Chapter Text
Eridan winced at the soft yet terrorizing glow of his alarm clock. The clock read ' 12:14 am '; the numbers illuminating his rather dark room, that was far too big to feel homey. With little forethought, Eridan slipped his hands under the thick, black frames of his glasses; to rub the impending sleep from his tried eyes ." God, fuck!" Roughly hissed Eridan, as his lack of thought caused him to rub his eye as well as his budding bruise that circled his left eye. " That asshole, fuck." Whispered Eridan, as not to awake the man he was cursing.
Earlier that week his father, Dualscar, ( Eridan had no idea what his real name was, the man was always that mysterious, even to flesh and blood. He could always check but a part of him didn't want to know ). An intimidating , filthy rich CEO of a sea-related goods export company ,had gone off and got piss drunk at some fancy bar with his fellow colleagues. This meant when Eridan came home later than usual,due to an interruption during one of his near daily trips to his private school's library ; lead to a rather explosive, unnecessary fight. As it often did.
~ flashback: 3 days earlier ~
Eridan ran his thin, calloused fingers through his no longer styled hair, as he stepped through the front door. He often did this, even if in vain, to tame his hair sans mirror. With his social standing, messy hair in the publics eye was a big no-no. Not to mention, in his younger years, Eridan was poked at for his unruly hair, which he quickly learned to tame.
"ERIDAN AMPORA!" . The boy nearly jumped out of his skin, when his rather furious father stormed into the front room of his far too large house." WHERE IN THE EVERLOVIN' FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN!" boomed the roaring drunk man. " I w-was at the library , w-whe-" stuttered out Eridan, cursing the stubborn waver every time he attempted to say either v or w, that not even the vocal coach his father signed him up for could cure of. To his father his speech impediment was even further reason to belittle his son.Even if the stories you had heard of your father's own waver, all those for years ago, were true.
"WHY CANT YOU BE LIKE FEFERI AND BRING PRIDE TO OUR FAMILY'S NAME FOR ONCE IN YOUR DAMN LIFE!"
This was the tipping point for Eridan. Feferi was his old friend and embarrassing crush, who's once strong friendship, ended in smoulder and ash. She went on to be accepted into an extremely exclusive school, due to her strides in marine biology. Dualscar knew how Eridan felt about Feferi, and would constantly bring her up just to mock him further. Feferi was his first and what had seemed like last in-real-life friend, and Dualscar loved to rub salt into the still fresh wound.
"Don't bring Fef into this" growled Eridan, letting his squashed temper get the better of him. He had, had enough of this. " I w-was just the damn library, and some kids confronted me, your acting crazy ov-ver nothing!".
SLAP
Eridan held his eye, pain clouding over his mind. This may have not been the first time, and certainly would not be the last time Dualscar struck him, but that doesn't mean he didn't have to fight back tears. He quickly realized that not only had Dualscar hit him but, in the process had shot his glasses across the room. Dreadful thoughts made their way into Eridan's head. ' you can't see him now-w, he has an easy opening, you dumbass'' w-why couldn't you just keep your w-worthless mouth shut and take the belittling like the man he w-wants you to be'.
" DON'T YOU EVER SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT". Dualscar grappled onto Eridan's hair to pull his up head, as to achieve eye contact. " DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" All Eridan could do was stutter out a "y-yes sir'", scoop up his glasses from the floor and hall ass out of there, trying to ignore the pitying stares and whispers of the staff as he escaped.
~end of flashback~
A shiver traced it's way down Eridan's scalp. He was sure his father yanking his hair like that was not helping his already thining hair. The cause of his thining hair was that Eridan would often skip meals, just to avoid his father, he knew it wasn't healthy but he stopped caring about that kind of stuff long ago. Due to his bad eating habits, Eridan had no muscles to show for, bruised far too easy, and was always exhausted. A small part of him wished someone, anyone would notice. Perhaps that person could be warm to Eridan, granting him the affection, which he coveted so. This dark trail, brought him to Feferi, her warmth, her laugh, her caring demeanour. Before the water works began he banished her from his head, it would be not help to him to feel, as his father mentioned, at least he thinks so. His memory was not what it used to be.
He scanned his room from his computer chair, to see if he had any issues he had to tend to. His mental results coming up with nothing, giving him the clear to go to his personal heaven. He whipped around to face his small, sleek laptop. ' Paradise ' , he thought to himself. He if was going to be honest with himself, the internet was his only safe haven. Online he was someone new, shiny, and thought of, well at least he hoped so. He ran a blog that dealt with him and another book worm reading a suggested book, and giving it a review. It was decently popular as well, and to his joy, it appeared people cared about his reviews. Even if his co-writer was more regarded then him.
A sudden ping snapped Eridan out his thoughts. It appeared that it was from his partner. Eridan could only think to wonder what he could possibly want , but he was in no mood to say no to a some what friendly conversation. Quickly he clicked on the pesterchum logo. As soon as he did this he was faced with a wall of gray text." Yikes " mumbled Eridan as he pushed forwards.