollux screamed at him, Eridan suddenly felt himself being pushed roughly towards the transportalizer pad by an angry, invisible force, and he couldn’t even think to protest before the red and blue force had forced him all the way to his exit. He fell on his knees on the pad, having just enough time to look back up towards Sollux, who already had his back turned towards him and was retreating farther back into his chambers.
And then he was gone.
Eridan realized he was in the hall about two minutes after he had actually materialized there. Even after he figured out where he was and that someone could simply walk in and see him there in shambles on the ground, he simply sat outside of Sollux’s transportalizer for a while to wonder what the everloving fuck had just happened.
Eventually, the very least Eridan could do was take his glasses and shove them back on his own face in frustration. It was then that he remembered the hard way that he had been punched in the face twice that day, and that being punched in the face twice really fucking hurts, especially when you shove your glasses back on in an angry manner. But he was a strong, dignified troll, and he resolved to not overreact to the situation any more than necessary.
And that was why Eridan went straight to his chambers and cried for only twenty minutes.
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