This chapter took way too long to write, and I am so sorry. So I've had an incredibly stressful two months, which included one of my best friend's and my own birthday, and as anyone who follows me on Tumblr will know, earlier this week a work colleague played a fun trick on me which ended up with me falling from a height of about 6 foot, and hurting my back so badly I had to be taken to hospital. But it's okay, I'm taking pain meds, and I'm back at work now ((I have two 15-hour shifts in a row this weekend, so I spent all day writing so that you guys could have this up before then!))
I'm very sorry everyone :c
I really hope that you all enjoy this chapter though! I know nothing about flowers, so I really hope I didn't cock up with those… Internet don't fail me now! Thank you everyone who has continued to read and review this story c: it means the absolute world to me! 3

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There were a thousand things that Sollux wanted to do on Tuesday, and truth be told he could have done any number of them in an attempt to impress Eridan, but he wanted to play it safe and do something traditional and romantic rather than something that could possibly be risky. Especially seeing as this date had to be absolutely perfect.

Sollux tapped his foot as he listened to the dull droning sound that accompanied waiting for someone to answer their damn phone, but his irritation was short lived as the call was picked up by a man who sounded formal and curt.

"Good afternoon, Fulci's."

"Oh, hey, I'd like to book a table for two thith Tuethday?" Sollux asked hopefully, crossing his fingers as if it would somehow sway luck into his favour.

The soft sound of pages being turned was heard, before the man repeated, "this Tuesday?" He wasn't asking for Sollux to reply, but more in a way of reiterating the fact that he had most definitely understood what the young man had said, "the only slot we have available for Tuesday is at seven thirty, would that be acceptable?"

It was hard to stop the grin from appearing on his face, "yeah, that'll be great, thank you." Sollux quickly bit the lid off his pen, and scrawled 'Tuesday – 19:30' right onto the wall, hardly caring about the fact that it would stay there until the room was repainted.

"And what name shall I book it under?"

Sollux held the phone away from his head as he spat the plastic lid out, and he couldn't help but feel slightly victorious as it hit one of his empty energy drink cans on his desk, "book it under Captor."

The man mumbled the name under his breath as he made a note of the name, "I would like to take a moment to inform you that turning up late could lose you your reservation, sir."

"Yeah, don't worry about that, I'll be there early to make sure that thith goeth perfectly." Sollux drummed his fingers against his knee, feeling excited, "thankth again."

"My pleasure, sir. Goodbye." With that, the man hung up, and so did Sollux.

In Sollux's opinion, going out for a meal seemed to be the safest option for a perfect date. There wasn't much that could go wrong with good food and a nice ambiance, and besides, if something did go wrong, it wouldn't be Sollux's fault, but rather the waiting staff's. Even so, as Sollux shoved his phone back in his pocket, he hoped more than anything else that nothing would go wrong.

Just as he settled down at his laptop, his door opened.

"KK, I wath about to do thome work, what do you want?"

Karkat leant against his doorframe, with an eyebrow arched, "I heard your excited warbling through the door, and assumed that you must have sorted something out for the little date you're planning." It was obvious that the shorter man was itching to give out some well-versed relationship advice, "so do me a favour and settle the squirming mass of curiosity currently coiling inside of me, and let me know what you've gone and booked."

It would have been easy for Sollux to just ignore the look Karkat was giving him, and get a rise out of him by refusing to tell him anything, but he wasn't in the mood to play around like that, so he simply pointed at the writing on his wall, "dinner at Fulci'th."

Karkat whistled, "You got a table at Fulci's on this short notice? Someone up there must like you."

"Mhm." Sollux began typing; he had recently acquired another small coding job; just a simple website deal, and he wanted to finish it before the date day, so that it wouldn't play on his mind. But as he tapped away, the fact that Karkat was still watching him began to distract him. After about a minute and a half of silence, Sollux sighed loudly, and turned back to his friend, "what?"

Finally being acknowledged, Karkat perked up a little, and stood on his own instead of leaning against the doorframe, "aren't you going to ask me for some of my well-researched knowledge of romance and makeup dates?"

"Well-rethearched? You're having a fucking laugh," Sollux snorted, "you've never even been on a make-up date! You can't call watching all of your fucking movieth rethearch, KK." He shook his head disbelievingly, and watched as Karkat's cheeks pinkened.

"If you're going to take the piss out of my generous offer, then you can shove it so far up your ass that you'll be choking on your own scorn for a week." It almost looked as though Karkat was about to leave, but he stopped and sighed, "I just happen to know that Eridan has a fondness for certain things, and I thought that you might want some help with this, you know, considering how you fucked up so gracefully."

Sollux bit his tongue, and looked at his friend evenly. He was beginning to lose his patience with the shorter man, "I altho jutht happen to know what Eridan would like," he said calmly, his voice not betraying his growing irritation, "I wath hith boyfriend long enough to learn a few thingth, you know, and I happen to have planned a few good dateth on my own."

The pair stared at each other with unmasked annoyance on their faces. Finally, Karkat shrugged, and turned to leave, "whatever, Sollux. I was only trying to prevent you from cocking up again." He huffed, and swung the door open, but before he could leave, a quiet voice made him pause.

"Thankth for the offer."

It was said a little begrudgingly, and when Karkat glanced back at Sollux, the nerd was already busying himself with his laptop, pretending as if he hadn't said a word. Sighing quietly, Karkat decided that this was most definitely the best he was going to get out of his best friend, and he decided to take it as both an apology and as a show of gratitude for the offer of help, so he gave in, "he likes violets, and roses. All that typical stuff." He tapped his fingers on the doorframe before adding, "he used to say that he never got that sort of thing off people, so the poor fucker really appreciates romantic sentiments and stuff." With that, Karkat finally left the room.

Sollux chewed on his lip as his fingers hovered over the mouse-pad. After only a brief hesitation, he opened a new tab, and began searching for the perfect florist nearby.

-.-.-.-.-

"Eridan, stop floundering about and help me find you an outfit for your date!"

Eridan opened his mouth awkwardly as he removed a purple contact lens, "you missed out on like, three fish-puns there, Fef."

"Really? You're going to talk about my punning skills when you have somefin as important as a date tonight?" Feferi threw down the navy blue turtleneck she was holding, and held her arms up, "what the hell is going on with you? Why aren't you freaking out about this?" She watched as her step-brother gently washed the lens with some solution, and then placed it in its correct place in a small white container before starting on the next eye.

"You could have said aboat and kelp." The hipster's voice remained uninterested as he repeated the procedure for his second lens. After he was done, he slowly stood, placed the little container on his vanity-desk, and then walked past Feferi to get to the bathroom.

Feferi made an exasperated noise, and followed him, "why are you acting like this? You said that Aradia explained the whole thing to you! It was an innocent misunderstanding, well okay, not completely innocent, but still!" She folded her arms and huffed as Eridan began washing his hands meticulously, "why aren't you climbing the walls with nerves? I thought you would have been excited, and nervous, and all that fun stuff! It's a date, Eridan, you love dates!"

Eridan did not speak as he washed his hands, nor did he speak as he dried them. It wasn't until he walked straight past Feferi yet again that he said anything, "I'm almost shocked with how many puns you're missin' out on makin'." His slow strides were cut short as his arm was grabbed, and he was yanked back.

Face to face with her brother, Feferi frowned and narrowed her eyes, "stop talking about the puns, and tell me what's going on."

"You could have said glubbin' there, you-"

"ERIDAN!"

Eridan's mouth shut with a snap, and he matched his sister's expression. After a moment he relented, "Fef, this ain't goin' to be some kind a magic fix-it date. It's not goin' to erase all the shit Sol did." His voice was a little cold, "stop thinkin' that me an Sol are goin' to be fine just because he's takin' me out somewhere. It's just a date." He pulled his arm away, and went over to his bed, flopping onto it in a rather ungraceful manner.

"Erifin, you shouldn't be such a pessimist! This might be exactly what the two of you need to repair your relationship," she lifted a carefully ironed black suit-shirt, and held it out towards him, "aren't you the tiniest bit excited about this?"

Eridan gazed at the offered shirt with boredom in his eyes, "I was a little excited when he first asked me out, but I've had time to think about it, an I've decided that I really don't want to get my hopes up about it." He reached out towards his bedside table, and pulled open the drawer, rifling through it half-heartedly in an attempt to appear busy while his step-sister glared at him.

While Feferi searched through his wardrobe, Eridan stared at the messy innards of the drawer; he pushed papers this way and that, not looking for anything in particular, more hoping to find something that would distract him for more than a few minutes. He paused when he saw smooth, faux-black leather.

Anything would have been better than having to listen to the constant scolding that was being directed towards him by a disgruntled young woman, but Eridan felt as though he had hit the jackpot with his find. He rolled onto his stomach, and flipped the protective case of his DS open, then stroked the glossy surface of his red console. With a little grin, Eridan turned it on, and began trying to block out everything else.

He hadn't touched his DS since he and Sollux had broken up, and truth be told, he had forgotten its existence. But Eridan was thankful that he had forgotten about it, as he might have sent it back to Sollux if he hadn't.

Feferi fussed over a few outfits she had put together, "what about these? I mean, they're not too casual, but you won't look like you've just rolled out of bed at least." She turned around, exasperated, to glare at her brother, "Eridan, you could at least answer me, I'm…" She lowered the clothing in her hand, and took a step towards the bed, her voice softening, "Eridan?"

The hipster was too focused on the screen to notice that he was being addressed. His hand was clamped firmly over his mouth, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

Full of concern, Feferi slowly made her way over, wondering what in the hell Eridan could have seen that could have warranted this kind of reaction. She plopped down next to him, and leant against him to have a look; on the screen was a large purple seahorse-like creature, who was tilting his head at them, "oh!" She exclaimed, "He's so cute! What's his name?"

"Barbossa!" Eridan finally choked out, spitting out the word as if it somehow pained him to say it. He bit his lip as hard as he could as Feferi swiped the stylus from his fingers, and gave the Kingdra a playful belly-rub.

"You named him after your seahorse?" Feferi asked, smiling as she moved the stylus to Barbossa's head to continue the affectionate patting, making a trio of little hearts appear, "oh look, he likes me!"

Eridan hiccupped back a noise as his Barbossa turned to look at him curiously before succumbing to another round of petting. He pulled his hands inside the sleeves of his tight sweater, and stubbornly wiped his eyes and nose against the soft fabric, snuffling. The last thing he wanted to do was cry over a damn game, and yet that was exactly what he was doing, not that there was anything he could have done to prevent it, the shock of seeing his beloved Barbossa immortalised in the game was almost too much for him to bear. Though, truth be told, it was nice to have a lasting reminder of him.

After a minute, Feferi looked up at Eridan, and handed him the stylus before putting an arm around him to pull him close, "you silly thing." She said gently, squeezing him affectionately, "it's ocray to be sad."

"I'm not sad!" Eridan wailed, not even bothering to try and hide how upset he actually was.

After the shock had worn off, and Eridan was able to stop petting Barbossa, he saved and turned off his DS, and Feferi beamed up at him, "hey, why don't you come choose an outfit with me, to take your mind off things." She grabbed a tissue out of the tissue box on Eridan's bedside table, and handed it to him.

Eridan nodded and wiped his face, then allowed Feferi to lead him to the wardrobe to pick some suitable outfits.

-.-.-

Only three short hours later, Eridan was alone again; Feferi had helped him choose a casual outfit consisting of a black shirt, tight purple sweater, and black skinny-jeans. Casual enough that he wouldn't look over-dressed, but nice enough that he definitely wouldn't look under-dressed. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was how to make himself look good.

As he was checking his hair for the fifth time in twenty minutes, Eridan had to admit that he was actually starting to feel excited, and also a wonderful kind of anxiousness that made his toes feel funny, and his stomach tense. He was just about to consider changing the studs in his ears when he heard a knock at the door.

His reflection matched his wide grin, and Eridan quietly rushed down the stairs to his front door, but once he reached it, he took a moment to take a few calming breaths, and to smooth the non-existent wrinkles out of his sweater before placing a shaking hand on the handle.

Eridan opened the door, and was immediately confronted with a ridiculously large bouquet of flowers. He couldn't help but snort when he saw Sollux's head appear over the top, "oh good God, did you buy the entire fuckin' florist?" He stepped aside, and covered his mouth with a hand to hide his amused smile as the Gemini struggled to step through the doorframe while holding the huge floral arrangement.

Once he was inside, Sollux huffed, and tried to move the bouquet so that the gathered stems were resting on one hip, "what? No… Maybe… Fuck, I didn't think it would be thith bloody big, now did I?" He gave a slightly crooked smile when he realised that Eridan was trying not to laugh.

"I'll be right back." Eridan said, quickly turning away to hurry towards the kitchen.

There was a brief clattering noise, and Sollux struggled to follow him, "Eridan, thethe are too heavy, I theriouthly need to put them down." He let himself into the kitchen, and saw that Eridan was dusting off a couple of vases, he grinned as Eridan finally relieved him of the heavy bouquet, "thankth."

Eridan set them down on the table, and untied the large purple organza bow before slitting the thin plastic wrapping with a pair of scissors, "help me cut the stems while I put them into the vases, Sollux." He smiled as he began snipping the ends of the long stems of the flowers, and began separating them into little groups.

As they worked, Sollux didn't understand why Eridan kept pausing to look at each flower, but he simply shrugged it off as just being something that only an artistic mind would understand. After a while, he was finished helping with the stem-snipping, and decided to sit down and watch Eridan instead.

There was something soothing about watching Eridan work; his nimble fingers were quick and delicate, and a tiny crease appeared between his eyebrows as he silently decided which vase each flower would go into. Sollux rested his cheek on a hand, and continued to watch with a small smile on his face.

After a moment, he was brought out of his little daydream by Eridan's voice asking, "Sollux, do you know anythin' about what flowers represented to the Victorians?"

"What? No." This question came as a surprise to Sollux, and he stopped slouching, "what giveth you that idea?"

Eridan raised his eyebrows and turned towards the Gemini, "well then you must've told the florist somethin' very specific, because they obviously do know their stuff to have put together this arrangement." When Sollux continued to look confused, Eridan sighed, and lifted a deep red flower, "hibiscus represent beauty, an this lilac one is a hyacinth an it represents sincerity."

Sollux shifted in his chair, and pointed towards a particularly frilly white flower, "what about that one?"

"White carnations mean remembrance."

"Oh." Sollux gently picked up a long stem with a mass of tiny clustered flowers, and held it out towards Eridan, "and thith one?"

The tips of Eridan's fingers brushed against Sollux's palm as he took the offered flowers, "lilacs," he said, his lips curling upwards carrying the hint of humour, "first love."

This caught Sollux by surprise, and he cleared his throat before pointing at the only flowers that he was sure he knew, "uhh, rotheth, right?" The wine-red of the smooth petals were very appealing, and Sollux had to admit that he only really knew what they were because of their abundance around Valentine's Day.

Eridan nodded, "correct, an you should probably know that the red ones are for passionate love." It was highly amusing for the hipster to watch as Sollux's cheeks had started to darken to the same shade as the flowers he was using to bully him, and he saw no reason to relent just yet. He arranged the flowers in their vases, and tried to make them look as visually appealing as possible.

While Eridan appeared to be in his element, Sollux panicked internally; he had gotten hold of a seemingly high-end florist only the day before, and had asked them to work on a perfect bouquet. He had asked them to make sure that the flowers meant something, because he was buying them for someone very special, and when the person had jokingly asked if Sollux was buying an apology bouquet for a partner, he could only admit that he was. Truth be told, Sollux had felt pretty smug in the belief that the florist would know how to make a meaningful bouquet, but he had never expected Eridan to know all this shit.

Finally Eridan came to the last few flowers on the table, and he smiled as he lifted the violet tulips, "oh I like these ones, they represent royalty." He slipped them into a vase that was nearing being dangerously full, before raising an eyebrow as he did the same with the white tulips, "an forgiveness, now doesn't that seem fittin'?"

At this point, Sollux was kind of wishing that the ground would swallow him up. He covered his face with his hands, and just made a grunt in response. It would have been bad enough if the hipster had just told him that he knew what they meant, but having him explain every single flower to him was torturous.

Eridan hesitated for a second, and turned away slightly when he lifted the remaining tulips, "an yellow… Yellow tulips mean hopelessly in love." He refused to meet Sollux's eye as the Gemini finally looked over his hands, and instead silently continued to fuss over the flowers.

Sollux swallowed a lump in his throat, and allowed Eridan to ponder for a moment before holding out the last flowers with both hands, they were a mix of blue and purple with tiny petals and yellow middles, "what about thethe oneth?" He asked quietly, hardly wanting to disturb the Aquarius.

Eridan looked down at the offered blooms, "violets are for faithfulness." He replied, allowing his blue eyes to finally meet Sollux's, "thank you for the flowers, Sollux. They're beautiful, an they really don't look like they've just been thrown together on a whim, so thank you." There was a tiny hesitation before Eridan leant down and pressed his lips against Sollux's cheek, then he pulled away, finished his arrangements, and retied the purple organza bow around the largest vase.

All in all there were three vases nearly overflowing with a range of flowers, and Sollux noticed that Eridan was smiling softly as he looked at them. He stood up, and gave Eridan a gentle nudge, "good job."

"Yes, well, I happen to be…" Eridan's words trailed off as he finally actually looked at Sollux, and mentally took in what he was wearing. Then he looked down at himself, then back at Sollux once more. Eridan was wearing a casual outfit, whereas Sollux was wearing the suit that he had bought him when they visited each other's families.

Sollux also seemed to have noticed, and he snorted, "God damn it, ED, even your motht casual clotheth are better than my betht outfitth."

"I am not goin' to be shown up by you of all people, Sollux Captor." Eridan sniffed haughtily, and began making his way back towards the stairs, "you can wait in the livin' room while I get myself changed into somethin' more appropriate, seein' as you must've planned somethin' good to warrant dressin' up like that."

The hipster was already half way up the stairs before Sollux called up to him, "keep the thkinny jeanth on, I like the way they make your ath look!" He laughed loudly when he heard the Aquarius shouting a muffled string of profanities back at him, as he walked towards the living room. Once in the lounge, Sollux kept himself busy by making his way over to the large fish-tank; as he pondered whether or not Eridan might have tidied the shit-tip his room had been in, he kept an eye out for the little seahorse that Eridan had always been so proud of.

It was strange, but as the seconds became minutes, he didn't see neither fin nor scale of the darling pet.

When Eridan walked through the doorway, fiddling with gleaming golden cufflinks, Sollux turned to him and voiced his concerns, "hey, ith Barbotha usually thith shy? I've been looking for him for ageth, and I haven't theen him onthe." He immediately regretted bringing up the seahorse; Eridan's expression fell, and Sollux instantly knew the truth, "I'm tho thorry." He offered weakly.

Eridan simply nodded, and turned his attention back to his cufflinks, "he passed away a little while ago."

"You should have told me, I would have…" Sollux honestly didn't know how he was going to finish the sentence, as he doubted that anything he said would have made the slightest difference, but he still felt as though he should offer some kind of condolences.

"You were the last person in the world I would have wanted to see. No offence, but I had literally just found out about you and Aradia, so…" Eridan stopped himself, and shut his mouth abruptly. He looked up as Sollux approached him.

It had been clear that the Aquarius' hands had started shaking, so Sollux brushed the hand aside, and helped Eridan to fix his chain-linked cufflinks. It was a little tricky for him to do, as he wasn't used to doing that kind of fiddly work, but to his credit, Eridan stood, and allowed Sollux to help him. Once the polished gold was in place, Sollux spoke quietly, "if you've buried him, we can thay hi, if you want."

This appeared to be exactly the right thing to say, as Eridan's eyes seemed to take on a hopeful look, "really?"

It was clear to Sollux that Eridan had cherished the animal, and that having someone else mourn its demise was a sentiment that meant a lot. So he nodded, not quite understanding how someone could love a pet so much, but wanting nothing more than for Eridan to be unashamed of his grief.

Eridan carefully took Sollux's hand in his own, and led him to the kitchen, then out into the garden. The sun had almost completely disappeared over the tops of the houses that were so far away, and the sky was a glorious mix of the brightest reds and pinks. They both made their way over to one of the small rose bushes, and once they reached it, Eridan whispered in a hushed voice, "He's there."

Sollux stared down at the little mound beneath the bush; it was surrounded by a circle of polished dark stones, and covered in clear glass pebbles. He shuffled a little, and bit his lip, not knowing what to say, then finally slipped his hand from Eridan's, and pulled him close in an attempt to comfort him, "it lookth nithe." As an afterthought, he added, "I'm thorry."

Eridan simply shook his head, and allowed Sollux to give him a half-embrace, then pulled away, "there's nothin' that can be done about it, so why get sad anymore?" He said as he hurriedly wiped a hand across his eyes, though his expression betrayed the words. He bumped his other hand against Sollux's, and their fingers linked together without either person needing to give much thought about the action.

They walked away from the tiny grave, and returned to the house. Sollux was silently relieved to see that Eridan stopped to lock the back door, and check it three times, though he refused to bring it up. He gave a small smile to the hipster, before leaning forwards on impulse to press a small kiss against his forehead, and was pleasantly surprised when Eridan didn't pull away and instead returned the sad smile.

Hand-in-hand they left the house, and got into Eridan's dark purple car, "so, where are we goin'?" Eridan asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

Sollux grinned mischievously, pride bubbling up inside of him, "Oh, jutht a little plathe called Fulci'th." The feeling continued to swell inside of him as he saw the impressed look on Eridan's face, "our rethervation ith in half an hour, tho we should get there thoon."

-.-.-

"Would you mind repeating that for me, becauthe I don't think I heard you properly." Sollux looked at the man in front of him coldly.

"Sir, your reservation was for seven thirty this morning." He replied, turning round the hand-written ledger to prove it. True to his word, there in black italics next to the 7:30 timeslot was the name Captor.

Eridan snorted quietly, and folded his arms, then turned towards Sollux with a half-amused expression on his face, "seven thirty in the mornin', Sollux, really?" He said, before shaking his head, "I doubt I would have wanted dinner at that time a the day."

"Why would I have booked a table for that time? That'th ridiculouth." Sollux hissed, trying not to get too frustrated at what must have been an error on the part of the man who had taken his reservation details over the phone.

"Well sir, we happen to have an excellent continental breakfast service, with the finest-"

Sollux held up a hand, "I get it. Thankth." He groaned quietly, and held the door open for Eridan, feeling completely embarrassed and more than a little pissed off.

Once they were both out of the restaurant, Eridan spoke up, "you do realise that you're a complete fuckin' idiot, right?"

"Yeth, ED, thank you." Sollux grumbled. He looked around as they walked for somewhere that looked nearly half as good as Fulci's, as he still desperately wanted to impress the young Ampora. Thankfully there were a few restaurants dotted along the road they walked together, and even a little chip-shop.

"We could have a bite at the King's Head, if you want?" Eridan offered, pointing at a rustic-looking pub a little further up the road, he gave Sollux a little shove, "come on, don't be so shitty, the night's still young an all that."

This didn't make Sollux feel any better, "thith wath thuppothed to be perfect, and it'th already off to thuch a brilliant thtart."

Eridan rolled his eyes, "shit happens." He said, shrugging. A sly smile grew across his face, and he elbowed Sollux in the ribs, "besides, it's probably for the best that we didn't go to Fulci's anyway."

"And why ith that?" Sollux asked, frowning a little and thinking that the hipster was just trying to humour him.

"Because I've been there before, and it sure as shit ain't your kind a place. The food's all pretentious, an the portion sizes are stupidly small because apparently that's what high-class people like." After a second, he added, "they do have really good fish dishes though."

This actually made Sollux smirk a little, "pretentiouth food? Shit, that really would have been the perfect plathe to take you." He snorted when Eridan elbowed him yet again, and he returned the blow quickly.

They wandered around for a little while, enjoying the smell of the salt air, and the sound of the waves; it was nice seeing all the little shops, cafes, and restaurants situated along the seaside, and Sollux made a mental note that it might be nice to bring Eridan back there for a visit in the day. If he got a second chance, that was.

Pushing the ensuing doubts from his mind before they devolved into vicious self-deprecation, Sollux returned his attention to the scattered food establishments. As they walked past the large glass doors or windows, Sollux noted that each restaurant seemed really rather busy; he cast a doubtful look towards Eridan, who just sped up his walking pace.

Finally Eridan huffed loudly, "God damn it, Sol, just chose somewhere! My stomach is about to fuckin' devour itself here!" His voice took on a slightly whiney tone at the end, which was punctuated by him grabbing hold of his own stomach.

Sollux slapped a hand to his own face, and mumbled against his palm, "are you kidding me? I've been waiting for you to point out which plathe you wanted to go to!"

Glaring at each other with playful annoyance, Sollux finally pointed at the closest pub, "fine, we're eating there, I don't care, come on." He took Eridan's hand once again, and dragged the hipster towards the building, although Eridan didn't really need much persuasion.

The moment they opened the doors, they both breathed in the rich savoury smells of good pub-food, and made their way over to a thankfully empty booth at the back. Sollux hadn't even sat down before he grabbed at a menu and began the task of looking at what he wanted to eat, although it didn't take him long to choose, "fuck it, I'm getting their biggetht thteak, I've earned it."

Eridan eyed his own menu for a little longer, then made a surprised noise, "wow, they do a fresh seafood tagliatelli here! Yeah, I want that." He watched as Sollux hurried over to the bar to place their order, and then returned with two tall glasses of cola. As he took his own drink, he nodded in appreciation.

"Thankth for coming out with me tonight, ED." Sollux said, taking a sip of his drink. He held back from saying everything he wanted to say, mostly because he was afraid that if he opened those flood gates, he'd never be able to stop the onslaught of verbal diarrhoea that would ensue. So he simply leant his head on one hand, and smiled across the table at Eridan, who returned the smile.

"Thanks for askin' me out." Eridan casually replied, stirring his drink with a black straw, "so how's work been?"

As they talked, time ticked on, and Sollux became very aware of the fact that their food still hadn't arrived. Especially when they ordered their third drink of the night. By this time, two hours had already flown past, and it was getting difficult for the two of them to focus with the hunger playing on them so much.

Eventually Eridan slammed his hands on the table, "I am goin' to find out where the fuck our food is." He got up without a single word, and marched towards the bar.

Sollux felt infinitely grateful that the hipster had gone up to ask, as the amount of people in the pub had grown, which had meant his anxiety had grown too. He watched Eridan speak with one of the people at the bar, and he appreciated the view of Eridan's ass, that was until Eridan turned around with a face like thunder and stormed towards him, "whoa, ED, what'th wrong?"

"Our order got lost." Eridan's words were full of hostility and fury, he grabbed his jacket off the chair, and his stomach growled loudly which made his face drop to a look of sheer sadness, "they said that because it's so busy here, we'd be waitin' for at least another forty five minutes before we got our food! Oh God, I can't wait that long I'd rather just go home an eat some fuckin' toast!"

"Shit," Sollux stood up to join Eridan, and waited for him to put his jacket on before taking his hand, "come on, I've got a better idea." He led Eridan out of the pub, and began leading him back towards where they had parked the car, but never crossed the road. Instead, he pulled Eridan towards a small chip shop.

It was ridiculously hot inside, and the lights were such a glaringly bright white that Sollux wished he had worn his sunglasses. But he didn't have time to worry too much as he approached the counter, "hey, can I get two large portionth of chipth, and two canth of coke, and a large cod, pleathe?" He couldn't get the money out of his wallet quick enough.

The man behind the till smiled, "you two been to a party or something?" He asked, obviously referring to the fact that they were both wearing their suits.

"Nope." Sollux grinned widely, and could have kissed the man for shovelling the golden chips into the little paper bags, and half-wrapping it in newspaper. He passed the first load to Eridan, who added a liberal amount of salt, and chose a tiny plastic purple fork from a cardboard dispenser.

Sollux quickly poured both salt and vinegar on his own chips, and gratefully pocketed the cans, then grabbed a blue fork, "thankth, keep the change!"

As they left, he was sure that the man must've been watching them with an amused expression, but he didn't care in the slightest. Instead, he led Eridan to the beach, and he dumped his jacket on the ground for Eridan and himself to sit on. Once they started wolfing down their food, Sollux pushed the newspaper-wrapped, battered cod towards Eridan, "it might not be Fulci'th, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Eridan smiled wistfully, "I haven't sat on a beach eatin' fish an chips since I was a kid. Me an Fef used to love it all those years ago." He stabbed his tiny fork into the fish and looked pretty pleased when the batter crunched, "thank fuck, it ain't all greasy an soggy."

They ate in silence, mostly because they didn't give themselves any time to open their mouths unless food was going in, but after a while, Sollux nudged Eridan, "hey, I'm thorry thith date wath tho shit." He said, wishing more than anything that it could have been the romantic evening he had planned.

Eridan snorted loudly, and set his nearly empty portion of chips down on the sand, "it was an absolute fuckin' disaster, wasn't it?" He wiped his hands on his trousers, and looked over at the dark waves, "but I got to admit, it was nice to actually spend time with you. I missed this." His voice wavered a little, and he turned his attention upwards to the dark sky.

The words hung in the air, and Sollux pushed his own food away too; he bit his lip as he considered his next words, but eventually came to the conclusion of 'fuck it', and replied, "I mithed you."

Eridan's eyes trailed downwards from the sky, and he turned to Sollux; they were shoulder-to-shoulder, and their hands were so close that their fingers were barely touching. He seemed to hesitate before he moved his hand over a little to rest it on top of Sollux's, "I missed you too." His words were barely audible over the sound of the nearby waves, and he didn't give Sollux a chance to respond before closing his eyes and leaning forwards to kiss him.

The food remained on the sand, forgotten, as they kissed beneath the stars. Sollux's heart pounded in his chest as he tilted his head and parted his lips, giving Eridan the option to go further, instead of taking that step himself.

Eridan didn't need any more of an invitation, and he tentatively moved his tongue forwards to touch Sollux's. He brought his hands up to drag his fingers through Sollux's scruffy hair, and almost smiled when he heard a noise catch in the nerd's throat.

Sollux took the initiative to wrap his arms around Eridan and pull him closer, afraid of the moment coming to an end, though his fears were silenced when Eridan did the same, and fisted his hands into the fabric covering Sollux's back.

They only parted when their lungs began burning, and they only pulled away far enough to still allow their noses to still touch. Sollux swallowed a lump in his throat, and blinked slowly as he stared into the eyes that seemed to contain the ferociously delicate blue of crushing storms and calming seas.

The waves lapping at the shore hushed them, and soothed the need for words, and they listened to it for a while as they remained in each other's arms. It was as if they were the only people alive.

Finally Eridan pulled away, even with the lack of much light, Sollux could tell that his cheeks were burning, "wwe should probably get goin'." He mumbled reluctantly. He stood up, and began brushing the sand off himself, even though it was truly a fruitless endeavour.

Sollux rose a little awkwardly, "sure."

"I don't mean- I didn't-" for a moment Eridan seemed to struggle to find the right words, but he finally blurted out, "I honestly was enjoyin' myself there, I just, I think it's better if we don't get too heavy just yet, I mean this is only the first date an-" His words were cut off as Sollux pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"I get it, ED. You don't have to exthplain yourthelf like thith," the nerd smiled crookedly, and gave him a pat on the shoulder, "you really don't."

Eridan sighed appreciatively, and nodded.

When the air began to hold a chill, they both decided that it was in fact time to call it a night and go home. Eridan scolded Sollux for trying to leave his leftover chips and the newspaper they were still wrapped in on the beach, and ended up giving the Gemini a little lesson in littering, much to the irritation of Sollux.

The car journey back to Sollux's was much quieter than the rest of the date, though thankfully it was a much lighter atmosphere than it had been on previous occasions. While something catchy played on the radio, Sollux switched between staring out of the windows, and catching little glances at Eridan; the hipster's hair was a little ruffled, and the purple section was no longer in its usual neat shape, and there was still sand stuck to the dark fabric of his suit. He smirked cheekily as they eventually pulled up outside his building, "you could alwayth come inthide for thome tea or coffee, if you wanted."

Eridan raised an eyebrow at him, "I don't really think that's very appropriate now is it?"

"I gueth that's more of a thecond date kind of thing, huh." The nerd replied hopefully, trying to sound as casual as humanly possible.

"I suppose it is."

Sollux bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from smiling futher, and the car was once again filled with an expectant silence. Unable to keep up his casual façade, Sollux looked over at Eridan, "when'th your nextht day off?"

Eridan's face appeared to light up with excitement and relief; it was amazing for Sollux to see how the hipster could wear his emotions so plainly and unguarded, even if this was often quite rare.

"I wouldn't mind seein' you next Tuesday, I mean, I might be able to get myself a day off on the weekend, probably Sunday, but then I usually only try to work the first half a the day on Saturday, so maybe we could see each other twice? Not that I'm tryin' to make our encounters a regular occurrence, seein' as you're still on rather thin ice, but I'd still maybe like to hang out for a-" Eridan's seemingly unending ramble was brought to a crashing halt by Sollux's lips firmly being pressed against his.

They both relaxed into the kiss, and even though Sollux had only really meant to give him a quick peck, he was rather happy with the outcome of his actions. He lifted a hand and cupped Eridan's cheek, then regrettably pulled away, "I'll thee you Thaturday." He promised.

Eridan blinked lazily, and looked back and forth between the mismatched eyes that were directed at him, and nodded, "sounds like a plan."

Cursing himself internally, Sollux finally opened the car door and let himself out. He walked the steps to his apartment building, and turned to wave at Eridan, feeling quite pleased when he saw the hipster also raising a hand in farewell before driving away.

Sollux sighed happily as he stepped into his own apartment, he barely heard the main buildings doors close behind him before he locked his own door. The voice that came from behind Sollux startled him, and he turned to see Karkat making a coffee.

"Good night?" The shorter man asked as he threw a teaspoon into the sink with a clatter.

Sollux smiled warmly, and rubbed the back of his own neck with a hand as he felt his cheeks and ears burn ever so slightly, "the betht."