Chapter Text
CG: SO ARE YOU AND THE SHARK FUCKER DATING YET? SPARE ME THE MUSHY DETAILS, A FUCKING YES OR NO WILL SUFFICE.
TA: aww you dont want mu2hy detaiil2? but ii had 2o many two tell you!
TA: could iit be that the great karkat vanta2 ii2... jealou2?
CG: WHAT?? OF COURSE I'M NOT JEALOUS, SHITDICK, DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU MAYBE I'M JUST LOOKING OUT FOR MY FUCKING FRIENDS?
TA: admiit iit KK.
TA: youre totally jealou2 ii get two be wiith that 2weet bod.
TA: or maybe iits ed youre jealou2 of?
TA: gettiing that captor actiion.
CG: OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!
CG: IM NOT JEALOUS OF EITHER OF YOU!
CG: CAN YOU GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL? I'VE JUST BEEN FORCED TO LISTEN TO YOU RAMBLING ABOUT HOW HES ACTUALLY CUTE FOR THE PAST WEEK AND NOW I WANT TO KNOW WHETHER YOU FINALLY GREW THE BALLS TO OFFICIALLY ASK HIM OUT!
TA: alriight fiine.
TA: were not offiiciially datiing yet okay.
TA: were gonna liike...
TA: ju2t 2ee how iit goe2.
TA: and work from there.
CG: THERE, SEE? THAT WASN'T SO HARD!
CG: JUST A WARNING
CG: AMPORA KNOWS FUCK ALL ABOUT ANYTHING THANKS TO HIS SHITTY PARENTS SO HES PROBABLY GOING TO BE AN OBLIVIOUS FUCKER MOST OF THE TIME
TA: waiit you know about hii2 parent2?
CG: I KNOW THEYRE TERRIBLE AT TEACHING HIM ABOUT SHIT
CG: BECAUSE OF HOW FUCKING IGNORANT HE IS
CG: WHY
CG: DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING I DONT
TA: well there2 the 2mall ii22ue of them beiing phy2iically and verbally abu2iive fuck2.
CG: UNSURPRISING
CG: YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO ANYTHING?
TA: fuck ii dont know.
TA: maybe we 2hould conviince ed two do 2omethiing.
CG: YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT
CG: IM BEING BUGGED BY STRIDER
CG: SEE YOU LATER AND JUNK
TA: later2.
carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
Sol tossed his phone aside and grabbed a can of Red Bull instead, downing half the thing in one, before humming under his breath and returning to work on his coding, despite his hands aching from almost twelve hours of solid work. It was Sunday, two days after his stargazing almost-date with Eridan, and he still hadn't fully got over the fuzzy feeling in his stomach that he definitely wasn't used to. It irritated him to no end, but he was used to being irritated to no end at this point.
A blanket was thrown over his head as he worked, his favourite red on one side, blue on the other blanket, and he hardly noticed how dark it had gotten thanks to how absorbed he was in his work.
His fingers skated effortlessly over the keys but something kept going wrong, and it was only after he corrected the thirteenth doubled w or v in just fifteen minutes that he realised the conversation he had with KK had infused his thoughts once again with nothing but ED.
This was stupid. It wasn't like Sollux Captor to pine over boys. It wasn't like Sollux Captor to pine over anybody. Sollux Captor was efficient, was mathematical, was calculating and thought of things in binary and code, and Sollux Captor never messed up his codes. He didn't even use his usual typing style of doubled Is and twos instead of s when he was coding. Sollux Captor didnt mess up his code for anybody.
But apparently, for Eridan Ampora he did. And he knew it was ridiculous to deny it, because he might have only known the douchebag for less than a week, but he'd probably do anything for Eridan Ampora.
Alright, that might be pushing it a little. He was probably just tired, and KK had reminded him of the fuzziness in his stomach that he was definitely not used to, and with a grumble he scrubbed at his eyes with his hoodie sleeve and slammed his laptop shut. He wasn't gonna be able to focus on coding today, that was for sure. Shame. He was really looking forward to convincing KK to open his latest virus. It was always fucking hilarious to read his best friends rants when he inevitably gave in and opened the viruses, only to be met with uncloseable porn tabs, or all his icons replaced with Sollux's face smirking at him, or whatever other creative idea Sollux had, until Sol finally stopped being amused and sent him the solution.
This was gonna be a great virus, too. He was planning to make every tab KK opened send him straight to Striders SBaHJ page. He knew how much it got on KK's nerves, and if Sol could be bothered he would 100% make them uncloseable as well. Ah, fuck, who was he kidding, of course he could be bothered. It would be worth even more missed sleep in order to see KK's reaction to this one.
But that clearly wasn't going to happen, since ED wouldn't get his ass out of Sollux's mind. His fine ass. Oh shit, now he was just thinking about Eridans ass. Nice going, Captor.
Groaning, Sollux pulled the blanket over his head closer around him and lay back, staring at the ceiling and mumbling choice curse words to himself, avoiding any with S in them. God he hated his lisp - but of course his dad was underpaid and couldn't afford braces, so he'd just have to live with it. He wondered whether braces would even help. His dad had fairly straight teeth, and yet he shared the exact same lisp both Captor brothers did. Maybe it was a family trait. Maybe Sol would never fucking get rid of it.
There was a comforting thought. Stuck with a kindergarten speech impediment until he was old and decrepit and could hardly speak at all, and people would still tell him to say it, not spray it, like the hilarious assholes they thought they were. Woohoo.
Rolling over, Sol considered sleeping, but the caffeine still buzzing around his system obviously had other plans, and he could feel the beginnings of a headache pushing into the cracks in his brain. If he moved quickly, maybe he could stop that before it even started, but he doubted it. When he got headaches they usually didn't disappear for a god awful long time.
Despite that knowledge, he managed to push himself upright and run a hand through his mop of black hair. He was definitely due a haircut before his hair got as bad as Tunas. Speaking of Tuna, Sollux wondered where his older brother was. He hadn't heard anything breaking or crashing in the past hour or so, but he had been pretty involved in his work. If he was lucky, Mituna had burnt himself out and passed out, and Sol could potentially lug him into bed before the guy woke up and started bounding around again.
As Sol moved down the hall to the bathroom to try and find some painkillers, he thought about how much he missed the Mituna from his childhood. The Mituna that helped him with math homework, the Mituna that tried to teach him how to skate until Sollux had broken his arm falling off the skateboard and not gone near one since, the Mituna that wore normal clothes and ruffled Sollux's hair and cracked bad jokes and could take more than five steps without stumbling and bought Sollux energy drinks as their little secret from their dad. The Mituna that was around when their dad was. But now that Mituna was gone and their dad spent as much time as possible out of the house and Sol hadn't had a proper conversation with either of them in years.
Dont get him wrong, Sollux loved Mituna just as much as before. But it was a lot harder to love someone when they constantly broke things or racked up huge medical bills they could barely afford or sometimes just forgot everything before bounding back to "normal" with a grin, like nothing fucking mattered to him.
Sollux supposed he shouldn't complain, as he rummaged in the medicine cabinet for something to subdue the headache now throbbing angrily in his skull. At least Mituna was still alive. It could have gone a lot worse.
Swallowing the pills dry, Sol went back out in order to track down the lil guy he was thinking about, and sure enough found him passed the fuck out in the kitchen, holding onto his skateboard like a lifeline. It made Sol chuckle, even as he leant down and picked up his big brother's unconscious figure, feeling unnerved like always at how light his brother was. Mituna shifted in his arms and Sollux sighed, walking to Tunas room and depositing him on his bed.
Tuna mumbled and reached out, closing his fingers in a tight vicelike grip around Sollux's wrist, and Sol stiffened, tugging softly in an attempt to free himself. This was another thing that he still hadn't got used to about post-accident Mituna - he freaked out when people just brushed up against him, and yet grabbed at anyone and held onto them far too tight, even when asleep.
Somehow, his thoughts drifted to Eridans older brother, and his eyes narrowed, the sudden rage giving him the courage to yank his arm away from Tuna, not that it mattered. The guy just rolled over and started mumbling to himself in his sleep, while Sollux escaped the room and quietly fumed about Cronus. How dare he call Mituna a retard? For that matter, how did they even know one another? He didn't remember Mituna ever mentioning a Cronus, even before the accident.
Sol returned to his room with his head still aching, possibly even worse than before thanks to all the seething he was currently partaking in. He should've known painkillers wouldn't help. He had been living with these headaches for over a decade and a half.
Laying back down on his bed, Sol pulled off his glasses and laid them on his coffee-stained beside table, rubbing at his eyes with his hoodie sleeve before pulling his blanket over his head again and curling up in a feeble attempt to sleep. He knew he'd have to deal with an alarm and school in the morning, but he could think about that later. For now he was tired, and he was angry, and he was desperately trying to ignore the buzzing that felt suspiciously like bees every time he thought Eridans name.
Sollux was even grumpier when he awoke, if that was possible. Grumpiness was a common state with the youngest Captor. He was almost as bad as Karkat. But not quite, because no one could ever hope to match up against the grumpiness of Karkat Vantas. But still, pretty grumpy.
It probably wasn't helped by him being woken up by his hyper older brother smashing through the door and throwing himself on Sollux's sleeping figure.
Tuna bounced after him as he all but dragged himself to the kitchen and made coffee like a zombie, downing the coffee black in two huge swigs and blinking slowly at his brother and father, who was sat at the kitchen table sipping his own mug of coffee and reading a newspaper.
"Dad, why are you thtill in pyjamath?" Sol asked blearily, tuning out Tunas curse-filled blabbering in the background. His dad smiled at him, and Sol scowled in response. His dad was meant to drop him at school in - Sollux checked the clock quickly - less than half an hour, and he knew for a fact that his dad's showers took fifteen minutes, because Sollux's did too, and there wouldn't be time for them both if Sol wanted to get to school on time, so he didn't know what the hell his dad was doing still wearing flannel pants and a t-shirt like he didn't have places to be and shit to do.
"Thomeoneth come to take you to thcool, Tholluxth," Psii said with a chuckle, returning to his newspaper, and Sol scanned the room to see who he could mean, and his eyes landed on someone standing by the door, smiling at him and rocking on their heels, hands politely behind their back.
Of course it was Eridan. Of fucking course.
Sol fought through his headachey fogginess enough to flash a toothy grin at Eridan, before turning back to his father. "Dont you have work?" he asked, and Psii's smile turned tight.
"You know I dont thtart work for a while after you thtart thcool, Tholluxth," he lisped back, busying himself with something apparently fascinating at the bottom of his mug, but Sol caught the glance his dad shot towards Mituna, who had given up on trying to catch Sollux's attention and was currently trying to do skateboard tricks on the couch.
"I remembered you said your father takes you to school, Sol," Eridan interjected, drawing Sollux's attention. "So I, w-well, I thought maybe I could be of some use...? I... I can go, if you'd rather.."
ED looked nervously at the door, and Sol could tell that he was twisting his rings behind his back, and did his best to give what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile, but probably came out more like a grimace, given how fucking awful his head felt. "It'th alright, ED, jutht tho long ath you dont mind being here with Dad and Tuna for a bit while I thhower and thtuff."
"That's alright!" Eridan said hurriedly, but he looked a little intimidated by the prospect. Sollux felt a little bad, but another glance at the clock had him hurrying to the bathroom, in order to not invalidate Eridans offer of a lift.
Twenty minutes and another cup of coffee later, Sol was finally ready to leave, valiantly ignoring the headache bubbling malevolently under a layer of distraction in his brain. Eridans car was as nice as he remembered, but the memory was now slightly marred by the knowledge of his family and life.
They had hardly talked since Friday, which made Sol feel slightly guilty, especially given how nice ED was being, even if he was talking a little too much. It was only once Eridan fell silent and looked at him sideways, expectantly, did he realise he was probably expected to contribute to this as well.
"Sol, are you okay?" Eridan asked when Sol just blinked and rubbed his eyes, and fuck if that sweet voice didn't make his insides twist, but dont get ahead of yourself, Captor. You're gonna get with him fair and square. Dont make this weird.
"I'm jutht wonderful, ED," Sollux shot back. Fuck, he made it weird. Why was his default mode sarcasm?
The car stopped at a red light, and Eridan twisted himself slightly to look at Sollux a little easier, and god Sol should've seen this coming, he should've known he couldn't avoid an awkward conversation forever.
"Look, Sol, about Friday," he began, twisting his rings like he always did when he was nervous. "I get if you w-were, like, just sayin all a that just to make me feel better? Dont, dont feel pressured into anythin just because my family are shit, alright? I really like you too, and I guess w-we shouldn't pretend all a that newer happened, but on the other hand if you dont w-wanna do any dates or anythin, I get it. I still need to pay you, anyw-way. And, w-well, if you'd rather, once I pay you you can completely forget about all a this, if you'd like. Yeah."
The light turned green, and Eridan twisted stiffly back round, staring determinedly at the road, while Sollux was left to blink and try to gather his thoughts. That was unexpected.
He spent the rest of the journey to school trying to think of an appropriate way to answer, but before he could manage it the car was parked and he was automatically stepping out, and before he knew it Eridan was disappearing inside, leaving Sol standing there like an asshole.
Well, fuck. Now what was he supposed to do? Of course he meant all that shit. Even Sollux didn't fuck around with people's feelings like that. That was just a dick move.
But ED had already vanished, so Sollux could do nothing else but make his way to his first class and hope he'd find a chance to talk to Eridan properly later.