Work Text:
the wwhole issue is that she is more important than anythin else in the wworld today. i wwould give up evverythin for her, if it meant she wwould say she likes the colour "——EXTREMELY bright r——ED" as long as it invvolvved me. theres nothing WWRONG wwith wwantin to touch her hair, an theres nothing WWRONG wwith touchin it sometimes wwhen shes not lookin ad sometimes i am little bit NERVOUS that she knowws this, an maybe she does knoww, an she doesnt say anythin because shes too damn fuckin nice. that is fefs problem, she is kind as fuck an far too good for me, god, she is far too good for me, an she is the only thing i wwould evver evver evver settle for.i am fucked. i am okay with this.
Eridan growls and sighs at the same time, either way it sounds frustrated, and he crumples up the paper and throws it vehemently out the window. His hand runs through his asphalt hair, mostly the plum part of it, and his eyes cram shut, as if he could hide from all of this awful, painful affection if he just curled up in his own head -- but that's the problem, that's where it was all coming from. No matter where Eridan turns, no matter how much he directs his quiet adorations into murderous bloodlust against all others, it will always be there.
He grabs his harpoon gun and walks out the door.
---
When Feferi has gone a day without hearing from Eridan, she worries.
He's really silly. In a good way. Kind of. She hates to say anything bad about him, because she lov——————Es ahm uh wait no, she, she is so fond of him! Yes, she feels the most friendliest nicest feelings towards him. She """lov——Es""" him so, she does, but now she's getting carried away with this. What Feferi is trying to explain is that Eridan is filled with the darkest stormclouds and volcanic ash and it is up to her to give him sunshine and sweep out the cobwebs. It's amazing how upset he is about so much, so dramatic! But there really isn't anyone else that can make her smile how he does. He means well. Sometimes, it seems like, specifically with her, and perhaps, possibly, not just because she is a sea dweller like him, maybe because, um.
She's clinking along and shimmying on her way to his abode, so ironically on land (she smiles), and suddenly something has fallen out of the sky. The unidentified object bounces quite harmlessly off of her damp hair, and she blinks, startled a bit by the intrustion.
Feferi sees that it is a crumpled ball of paper! She claps her hands together; a message for her? She picks it up with much ——EXCIT———EMENT, only to be distracted by a strangled noise coming from Eridan's hive.
Oh no. The worrying feelings wells up inside her again, like too many bubbles(!!!) in her belly. She forgets the paper ball in her hand, and hurries along her way again.
---
Eridan is grumbling quietly. He has decided that today is not remotely a good day, and it's been a while anyway, so he'll just go find his lusus and get hunting. It's the best excuse to see her, after all.
He passes by marvelous paintings and doesn't hear his front door open at all, and he doesn't hear the wet-sounding footprints, and doesn't hear uncrumpling paper. His head is full of stormclouds and exploding volcanoes.
---
Feferi's eyes are reading lines over and over again, and there are little rips here and there, but she is still managing to make words out regardless, and her heart is racing wildly in her chest and her mouth is dry and she feels a little funny—
i wwould give up everythin for her.
Is this real? A prank? Did he throw his out the window as a joke of some sort, knowing it would catch her attention? But it was so honest, and she was filled with so much aching hope...
"OOF!"
Feferi went tumbling backwards, her derrier hitting the ground with a painful thud, and the person she ran into following suit. The paper clumsily floated to the floor between them.
---
When Eridan opened his eyes and refocused, there she was in all of her royal glory, fresh out of the sea and looking beautiful and dazed.
His happiness was short lived. He recognized a note he had just written, and it was not outside his hive, but at his feet. Uncrumpled. Eridan's eyes went wider and wider and pure, unadulterated fear and adrenaline FLOODED him in ways he had never felt before —— was he feeling too much life or was he about to die, both concepts seemed so correct, and his head spun and spun and spun.
"Eridan?"
"Y-YEAH?"
Oh man that sounded dumb, he had blurted it out unthinkingly and now Feferi was acutely aware of how aware he was of the situation. She blinked prettily from behind her goggles, and her mouth curved up into a soft smile, a meaningful one.
She got on all fours and began to crawl over to him. It was the longest three and a half seconds of his life. He wasn't breathing. All the pristine, violet blood in his body was rushing to all the worst places, and here was Feferi, now nearly on top of him, and, and, and.
Her kiss was so perfect he suddenly couldn't bring himself to hate anything at all.