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Sollux leaned against the windowsill of the room she shared with Eridan, looking down at the courtyard three stories below. It had been Eridan’s idea to live on the top floor, where they could, in a worst case scenario, at least barricade themselves on the roof again like they had that first day. It was reasonable enough, Sollux supposed, even if she thought that would more than likely only be prolonging their deaths if such an event came to pass. What were the odds of the hordes clearing enough to let them fight their way back down again?
Nothing of the sort had happened though, allowing her to be lulled into a sense of, if not security, routine. Eridan, along with the other most capable survivors, had worked hard on fencing off the cleared section of campus, an area that had been growing steadily over time. Soon enough, the entire university would be safe once more, free from the plagues of the outside world. They could expand their agricultural endeavors, maybe even start raising livestock. Maybe it would be alright.
Some of the other girls, like Feferi, insisted it was only a matter of waiting until someone came to save them. Sollux disagreed. The government, if it still existed in any capacity, had far larger concerns than a bunch of college girls.
Speak of the devil, there she was. Sollux pushed the window open a few inches as soon as she saw two figures crossing the courtyard to her dorm and called down.
“I’ll take care of the body check, Peixes! Go hang out with your girlfriend!” She couldn’t hear whether she got a response, but she could see the figures waving down below, indicating that they’d heard her. No urgency to their movements—that was always a good sign. Sollux kept watching until they passed out of view of the window, closer and closer to the dorm’s entrance. It would take a couple of minutes for Eridan to come up the three flights of stairs to the suite they’d claimed as their own, so Sollux straightened up and turned her gaze to the mirror.
She ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing out the few visible tangles and frowning at how terribly uneven her once pristinely symmetrical split dye had gotten. Over the last several months, her roots had grown out enough to make the platinum blonde half look rather silly, pushed a few inches down by jet black. There was probably bleach lying around somewhere; maybe Eridan would help her touch it up. Her clothes, baggy jeans and hoodie, were painfully typical for her, nothing Eridan hadn’t seen before. Still, she was consumed with the foolish desire to look good for her, to impress her even in this rotting world.
Right when she expected to first hear the sound of boots thudding down the hall, she sprung from the bedroom to the small living room and flung open the suite door. Sollux was already wrapped around the doorframe when Eridan and Feferi came into view, the former still toting her gun and clad in makeshift, blood-splattered armor.
“Hey,” she said, too soft in light of Feferi’s proximity. “Welcome back.” The smile that unfolded then across Eridan’s face was unfit for Feferi’s presence too, slow and warm as the sunrise. Not the sharp, toothy imitations of joy she pulled around the other girls, trying to make herself seem like something more than Feferi’s attack dog. A real smile, just for Sollux. One that made her want to kiss every freckle on her dirt-smudged face.
“Missed me, Captor?” She raised an eyebrow, playfully mocking, and crossed her free arm over her chest. “How pathetic. We oughta get you somethin’ to do with your time.” Sollux watched Feferi’s gaze bounce from her to Eridan and back again. She shifted from foot to foot, making a face like she was sucking a lemon. She didn’t like that a total nobody from the computer science department had usurped her most loyal childhood friend. Sollux had overheard plenty of whispered conversations in the early days of ten girls to a suite, before so much space had been reclaimed.
“What, keeping up all the communications systems on campus isn’t enough work? Maybe it’s your attitude we gotta do something about, huh?”
“Fuckin’ brat.” Eridan carefully placed her gun in the corner where it belonged, ensuring the safety was on. Even now, when the fences hadn’t been breached in over a month, it was riskier to fully unload it than not. “You’re just askin’ for trouble.” It was only as she began to strip off the armor over her clothes that she seemed to remember Feferi’s presence, catching sight of her out of the corner of her eye, and everything about her stiffened up again. Attack dog. Servant.
“Like I said, I’ve got it,” Sollux said to Feferi, leaning back against the wall all loose and casual, like nothing. “We both know checking ED is only a formality.” Because she was good enough to never get bitten or because she was inhumanly loyal enough to report herself for termination the moment she did? Either. Both. Feferi let out a sigh, golden brown gaze passing back and forth between them again like she wasn’t sure she could trust Sollux to tell the truth, but then she nodded.
“Well, okay, if you’re sure you can manage it, Sollux. She can be a little tricky to handle sometimes.” Lips pursed in a disapproving pout, Feferi puffed out her cheeks a little like she was in the middle of a sorority meeting rather than discussing mandatory strip searches.
“I handle her just fine, FF, don’t you worry.” She waggled her eyebrows a little to emphasize her point, red and blue piercing glinting in the afternoon light. With a sigh and a flustered goodbye, Feferi left them, suite door closing hard behind her.
When they were alone, Eridan went back to peeling off her armor, dumping each piece in the recycling bin they’d been using to hold anything bloody so it could be sterilized later. All evidence seemed to indicate that zombie blood was only dangerous if it got in open wounds, but there was no point in taking unnecessary risks.
“You okay?” She kept her voice soft, just in case Feferi was still lingering outside the door. “Uneventful trip, I hope.”
“Oh, yeah, nothin’ remarkable. Fef sent me out with Vris, the bitch, but we got plenty of food brought back and only needed to take out a few zombies along the way. No close calls. Can’t ask for much more.” Eridan toed off her boots and padded off in the direction of the bathroom, leading Sollux to follow. When she entered, Eridan was already beginning to undress mechanically, glasses set aside above the sink.
“Good. I wish she wouldn’t put you with Vriska all the time,” she muttered, pulling a face. Her own glasses couldn’t be put aside yet, not until she’d done the requisite body check, so she gently pushed Eridan’s hands out of the way, pulling up the soft violet knit of her sweater herself. Doing it like this, letting her girlfriend just relax and be taken care of, helped it feel a little less clinical, a little more intimate. Certainly much better than submitting to Feferi’s discerning gaze.
“We work well together, unfortunately.” Eridan let out a soft sigh when Sollux unbuttoned her pants, stepping out of them for her. “No matter how much of a vile bitch she is, at least she can hold her own out there. I don’t gotta worry about her holdin’ me back.” When she was down to her bra and panties, Sollux forced herself to grow more serious, checking her over from head to toe for any signs of open wounds, no matter how small.
There were none, as always. As always, Sollux felt something inside her loosen with relief at the confirmation.
“All good. Want me to help you wash up?”
“‘Course I do.” Cracking a small smile, just enough to let her know she was just as relieved to be cleared, Eridan reached out, plucking Sollux’s glasses right off the bridge of her nose. They were set down next to her own, then Eridan was getting grabby, pulling and tugging at her clothes to undress her in turn.
“Someone’s eager,” she teased, moving closer and helping Eridan with the rest of her clothes. “What was it you were saying to me not that long ago? That me missing you was pathetic? What does that make you if you were thinking about getting me in the shower with you the whole time you were gone?”
“It wasn’t the whole time. Unlike you, I can’t afford to let my mind wander too much while I’m workin’.” Eridan shot her a glare, remarkably clear even though Sollux knew her vision was abysmal without her glasses, and moved to turn on the shower. They were all remarkably fortunate that they’d kept the water on campus working, thanks to the likes of Equius.
Once it was warm enough, they stepped inside, Sollux herding Eridan in ahead so she could get the bulk of the spray. She’d deal with being a little chilly first for the sake of letting her girlfriend get the filth of the day washed off as quickly as possible. The scolding about being unable to let her mind wander, though it had been part of her usual banter like anything else, had guilt settling uneasily over her. She wished she could make things easier for Eridan, though she knew that all their myriad privileges would be much harder to attain if Eridan wasn’t such an essential part of their community. She was no slouch herself, well-respected for her tech skills, but the group could get by without her if something happened. Without Eridan, everyone would be less safe.
“You were thinking about it at least a little though, weren’t you?” Better not to get into the serious things right away, before they’d had a chance to unwind. All their problems would still be there later. Instead, she’d keep joking around and lightening her mood. Sollux squeezed some shampoo into her hand and began working it through Eridan’s long hair. The sudsy water rinsed out red with zombie blood. Sollux sucked in a sharp breath through her mouth, taking a small step back so it wouldn’t come in contact with her skin. Her nails were short and blunted, but she was even more slow and careful in massaging the shampoo into Eridan’s scalp so she wouldn’t scratch her. Her muscles remained tense with concentration until the water ran clear.
“Maybe a little. It’s hard to forget someone as annoyin’ as you for very long.”
“Trying to say I’m more annoying than Vriska? You’re going to offend me with that shit, ED.” Satisfied that she was free of bloodstains, Sollux moved in closer again to start gently working the soap over her body. She knew the story of every scar marking that smooth skin, from where she’d gotten torn up by barbed wire in the early days, only Sollux’s testimony saving her, to childhood injuries from her father’s fishing boat. Sollux knew them all as well as her own, could recognize them by sight and touch alike. She leaned her head down, kissing the junction between neck and shoulder.
“Wouldn’t dare offend you when you’ve got me in such a vulnerable position.”
“Oh, is that the only reason?”
“Shut it,” Eridan grumbled, flipping their positions to shove Sollux more fully under the warm spray of the shower instead. It felt luxurious, even if it wasn’t as scalding hot as she used to enjoy, and she let her muscles go lax, exhaling a quiet sigh of satisfaction. All would be peaceful between them now, at least for a couple of days until it was Eridan’s turn again to venture out beyond the fences for supplies or to take out a few zombies and reclaim another corner of campus for humanity.
“Make me,” she replied when Eridan was starting to shampoo her hair in turn. She delighted in the way those strong, manicured fingers gripped tighter and pulled her into a kiss. If they lingered too long in the shower, their neighbor might start banging on the wall in complaint about the lack of hot water, but with Eridan’s tongue in her mouth and hands running over her body, Sollux couldn’t bring herself to care.
It wasn’t how she’d expected her college life to go, but now, months removed from that horrible day she first saw a corpse staggering towards her, maybe it wasn’t so bad at all.