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Bouncy with energy, Aradia is grinning from ear to ear next to you.
“Why the fuck did I let you talk me into going to this party, AA.”
Yeah, why did you? You’re already regretting it, and you’re not even there yet.
“Because you need to look at something other than computer screens once in a while, and you know it!”
“I changed my mind, I liked you better when you were a depressing ghost,” you grouch.
She laughs. “Oh come on Sollux, it’ll be fun!”
“You said there’ll be alcohol?”
“There sure will be!”
“Good.”
You expected a lot of things from this party, like how drunk you are for one thing, but definitely not that you’d end up flirting with this really hot girl across the room. Much less that you’d be heavily making out with her on a couch next thing you know.
“Get a room!” someone shouts at you, and she rises from your lap. Taking you by the hand, she pulls you up into another kiss, then proceeds to drag you off.
Still kissing, you stumble into a bedroom, wherever she’s leading you, and you vaguely think it’s going to suck for whoever it is that some random people fucked in their bed, but honestly you don’t give a shit. Shouldn’t throw parties and leave the doors unlocked then.
You fall onto the bed more than lie down, and she wastes no time to take off your shirt before kissing you again.
Breathless and buzzing inside, you lie back. She lies down next to you and you put your arm around her, a smile on your face as she starts caressing your chest and belly.
Neither of you has said a word the entire time, you suddenly realize. And yet, this was probably the best stranger sex you’ve ever had.
Honestly, probably the best sex you’ve ever had, period.
Maybe you should ask for her number.
You must have fallen asleep, because you wake up having a slight headache. The room is dark and there’s noise of people shouting outside, overlaying the dull thumping of the bass from the music downstairs.
Thank fuck you didn’t sleep until the party was over.
With a pang of regret, you notice that she’s gone, only your clothes are left on the floor next to the bed.
You don’t even know her name.
~ FRUITY RUMPUS GROUP CHAT ADVENTURES thats a really cringe title who put that there W4SNT M3 ~
AA: sollux was really drunk at the party last night, are you ok??
AA: you just disappeared on me!
EB: haha yeah it was pretty embarrassing how drunk he was.
TA: not two embarra22iing two get laiid though, unliike you.
EB: what, with who??
TG: god john srsly lmao
EB: what?
TG: dont b so nosy
TA: hotte2t giirl at the party, ii can a22ure you of that.
GC: ... LMF4O
TT: Oh boy.
“Man I got so fucking drunk at that party KK, and I ended up fucking this chick?”
Karkat looks at you with his eyebrows raised.
“What, I was just hanging out and then there was this girl in this kind of skimpy outfit, she was just really hot, okay? And I don’t know somehow we started flirting, but like nonverbally it was so weird? And then we’re in somebody’s bedroom getting naked and holy shit, it was so good, KK.” You started patting your cheek as you were talking, probably looking like a smitten idiot. “So good.”
Karkat does this weird thing with his teeth and his lip for a second before he sighs and says, “Sollux, the ‘chick’ you fucked at that party? Was Eridan.”
Wait, what did he just say?
“But it’s real good to know that the sex with him was apparently amazing.”
Are you hallucinating from your hangover? “Uh, dude I think you just said ‘Eridan’.”
“Yeah.”
You do a double take, feeling like everything just fell out of your face. “What?”
“Was it the one with the black tube top that barely covered anything and the little red plaid skirt that was really more of a belt? Striped socks and whatnot? That was Eridan.”
He’s way exaggerating, that skirt was not that short. “I fucked Eridan?”
... Did that just come out of your mouth?
“Well I didn’t watch you do it Sollux, but you sure as fuck were making out with him a lot, so I’d say it’s safe to assume you did.”
Oh god.
“We were all surprised, honestly, but you both seemed so into it, nobody wanted to say anything.”
Oh god what what the fuck did you do
“But it- The skirt.”
“Yeah.”
“And the hair.”
“Yeah, and if you’d gone to any of those fucking parties before and not gotten so sloshed you can’t walk straight, you’d know that it wasn’t the first time he dressed like that.”
“God stop looking like you got hit by the fucking bus, Sollux.”
Hastily, you dig out your phone to delete the message you sent in the group chat earlier, feeling hot and cold. Fucking pray that Eridan hasn’t seen it yet. Please.
Going through who else you likely won’t be able to avoid, who might have seen you with him AND that message, you start feeling nauseous.
There’s a bunch of them you share some uni classes with, can’t even untangle who right now, some of Terezi’s are right across the hall from yours. She likes to hang out at the cafeteria with you.
And actually, the fishface himself: He lives around the corner from you and you run into each other all the time, at the supermarket or wherever.
Your life is about to get very painful.
Offense is the best defense, so you’ve decided to be proactive about this now, you know, like an adult. Hahaha, yeah, right.
Your stomach turns as you approach him.
“Uh, listen, about the, the uh.”
He looks up at you over the rim of his glasses, a hawkish stare. He really looks like a predator when he does that.
“The party. I mean. Because we. Apparently we.”
“... Fucked?” he finishes the sentence for you.
“Yeah, that. I was just.” Oh god. Yeah, you fucked. Your face is burning. “I mean. It’s okay that you thought I was just some random dude, like don’t worry about— Wait.”
“Yeah I knew it was you,” he says, deadpan.
You stare at him.
“What, you didn’t?”
You can feel yourself starting to sweat.
“Seriously?”
“Look, I mean, I was just really, really drunk, like, that, that didn’t— That didn’t really mean, I mean it doesn’t mean that I.”
“It was just a fuck Sol, nothing more, don’t get your panties in a twist,” he drawls. Rolling his eyes, he goes back to reading his book and ignoring you.
Somehow, you can’t place the sting of disappointment you didn’t expect to feel at hearing that.
Captor, the email from your professor reads.
if your performance in my course has not drastically improved by the end of the semester, I am going to have to fail you - again.
That'll be two out of three.
Regards,
Yeah fucking regards. Shit. Shit fucking shit shit. You can’t afford to fail your interdisciplinary elective again. You really can’t.
Why you had to take the history one, and then be so stupidly stubborn to do it a second time instead of just picking something else, you have no idea. Why is that shit even necessary? All of these human things still make no sense to you.
No of course, you could just be like whatever and fail it and pick another one next year. But somehow that doesn’t sit right with you. It hurts your pride.
It also hurts your Can’t give the fishface the satisfaction of gloating over how Captor failed a course twice if he got wind of it, and he absolutely would.
You sigh and tab to your messenger.
TA: hey AA
TA: ii got a favor two a2k of you...
AA: yes and i would love to help you with that elective but you know i work two jobs and i have a huge term paper to finish, actually two term papers, and im really sorry but im sure you can ask someone else to help you!
You draw your lips into a line.
AA: i hear eridan is also a history student!
She has got to be fucking kidding you.
TA: thank you 2o fuckiing much.
TA: youre all ju2t haviing a fuckiing bla2t at my expen2e fuckiing rubbiing iit iin, huh.
AA: im not rubbing anything in though?
TA: yeah that2 not fuckiing awkward at all, a2kiing the dude iive known and hated 2iince we were 2iix, who ii acciidentally fucked at a party, mii2takiing hiim for a chiick, two fuckiing help me wiith my dumba22 unii cour2e.
AA: "accidentally"?
AA: sollux
AA: are you saying that...
TA: NO HE DIID NOT TRIIP AND FALL ON MY FUCKIING BULGE
AA: oh so you were the one who tripped? :D
TA: dsklgdhglfdgdlkgffdlgfdgfl
TA: iim never fuckiing talkiing two any of you ever agaiin 2tfg
With a huff, you click on a different DM.
TA: hii
CA: the fuck do you wwant
TA: ii have neiither the tiime nor the patiience for 2tupiid bull2hiit dance2 2o iim ju2t gonna 2ay iit
TA: iim fuckiing about two faiil my 2tupiid fuckiing electiive for the 2nd tiime, would you be wiilliing two help me wiith iit.
A minute or so passes.
TA: iit2 ok you can 2top laughiing now, iid hate iif you choked on your own 2aliiva and diied becau2e of me.
CA: lmfao
TA: ok
You mean to close the DM, but then there’s another message from him.
CA: yeah ill help you
What?
TA: ... you wiill?
CA: yeah
CA: wwere gonna do it at the fuckin library though
Yeah. You’ll do it at the library YOUR STUPID ASS BRAIN WHY
CA: i dont need your nerdly presence befoulin the sanctity a my hivve
TA: ...
TA: fiine by me, ii dont want your 2tupiid a22 iin my hiive, eiither.
CA: good
CA: you got time tomorroww at twwo
TA: yeah, but only untiil four.
CA: wwhy wwhere you gotta be mustardblood
CA: goin on a date wwith your right hand at the public bathroom
TA: ...
TA: not that iit2 any of your fuckiing bu2iine22 but ii have a fuckiing logiic cour2e at 4:15, you fii2h a22hole.
CA: alright
CA: tomorroww twwo pm at the library then
CA: dont forget to bring ALL your course materials
TA: yeah yeah.
TA: 2ee you then, fii2hfuck.
It doesn’t matter how hard you try. You can’t get the memory of his body out of your head, what he looked like, what he felt like. What Eridan felt like. Him in a short skirt. In a tube top. With long pigtails.
Not a word of what he says is registering with you. How the fuck are you supposed to do this?
Over time, it has gotten better, but in another way also worse.
He’s hot in anything. Why did it take you this long to see? Because you thought he was an insufferable asshole who never had a worry in his life, not a care in the world?
It’s become blatantly obvious from studying with him that he has his own struggles, some of which you don’t think you’d even know how to deal with.
And, fuck, you’ve started to like him.
His deadpan jokes are funny when he isn’t trying, and when he explains something and forgets it’s you and gets really into it, he’s actually fun to listen to.
If you don’t get something, he puts it in ‘Captor idiot terms,’ but it works.
“You were really hot in that outfit,” you randomly interrupt him. What the fuck are you doing?
He sets his jaw, then sniffs. Bitingly, he asks, “Why’d you delete the fuckin message then.”
“W-What message.”
“The one about fuckin the hottest girl at the party. Roxy showed me a screenshot, don’t fuckin lie.”
God, why. “Because I was embarrassed that I mistook you for a girl, alright?”
“Yeah, more like embarrassed you fucked the fish idiot, tell me I’m wrong.”
“You know what, fuck this.” You get up and start packing up your things.
“You wanna fail your elective, Captor,” Eridan says as loudly as possible, sternly, as if he wants everyone around to hear it.
Sighing, you sit back down.
Not commenting on it further, he merely smirks.
“So are you, like, do you... I mean, the feminine stuff...” You are nothing if not a dumb fuck, you clearly have to make it worse.
“I like both,” he snaps. “But apparently that’s not allowed when everybody seems to think one somehow undermines the other.”
“What do you mean with that?”
Eridan just scoffs and looks away. “Focus on your fuckin homework.” He taps the open textbook in front of you harshly. “Which is fuckin history, not gender studies.”
TA: 2o uh
CA: wwhat
TA: look ever 2iince that party iive been wonderiing iif
TA: iif iit meant that you miight po22iibly
TA: bee iintere2ted
CA: no
CA: thought id told you it wwas just a fuck captor
CA: meant fuckin nothin
CA: dont get any fuckin ideas that i wwouldnt still hate you just cause a that an the fact im helpin you not fail your shitty electivve ok
TA: ok
Don’t kid yourself that you went to this party for any reason other than wanting to see Eridan in that outfit again. Don’t even try. Despite everything, it’s been living in your head rent free ever since the night you...
You had sex with him and didn’t even know it. The thought still makes your cheeks burn and your skin prickle.
He’s been living in your head rent free, just in general.
Yeah, well, that’s a ship that was never in the harbor to begin with, and you aren’t going to delude yourself that it ever could be.
You really do want to see him dressed like that again, though, and you know he’s going to be here tonight. You have that on good authority.
But you have trouble finding him; you thought he’d be easier to spot.
Then you do, and to your disappointment, he’s - just wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt and a contemptuous frown.
He hasn’t even seen you yet.
Suddenly, he disappears somewhere, and you decide that you should get a drink.
Maybe not as many as last time.
With your bottle of whatever - it tastes of fruit? - in hand, you amble about aimlessly. More like, squeeze yourself inbetween bodies you weren’t planning on getting this intimate with.
No, there’s only one body you’d really like to get intimate with again, isn’t there.
Making yourself as thin as possible, you finally come out the other side of that group of people, and as you glance to your right, you see Eridan sitting on a couch next to Roxy. He’s still frowning, arms crossed and his knees pulled up. Roxy has her arm around him, excitedly talking about something you can’t hear because the music is too loud.
You want to kiss his frown away.
Outside the building, you lean against the wall. You should just leave. You didn’t get to see the outfit, he doesn’t want you anyway, and you’re just going to make yourself unhappy looking at him if you stay.
“Didn’t think you were such a party animal, mustardblood,” Eridan says bitingly, coming out of the entrance door next to you. Did he follow you or something?
“To be honest I didn’t think you’d be one, either,” you reply.
He shrugs. “It can be fun but sometimes I dunno what I’m doin here honestly.”
“Then why do you go.”
Ignoring that, he fixes his gaze on you. “You here cause you wanna find another chick to fuck?”
You take a breath.
If you don’t say it now, you never will.
“No I’m here because I want you,” you reply quietly, staring at the asphalt under your feet. What was the point of that? He’s just going to—
“Well I’m not available to you,” he spits.
Yeah. That hurts even more than you expected.
You try to ignore it, gesture at him vaguely. “Why aren’t you wearing the...”
Eridan gets in your face to say, “What, Captor? The slut outfit?” Somehow you only realize now, his eyes right in front of yours, that you’re pretty much exactly the same height.
Withdrawing again, he adds, “I think I can fuckin wear whatever I want, or are you the fuckin fashion police now.” It sounds oddly bitter.
“You don’t need to be so fucking prickly.”
“What the fuck do you want from me?”
“I—”
“Comin here lookin all pissed on, you think I was gonna-”
“If you knew who I was then why did you lie next to me cuddling with me if you hate me that much?”
You probably look like you’re about to cry. You’re not, but you are confused. And desperate.
Instead of responding, he looks away.
“I can’t stop thinking about you. In that outfit, but in anything. Or just nothing. It doesn’t matter, only you matter.”
Regretting it the moment it comes out of your mouth, you want to run away, but you feel Eridan grab your wrist as he pulls you back and you’re too surprised to do anything. You’re in his arms, he’s kissing you, shoving you towards the wall, you kiss him back, euphoric, but—
He stops to look at you. “You really want me? Like. For more than.”
The goosebumps you get feel so intense you have to gasp. “Fuck, Eridan, yes, I do. I-”
Silenced by another kiss, you wrap your arms around him.
Maybe you’ll never let go.
“Would- Would you put that ouftit on again? For me?”
He sighs heavily, but gets up.
He’s really wearing the whole outfit, black tube top, red plaid miniskirt. The boots and the striped stockings and armwarmers, the long pigtails. You realize now that they’re hair extensions, his own hair brushed to the front to make it look like sideswept bangs.
“Fuck you’re so hot,” you blurt out in a helpless whine.
As he stands there looking at you gawking, he slowly takes his glasses off, he even put on the makeup, and, yeah, shit, that’s him — her — hi– Them? He’s not two people, don’t be stupid, and he didn’t say he was nonbinary either, so don’t jump to conclusions.
“You look even cuter with the nerdy glasses, to be honest.” Why can’t you ever shut up?
But he just snorts, puts them back on and sits down next to you.
You lean over, he leans in too, your glasses clacking against each other when you kiss.