Chapter Text
The first thing Sollux noticed when he awoke was his skull-splitting headache. The second thing he noticed was a warm head of black and purple hair resting serenely on his chest. His bare chest.
Crap.
A quick check under the covers revealed that Sollux was, in fact, completely naked, as was the other guy on the couch. Said other guy was lying completely on top of the troll, with one hand on Sollux’s collarbone and the other pressed up against his mouth. He was sucking his thumb.
Double crap.
Okay, Sollux, calm down now. He had only just slept with a guy who he wasn’t even going out with due to the fact that he had been completely intoxicated and now had no memory whatsoever of the event.
Triple crap.
Or maybe that was a good thing, actually. Maybe he didn’t want to remember a night spent thrusting into his worst frienemy. At least, Sollux assumed that he had been the one on top. Well, the other guy was the one physically on top right now, but Sollux had to have been the one doing the thrusting.
Hadn’t he?
Wasting no more time pondering questions he couldn’t recall the answers to, and avoiding further accumulations of craps, Sollux quickly shook the sleeping boy awake.
“One more minute, seahorsedad.”
“ED! ED, thi2 i2 2eriou2. You have to wake up right now!”
Eridan stirred slightly, then slowly opened his eyes. And opened them wider and wider. Sollux could feel the gulp slip down the seadweller’s throat. “W-well…” Eridan and Sollux made eye contact and held it for several moments before Sollux looked away.
“Well…” A brief pause enveloped the room. “You’re not a…I mean…” Sollux was afraid to ask the question on the tip of his mind, but gulped and plowed on. “Are you a virgin?”
“W-well, not anymore, I guess.” Eridan sat up and looked down at his hands, a deep purple blush forming on his face.
They both started to speak at once, but stopped abruptly. “Uh, you go fir2t.”
“W-well, I w-was just thinkin’ that…maybe it w-wasn’t so bad, you know-w, that of all the trolls in the w-world, I lost my wirginity to you…” Eridan raised his gaze back to Sollux. He stared intently at the other troll, who quickly averted his eyes.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that… Do you even remember what happened?”
“Er, no, but I’m sure it w-was fantastic!” Eridan flopped back down on Sollux’s chest which earned a “wumph” from the yellow-blood. “I bet you’re fantastic at, you know-w, pailin’.”
Sollux opened his mouth to speak, but instead sucked in his breath through his lips.
“I mean, it’s a kind a…aw-wkw-ward w-way to get together, and I’d rather that I had not been w-wasted w-when w-we did it our first time, but it’s just great to know that you like me ba-ack!” He was practically singing by the end of the sentence.
“Yeah, well, look, ED… I’m glad that you don’t regret la2t night, but…I do. I mean, it wa2 a mi2take, a drunken mi2take, and I’m 2orry, but…I don’t feel that way about you.” Sollux grimaced at the look of utter despair that overcame Eridan’s face.
“Oh, okay, my bad…I’ll leawe you alone forewer now-w…” Eridan slowly raised himself from the couch and picked his clothes up from the floor. He pulled them on, then solemnly trudged toward the front door. Pulling the door shut behind him, Eridan faced the bitter cold. Sollux only realized later that Eridan’s car was at Terezi’s house, almost a mile away.
~*~*~*~*~
Sollux stared at the same two lines of code at which he had been staring for the last hour. Without warning, he dropped his face onto his hands, crackles of psionic energy coming off of his unbrushed hair. It was the right thing to do, he knew it was the right thing to do, but yet he could not bear to do it.
Unwillingly, Sollux willed the phone to his hands. Eridan’s number was programmed in his cell, previously unused. But now, Sollux called the number. The phone rang several times before going to voicemail. Sollux sighed, hanging up immediately. He didn’t fucking know what to leave in a message! He didn’t even know what to say to Eridan if he had picked up.
Suddenly, a thought struck Sollux hard, like a bolt of lightning. What if Eridan had really meant what he had said and was going to leave him alone forever? What if he never had a chance to make it up to Eridan, and was left with these feelings of guilt for the rest of eternity? Sollux shuddered. Eridan had done some pretty stupid things in the past, but…
But actually, it wouldn’t be all that stupid to cut off all contact with Sollux. Sollux had hurt him pretty badly, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized his wrong in letting Eridan leave his hive.
Thank God! Flight of the Bumblebee filled the room as Sollux’s phone vibrated. “Hey.”
“Sol. You, uh, called?”
“Yeah, I, uh, I might have been a bit too har2h on you…”
“W-wait – w-what?”
“I think…I think… I mean, if you really like me, I could give you a chance.”
“A w-what?”
Sollux bit back the unforgiving language that immediately came to mind. “I mean, I gue22 what I’m a2king i2... do you want to go out with me?”
“W-what? W-why?” Eridan’s voice sounded uncertain, maybe even suspicious.
“Dude! I am giving you a chance to be with the gloriou2ne22 that i2 me. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll leawe it. I don’t need your pity date.”
Sollux slowly let out a puff of breath. “2top being 2o 2tubborn! I am trying to be a re2pon2ible per2on and make up for taking away your virginity! But if you in2i2t, I gue22 I’m done here.” Sollux was about to hang up when, unsurprisingly, Eridan stopped him.
“W-wait! I…okay. If you are so dead set on goin’ out w-with me, I guess w-we can…”
Sollux sighed audibly. “Whatever, ED. When 2hould I pick you up?”
~*~*~*~*~
“W-where are w-we goin’?” Eridan whined for the umpteenth time.
“You’ll 2ee when we get there,” Sollux informed tightly, also for the umpteenth time.
Sollux switched on the left turn signal and made the turn, but kept the signal on.
“Sol, you left your turn signal on…” Eridan “helpfully” informed his date.
“Ye2, I know. There’2 a rea2on for that.”
“But the only thing to the left a here is a carw-wash…”
Instead of answering him, Sollux made the left, and the next thing Eridan knew, the car was being sprayed with soapy water.
“W-way to do your chores in the middle a our date!”
“No, no, man. You don’t under2tand. Thi2 i2 our date!”
“W-wait! W-what? W-what kind a date is this?!”
“You like water, right?”
“Um…I guess.”
“2o I thought you’d feel comfortable in your natural habitat.”
“Hey! You’re stereotypin’ me! Just ‘cuz I’m a seadw-weller –”
“2hut up! I’m paying for it, aren’t I?”
“Okay, okay, fine. So, uh, how-w are you?”
“Okay, I gue22. 2till a bit 2hocked from thi2 morning.” Sollux shuddered slightly.
Eridan put a comforting hand over Sollux’s. He squeezed gently, lovingly. Sollux let him…for few seconds. Then, he used his other hand to peel Eridan’s off, and held onto the wheel. As the trolls at the end of the carwash toweled off the car, Eridan pouted, but stayed silent.
“2o, I gue22 that’2 it. Date over.”
“W-what?! That w-wasn’t ewen a proper date!”
“Well, then what do you 2ugge2t we do?”
“W-well, w-we could go to a restaurant…”
“It’2 ten am. What meal happen2 at ten am?”
“Uh…w-we could go to a café…”
The car was stopped at a red light, and Sollux used the opportunity to stare intently into Eridan’s eyes. Eridan shivered. “Would that make you happy?”
“Uh…yeah?”
“Then, okay. We can go to Trollbuck2.” He made a u-turn and headed to the café.
At Trollbucks, the first thing Sollux said was, “Ooh, free wifi!” Then, he plopped down at a table and took out his laptop.
“Uh…do you w-want me to get you a coffee?”
“Here’2 ten buck2. Buy your2elf 2omething nice. Get me a tea with extra honey.”
“O-kay. W-what kind a tea?”
“Mmm.”
“I said, w-what kind a tea do you w-want?”
“Anything. Don’t care.” Sollux was hunched over his laptop, coding away.
When Eridan returned with their drinks, Sollux didn’t even acknowledge his presence.
“Here’s your tea…”
“Mmm.”
“Soooool!”
“Ye2?”
“You’re terrible at datin’!”
“Mmm.”
“Sooooooool! W-what do I need to do to get you to look at me?! Should I take off my shirt and flex my muscles?”
“Mmm.”
“I’ll do it! I’ll really do it!”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m doin’ it! I’m takin’ off my shirt!”
Sollux glanced up for a second. “No, you’re not.” Then, he returned to his coding.
“Ha ha! You looked at me!”
“Mmm.”
“Sooool!”
Sollux sighed, saving his work and shutting his laptop. “Ye2, 2ugarplum?” He took a noisy sip of his tea.
“Sugarplum?!”
“Yeah, that’2 you.” Sollux shot his date a half-grin, and all was forgiven.
They stared into each other’s eyes in a comfortable silence, sipping their drinks. Eridan was the one to break that silence.
“Happy Tw-welfth Perigee, Sol.”
“What? Oh, 2hit, you’re right… Happy Twelfth Perigee, ED.”
Eridan chuckled lightly. “Did you really forget that last night w-was Tw-welfth Perigee’s Ewe? W-what did you think the party at Ter’s w-was for?”
Sollux immediately shut off completely. “We do not 2peak of that party.”
“W-why not? It w-was a good party. Sure, w-we got a little drunk – okay, maybe a lot drunk – and it ended rather badly – I still don’t know-w how-w you managed to driwe us to your hiwe in one piece – but I had fun. You know-w, before it got all serious.”
“We e2pecially do not 2peak of what happened after the party.” Sollux actually ground his teeth together.
“Oh, uh, sorry, Sol.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re 2orry… Jeez, I ju2t…I ju2t need a little alone time, okay?”
“Oh, okay.” Eridan shrank in his seat. He had not been aware that what he had said had been so very wrong.
And with that, Sollux grabbed his laptop and stormed out of the café, leaving Eridan stranded and alone for the second time that day.