Work Text:
Your name is Sollux Captor, and you are fucking on a roll. It doesn't matter that you've been awake for three nights straight. You're not tired in the least, and besides, you're too busy getting shit done to worry about the waste of time that is sleep. Come to think of it, you haven't eaten anything in a while. And when was the last time you fed your lusus?
You're about to check on the time and date and fix that, but that unfinished line of code. It beckons. You finish that up, but it's entirely wrong. All of it is fucking wrong. You'll have to start over from scratch and make it right.
You don't even realize what time it is until the morning comes. You should get to sleep, or at least eat something. But you're not tired at all, and you can go a couple more lines of code before you go eat something.
There's a knock at your door, which makes you frown. Who the hell could be showing up on your hive doorstep at this time of day? Any sane troll would be crawling into their recuperacoon by now.
"Sollux, open up the door this instant!" A familiar, hollow voice reaches through to you, and you let Aradia inside. She looks exhausted and ragged, and you help her to your double recuperacoon. It's only there to fit with your bifurcation obsession, but it's also handy for when you have guests, too.
"AA, what are you doing here?" She looks up at you and frowns. You probably look like shit, and having her staring at you like that suddenly makes you feel self-conscious. You run a hand through your hair, almost disgusted at the feel of how nasty it's gotten. When was the last time you used the ablution trap? Aradia's going to ask that of you, you can already tell.
"I came here because you weren't answering anyone on Trollian, stupid!" She hits your forehead with her palm, like it's the obvious answer. Truth be told, you hadn't even realized anyone was messaging you in the first place. You were busy. You should still be busy, fuck, you've gotta get back to that coding.
"Sollux, you are eating, and then you are going to use the ablution trap, and then you are going to go to sleep whether you like it or not!" Aradia's powers were never as strong as yours, but they're still enough to prevent you from reaching the computers. Not like it matters, you can still type from over here, but you can't see the monitors. Maybe you can get just a little closer...
"Hey!" You don't really get any warning before you're yanked backwards and your head hits the wall. Fuck, just what you need, a migraine. Way to ruin your productivity!
"AA, I just need to finish up this code."
Aradia places herself squarely between you and the computer. "Don't make me unplug the computer, Sollux. I will do it." No. Holy fuck, no. You'll go along with whatever she wants to do if it means you can save all your progress. You don't even remember when the last time was that you saved it. Fuck, she could ruin the whole night's work.
"Okay, okay. What do you want?"
"I want you to go into the ablution trap, clean yourself up, and then go to sleep." You nod dumbly and doe as she says, itching to continue with your coding but afraid and nervous of losing everything you've worked on so hard for the last three nights. Sure, you deleted all that code yourself earlier, but you still know what needs to be done.
When you do come out from the ablution trap, you feel infinitely better. Refreshed and ready to go for another bout of coding. Yes, cleaning up was exactly what you'd needed, you'll have to thank Aradia for that.
"Hold it, Captor." A plain, simple sandwich is shoved into your face.
"AA..."
"Eat it. Or else." You can see the wires float up, so you take the sandwich and eat it as quickly as possibly.
"Happy now?" The wires aren't being put down. Why aren't they being put down? Oh fuck you're going to lose everything she's going to destroy your work and crash the computers and kill the grubs and you won't be able to get any of it back--
"Sollux, look at me. Go to your recuperacoon. Once you're inside and asleep, I'll put the cords down and join you."
You shake your head, because you just know that she's lying. She's going to ruin everything and she just wants you to get in and sleep because that will make it so much easier. "Give me the cords." You try to take control of them, but they're so fragile when psychic forces are in play.
"No. Go to your recuperacoon, or I pull the plugs."
You can feel yourself shaking, and your vision is blurry and tinted with yellow. When did you start crying? That's a stupid thing, you need to stop it. You need to stop shaking, too, that's going to throw you off when you're able to get back to coding.
"But--"
The plug to the monitor gets yanked out. You shout and try to calm yourself down with the knowledge that it's just the monitor cord. Nothing was lost, not yet. But she's serious. Holy fuck she's serious, you should probably do what she says even if she is lying because there might be a chance she won't hurt anything if you comply with her demands. You crawl into your recuperacoon, settling in on the blue side because that's the side that's closest and it feels right at the same time.
"Now, close your eyes and get some sleep." The sopor's already easing your jangled nerves, encouraging you to relax. Once you close your eyes and sink in all the way, it's hard to think about coding. Everything becomes a fuzzy jumble, and then it goes dark.
When you wake up the next evening, Aradia's still in the other side of the recuperacoon she shared with you. She must be really tired if she's sleeping past sunset, so you let her be. The computer's plugged back in, none of your coding's been lost, and there's a note resting on the keyboard.
s0llux
i fed y0ur lusus f0r y0u
♦