Chapter 6

The two boys just stared at each other for a while, neither of them saying anything. Eridan's left hand was resting on the table, his fingers fiddling the strap of his bag nervously. He had agreed to talk with the boy who was sitting in front of him and looking at him with his eyebrows raised, waiting for him to say something, but now he couldn't think up what to say. After all, he hadn't even wanted to have the talk he was going to have to go through with now. It was Feferi's fault that he was in this situation, and he shot an angry scowl at her direction. She was still standing in the doorway, leaning on the frame and looking at them.

Eridan groaned quietly, annoyed, and turned his gaze back to Sollux.

"Tho were you going to thay thomething or are we jutht going to thit here like a couple of idioth?" Sollux asked, with a hint on impatience in his voice.

"I don't fuckin' hav-ve anythin' to say", Eridan snarled, his eyebrows knitting together. Maybe the other would just take the hint and leave, though Feferi wouldn't be pleased if that happened.

Sollux frowned. "Then why am I here? I have more important thingth to do than wathte my time thtaring at your thtupid fathe if there'th not even a good reathon for it", he said, crossing his arms.

Eridan rolled his eyes, taking in a long breath and trying to calm his nerves. The continuing stare coming from the other side of the table was making him feel uncomfortable and he was sure it could be seen from his face. He shifted nervously on the seat, setting his eyes on the table and staring at the reflection of the lamps above him. He couldn't help but to wonder if his hair looked okay or if there was something on his face, no matter how utterly stupid it was, but that happened every time someone was staring at him like that.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, just in case.

"You're here because Fef w-wants us to get along or somethin', like that's goin' to happen", he said quickly and cleared his throat, avoiding Sollux's gaze. "An' as far as I remember, you'v-ve been "thtarin' at my thtupid fathe" quite a lot recently, ev-ven w-without a reason", he said, this time with a more snarky tone, overexaggarating the pretended lisp.

Sollux snorted, his thin lips curling back to a small grimace, revealing his slightly crooked teeth, which probably were the cause of his speech impediment.

"Thtop making fun of me, your thpeech ithnt't perfect either, douche", he snapped, averting what Eridan had actually said. Eridan could hear him shifting on the seat and sighing.

"Anyway, why ith getting along with me thuch a horrible idea? I mean, we're not in middle thchool anymore, and to be honetht, that thhit wath ridiculouth", Sollux said and snickered quietly.

Eridan lifted his head again to look at Sollux, raising his eyebrows incredulously. Had he seriously just called it ridiculous? All the fights they had had, all the insults they had thrown at each other? Didn't he remember how both of them had been hurt, or what they had said? He really didn't seem to have any idea of how greatly it had affected Eridan, and was still affecting him to this day, even though it was something he should have forgotten about already, but he couldn't. Eridan would have gotten mad at Captor for laughing at the pathetic misery that was his life, but he couldn't do that either, because it felt like he was trying to compensate it in his own way. Maybe Eridan had only been taking it all too seriously from the start, and thinking about that made him feel like an idiot as he saw the corners of Sollux's lips curl upward into a small smile. It also made him feel like for Sollux it had all just been a game to mess around with him, and Eridan had been the fool to fall straight into it. He wasn't sure what to think of it, but mostly it made him angry, despite what he had thought just a moment earlier.

"Ridiculous?" he snapped, gritting his teeth and leaning forward. "Really, you call it ridiculous?"

Sollux looked puzzled, the smile quickly fading from his lips.

"What? It wath fucking thtupid, wathn't it?" he asked, his voice sounding uncertain, as if he wanted Eridan to confirm it.

Eridan huffed and placed both of his hands on the table with a small thump and a clink of his rings.

"Yeah, okay, it w-was ridiculous and stupid and w-whatev-ver you decide to call you perpetually tryin' your fuckin' best to make me feel like shit", he snarled, nearly hissing, but keeping his voice as quiet as possible, so that only Sollux could hear. The last thing his nerves needed was other people paying attention to their conversation, and he was already on the verge of blowing up completely. He was fatigued from the lack of sleep and everything he had had to deal with recently, and he wanted nothing but for this day to end so he could go home and curl in his bed with a warm blanket and maybe a book, but unfortunately the day was only starting. The whole world seemed to be against him, straining him with new disappointments and adversities all the time, no matter how much he tried to avoid them. Such as talking to this asshole right here.

Sollux furrowed his eyebrows. "Excuthe me? That theemed to be pretty mutual and jethuth fuck, pleathe don't tell me you took all of that theriouthly", he said, rolling his eyes and sitting up straight on his chair.

Eridan took a sharp breath, his anger and embarrassment growing. He could feel his face heat up, though he wasn't sure which one of the emotions caused it. "How-w the fuck do you expect me to not take it seriously? Maybe you're forgettin' somethin', because w-we had actual fights, Sol, actual, fuckin' fights, it w-wasn't just meaninless fuckin' around as you seem to take it", he said, glaring at the other boy and clenching his hands into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms.

For a moment Sollux's expression changed, but Eridan couldn't quite catch what the emotion on his face was, before he brought his hands up to his face and rested his elbows on the table, groaning quietly.

"Yeah, yeah we did, and it wath fucking thtupid ath I thaid", Sollux mumbled, pushing his glasses up a bit and rubbing his eyes. The both of them stayed silent for a moment and Sollux fixed his glasses again, looking back at Eridan. He rested his chin on his hands and sighed.

"Look, I'm really fucking thorry about that, I mean it. We were jutht a couple of thtupid kidth, let'th forget about it, okay?"

His voice was barely audible, and Eridan had to lean forward to hear what he had said. He let his eyes scan the cafeteria for a moment to make sure no one was listening to them, before setting them back on Sollux. He sighed and leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms. He was kind of surprised to hear him apologizing with such sincerity, or at least that was what he thought it was. Once again, he couldn't quite read the expression on the other's face, and at that moment he hated the stupid tinted glasses for being in the way of seeing how the boy really felt. It would have been easier if he could have actually seen Sollux's eyes better, because eyes are the mirror of the soul – or at least that's what people say. That made Eridan's mind wander, and for a moment he got distracted by the realization that he had never really seen those eyes.

He shook his head slightly, shooing the thought away from his head. This wasn't the time to think about that. Sollux was still looking at him, waiting for him to say something. He didn't even care about the color of his eyes. That was such a stupid thing to think about. Why would he care?

"It's easier said than done", he finally managed to respond and raised an eyebrow, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks. "Funny how-w you and Fef both just told me to forget about it, like, do you really think I'll just nev-ver think about it ev-ver again and the tw-wo a' us can become best fuckin' bros or somethin'?"

Sollux frowned slightly, leaning on his arms, and Eridan saw how his eyes darted to the side before returning back to stare at his face. Eridan turned to look where the other had looked and noticed Aradia walking up to them with a wide smile on her face. Eridan glanced at the door, and it seemed like Feferi had noticed her too, because she was already hurrying towards her through the room, bumping into someone on the way, and stopping for just a moment to apologize before continuing to make her way to the other girl. She managed to get to Aradia before she reached the boys, and Feferi grabbed her arm and swung her around, starting to pull her away. Aradia looked confused and tried to pull her hand from Feferi's grasp, but Feferi leaned closer to her to say something, at which Aradia nodded and followed her after glancing at the boys, the smile gone from her face. All of this happened in less than twenty seconds.

Eridan turned back to Sollux with his eyebrows raised. Sollux looked just as perplexed as he felt, before his expression turned back to the earlier frown.

"What wath that about?" he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Eridan shrugged, shooting a glare at Feferi's back. "I don't know-w, looks like Fef w-wants to giv-ve us some priv-vacy", he said and snorted, rolling his eyes.

"I gueth, but why ith it tho important that thhe had to drag AA away tho…roughly?" Sollux asked, his frown deepening. He leaned back again and let his eyes follow the girls that were soon out of the cafeteria. For a moment another stupid thought popped up in Eridan's head, and he considered asking Sollux if he was still dating Aradia, before he realized how weird that question would be, coming out of nowhere. That wasn't even something he needed to know, he was only curious. Maybe it would make him feel better if they weren't dating. At least there would be one less thing to envy Sollux for.

Eridan sighed, eyeing the now empty doorway. At least Feferi wasn't observing the two of them anymore, which meant that now was the time Eridan could get up and leave. He sat up straight and grabbed the strap of his bag, and he would have done just that, if Sollux had not stopped him.

"Are you going thomewhere?" he asked, turning back to Eridan and raising an eyebrow. "I don't think were done here yet."

Eridan scoffed and let go of the strap. He placed his hands on the table instead, entwining his fingers and looking at Sollux impatiently.

"Yeah? You don't w-want to hav-ve this conv-versation any more than I do, so w-why can't I just go and stop w-wastin' our time? Didn't you say you had more important things to do?" he asked, with a hint of urgency in his voice, though he didn't have to go anywhere, but he wanted this to be over already. No friendly bonding was going to happen anyway, since that was what Feferi seemed to wish for.

Sollux shrugged. "Meh, I don't", he replied and there it was again – the small smile at the corners of his lips, almost like a sneer. "I jutht thaid I did becauthe otherwithe we would probably thtill be thitting here with our mouthth thhut. I thought you needed thome encouragement."

Eridan didn't answer and just snorted, crossing his arms again, with his elbows still on the table. Sollux's smile faded again and he ran his fingers through his brown hair, smoothing down the hair that was sticking up at the sides of his head and sighed.

"Anyway, what made you think I wouldn't want to have thith converthation? Maybe I jutht want to teathe you", he said and the smile was back as quickly as it had faded, but this time it was wider.

"A' course you do, but that's not w-what w-we're here for", Eridan said and frowned. "So if you actually hav-ve somethin' to say, I'd suggest you to spit it out, because I don't."

Sollux rolled his eyes. "Why do you have to be tho damn thtubborn?" he said, but it was more like a statement than a question. "Ath a comment to what you thaid earlier, no, I don't want to be your "betht fucking bro", I jutht want to get along like normal human beingth, ith that too much to athk for?" he continued, cocking an eyebrow.

They both fell silent for a moment as Eridan thought about the suggestion. Even though he hated to admit it, Sollux didn't honestly seem that bad, but he hadn't seemed bad the first time they had met. He had been wrong back then, and he could be wrong again. He didn't really trust the other boy, and he definitely didn't want to be his friend, not yet at least. But Sollux had seemed to be genuinely sorry, and getting somewhat along would be nice. It didn't necessarily mean talking to him or anything like that; it just meant there would be no more fights. Sollux would leave him alone and he would do the same. And that was something he could absolutely deal with.

Eridan looked at Sollux for a moment, pondering what would happen if he complied, or how Sollux would take it, but he didn't have much time to think about it, because Sollux was tilting his head and raising his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

Eridan cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, fine – no more fightin'", he said, but his voice rose slightly towards the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Sollux's lips again as he leaned back, looking satisfied.

"No more fighting", he confirmed.