Spring break? The fuck do you take me for.

[princeofmelodrama]

 Eridan had gotten onto the plane expecting this just to be a normal business trip with the side project of buying a home. That was it, that was all. No unforeseen circumstances, no unexpected hiccups.

No long-hidden memories of a troll he'd never forgotten getting dredged up outta fucking nowhere to make his pump biscuit skip a beat.

It was the day after they'd seen each other at the airport and Eridan had his first meeting of three for the week, and he'd exchanged numbers with Karkat, and dared to text him to ask him to lunch. "nothin fancy" he swore, and it was true. The restaurant he'd chosen was about as hunkered down into pedestrian territory as he could dare to go without fear of danger. Sure, to most people, it'd be upper scale, but Eridan lived a different life than most, and it showed.

"Excuse me, doll?" He said to the waitress, "I'm gonna nead saltwater instead. Wouldn't want me gettin' sick here." His tone was firm, but amiable as it ever got. He attributed it to a case of nerves in addition to being made to wait for Karkat to arrive. He knew Karkat wasn't the type to stand him up (he'd more likely have said no outright,) so there was less irritation in waiting, and more worry that he had gotten lost in the city, or that his stupid human managed to take a wrong turn.

When the water arrived, he sipped it and nodded to the waitress. He should have ordered a fuckin' sea breeze or something equally hard to take the edge off, he thought to himself. He remembered the last time he'd seen Karkat prior to this week. They'd been dead. And that forgiveness that Karkat gave him was impetus to start him into doing exactly as he was doing just then. 

If Karkat only knew the lengths that Eridan had gone with just that one little nudge. That one scrap of hope and kindness, Eridan thought. Karkat would be speechless. ... for once.

Comments

[chronologicalpulse]

When Karkat arrived at the restaurant, assuring Dave that he'd give him a call if he needed a ride back. He was already sneering at the place, and at the car that he could only assume was Eridan's, and at the hostess when she appeared to seat him. He calmed slightly when he saw Eridan sitting there sipping on his water and made his way toward the seadweller, his arms crossed over his now slightly too embarrassing tshirt. Why had he thought it would be a good idea to try and dress casual to meet up with Eridan, he just didn't know.

"I thought you said we were going to a casual place," he muttered as he took a seat, immediately picking up his wrapped silverware to fiddle with. He looked up at the prompt arrival of the waitress, asking her quietly for a soda as she passed him a menu.

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan brightened somewhat, his earfins perking up just a bit at Karkat's arrival, then going straight back again as he rolled his eyes. "I did, an' it is. Sorry I don't feel safe in any place more casual than this," he said, sounding a bit snappish, though it was for a good reason. Years prior, he'd been attacked coming out of a far less classy joint than this, the spoils of which were a tattered earfin and several (temporarily) lost teeth, five days missing, and one extraordinarily useful talent. He didn't tell Karkat that, though, and briefly looked over the menu he was offered.

"I'll have the grilled salmon, no sides," he told the waitress immediately, setting the menu down. "I'll wait for him to look things over though." As she slipped away with the menu, Eridan folded his hands as best he could.

"Wow. I'm simply tryin' to get level footin' here, seein' you again. It's been fuckin' forever. What've you been doin' with yourself, Kar? I mean, obviously school. Did you even tell me your major before? I was so beside myself seein' you an' Terezi, I can barely remember if you even said." He couldn't even think of what Karkat would want to get into. Political science seemed too straightlaced, but liberal arts was too loose. "Language?" He fathomed a guess.

[chronologicalpulse]

"Philosophy," Karkat answered distractedly while he scanned over the menu, settling on the only meal he could actually see himself eating in this place. It was still a fancy-ass hamburger, but it was a hamburger nonetheless. He handed the menu back and let the girl go on her way, then looked back at Eridan with a slightly arched brow. "When I saw you, you were trying to avoid the rest of us," he reminded Eridan, then simply shook his head and cracked a soft smile. "What are you even doing here?" he asked, sitting back to listen to Eridan's offhand explanation of meetings, pharmaceutical jabber, and even house hunting for a temporary place. He looked vaguely impressed, but he was soon distracted by the arrival of food. At least Eridan seemed to be taking care of himself, if his newfound looks were anything to judge by.

[princeofmelodrama]

As Eridan politely and quietly tucked in, he looked across the table at Karkat. "An' if all goes well, I'm gonna be makin' it a more permanent move. They've got me headin' up the Troll medical a things." He sipped at his water again and leaned back, his plate cleaned.

"It all depends on how generous my higher up decides on bein', but this new branch they're makin' out here's gonna likely be home to a biology lab, findin' out how to get our race off the brink a fuckin' extinction." He trailed off there, having managed to state that in such an aloof way that it seemed like mere small talk, despite its context, and the weight of what it truly was. "You almost ready to go, Kar? Don't worry about your half, I'll pay. Least I can fuckin' do for you comin' into this place expectin' casual. I know I said lunch, but believe me, I think you're gonna like the detour."

[chronologicalpulse]

"Detour, huh." Karkat stood after their plates and the cheque had been taken, a bit surly at Eridan's paying for him, but he didn't argue it. Instead he just let the other lead the way on out. He was watching Eridan just to try and see what was on his mind, after the comment that he'd made about his work. So that was the purpose of his work, what it all came down to. It was noble, he supposed.

When he settled into the deep passenger seat of Eridan's car, he couldn't help muttering a little at the excess that Eridan's lifestyle apparently afforded him, his mouth covered by his hand as he stared out of the window at the passing scenery. It fell away when they pulled up outside of the research society though, and he had to turn back to Eridan just to be sure that he had actually come this way on purpose. It was as if he'd been given his wriggling day, Perigee and birthday gifts all at once. Except he knew he'd get some real use (not to mention an excessive amount of joy) out of this. He nearly ran inside without a second thought, until he realized that Eridan was still there with him, and that he'd need a day pass. He stood beside Eridan, nearly vibrating in his excitement. He would be spending the entire rest of the fucking day there, there was no doubt.

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan had a faint little smirk pulling at the corners of his lips as he drove there, a secretive, impish smile. As he walked in behind Karkat, he fished his wallet out and handed over his credit card, asking for two day passes and a form for a full year's pass. Once the lady behind the counter went off to print out their passes, Eridan turned to Karkat. "I was told about this place by a co-worker, an' it sounded like as good a place as any to start brushin' up on this world's history, such as it is. An' well, since you told me you were doin' this for a major, it kinda got bumped up my to-do list. ... You're about to vibrate right outta your fuckin' skin, aren't you." He put his hand on Karkat's shoulder, and although he didn't smile, his posture and expression were nearly serene.

"Thanks."

[chronologicalpulse]

Karkat looked a little bit bewildered that he was the one being thanked at that point. Had he not had his pride (and this had not been Eridan) he might have prostrated himself before the guy in his gratitude. This was one of the places he had looked at when he'd started planning on moving out this way, just to be able to stay in the warm. Now he had the chance to stay here, perhaps throughout his break, and just read as much as he could stand.

After waving Eridan's hand off his shoulder, Karkat headed into the main hall, determined to start scanning over the shelves for titles that he'd only ever heard about. The desk lady was looking in after him when she returned with the passes Eridan had requested, smiling faintly up at the seadweller. She pointed out how very sweet that was of him before leaving the two of them to their reading.

[princeofmelodrama]

Taking his hand back once Karkat waved it off, he turned to the lady and murmured, "make that two copies for a year's pass form, couldja?" And followed after, taking long strides that caught up to Karkat easily enough. He was still in the shelves of books when the lady returned with the passes, and walked over with two books already in hand as he sat down and affixed the pass to the lapel of his jacket. As he settled in to reading the introduction to one of the books, he looked over at the first copy of the year pass in passing. He then sat up and shoved the small packet of papers over to Karkat, for him to fill out, putting a nice pen he kept with him on top.

"Kar, listen. Before you get wholly consumed by the books here, I need you to promise me somethin'. You gotta do one thing for this all right?"

[chronologicalpulse]

Karkat's pass was affixed to his sleeve as he sat down with a stack of books of his own. He opened the first one but paused when Eridan slid the forms over to him, looking up at the question as he took up the pen.

"What's that?"

[princeofmelodrama]

"Don't give it up." Eridan said seriously. "I don't care what how hard it seems at times, how fuckin' fruitless it may look, just keep doin' just this. The world doesn't have enough people who take this shit seriously, there aren't enough a your type around. I'm not fuckin' kiddin'. All societies are built on the foundations a philosophy, an' if someone like you takes it up, the foundations a this society will be fuckin' strong an' noble. You're shit as a active leader, but you always got the right ideas. I doubt that's changed about you, that's just who you are." He turned back to his book, his lips pursed and brow furrowed. He wasn't fucking around, here. He knew Karkat was doing something right. He just hoped his friend knew it, too.

[chronologicalpulse]

Karkat was staring a little at him by the end of that little speech. He shook his head some, then reached out and touched Eridan's wrist lightly.

"That's not why I'm doing this, and I'm pretty sure you know that," he murmured. "I just want to know the "why"s of people, how they work, why they work like they do. I don't care if it never gets me anywhere, I wouldn't quit anyway. You know me, I'm too stubborn for that." He smirked faintly and sat back up, then started to read with his wrist tucked under his chin, being incredibly careful with the slightly age-yellowed pages he was turning.

[princeofmelodrama]

"Fuckin' selfish," teased Eridan, putting his hand on Karkat's in turn, having to put the book in his lap to do so. "Still fuckin' noble," he added in a murmur as he slipped both hands back away to go back to the book, sinking into a comfortable silence. He knew there was absolutely no way Karkat wouldn't eventually become recognized for things. The little shit was far too opinionated and loud to be ignored, or to keep his mouth shut about what he thought. No, he thought, Karkat would eventually make a name for himself.

A few hours passed easily, the only sounds between them were the occasional rustling of pages being carefully turned, and the slight sniffling of Eridan, who wasn't used to the dust that was on some of the books around him. When he stood, it was with the quiet announcement of, "I'm gettin' hungry again. Dear god, is that actually the time?"

[chronologicalpulse]

Karkat sticking out his tongue was the only retort he could give without taking his eyes off the book in front of him, refusing to actually reply just then.

When Eridan spoke up again hours later, he nearly told him to be quiet, as if only a few minutes had passed. He looked around for a clock though when he realized what had been said, then pulled out his phone and blinked at the time. Well, that was something he'd never done outside of school. "Huh. Uh...well, what do you want to do for dinner? I heard that the Striders were planning to do dinner on the beach, if you'd stoop to barbecue?"

[princeofmelodrama]

"I'm not insensible to free food, Kar. I went to college after all." He stood and set the books he'd had down on the 'return to shelf' cart, making a mental note of the titles and authors, before helping Karkat with his pile. "Have you ever learned to swim between then an' now? Seems kinda silly a you to be so close to the water without wantin' to go into it."

[chronologicalpulse]

"Everyone else was headed in this direction, I didn't see any reason not to come too," Karkat shrugged as he put his books back, then stuffed his hands into his pockets. "But no, I don't intend to swim. I belong in water about as much as you belong in the army. You could go surfing with Dave or something, he said he's gonna be teaching Egbert how to do it."

[princeofmelodrama]

With a wry chuckle of "no," Eridan shook his head and held the door open for Karkat, before heading to the small parking lot, his hands in his jacket pockets. "I belong on a surfboard about as much as you do in the water." He unlocked the car once he was within eyesight of it, and looked to Karkat with a twitch of a smile. "I can finally swim properly, guessin' that's part an' parcel a goin' godtier for me, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna do darin' do on some fuckin' watery fall-down slat." He slipped into the driver's seat and waited for Karkat to get fastened in, before starting the car and starting off. He had nothing much to say just then, still soaking in the words of the book he'd been reading and clinging to a few wise sections of it that could help him personally. It was only until they hit the PCH that Eridan said, "Same beach as yesterday, I presume?"

[chronologicalpulse]

"You never know, you might actually like it. And be good at it. I heard Sollux was gonna be learning, too. So that should be interesting, if you have any motivation to laugh at that particular accident waiting to happen." Karkat slunk down in his seat again and leaned back with a quiet yawn, just hoping that things would stay civil on the off chance that something would end up happening between the two of them. His lip curled a little at the idea.

When they pulled up at the beach near the hotel in which Karkat and several of the others were staying, Karkat nodded up to the hotel and suggested they at least change into something that would be less hassle in the sand. He hadn't even thought to ask where Eridan was staying, but it seemed logical that he'd have checked in at this hotel, or one nearby given that he was doing business in the area.

"Or you could ask if Bro has a spare pair, you two are about the same size around the waist."

[princeofmelodrama]

"I've got a spare set a shorts in the back. You think I come to the coast unprepared?" Eridan said, shaking his head as he pulled back out to go across the street and park in the hotel's parking lot. He reached behind him to pull out a day bag from the back seat, and slipped out of the car, where he waited for Karkat to get out before locking and setting the alarm on his vehicle.

Once up at the hotel room, he immediately slipped into the bathroom to change, putting on the shorts, leaving his suit jacket and pants hanging up in the bathroom, while his shirt was tucked into the bag. Once he came out of the bathroom, he settled at the edge of the bed, pulling up one leg to rest his chin on as he waited for Karkat to finish getting ready. His entire back and arms were tattooed, and his rings stayed on even though that was the only amount of pomp that was left in Eridan's appearance. He was lost in thought, brushing his thumb over the arch of his foot idly as he continued to go over the things he'd read earlier that day.

"I'm surprised," he mentioned offhand after a minute. "It looks like you aren't sharin' your room. I woulda thought you had someone by now. Or at least woulda been sharin' with your ridiculous human moirail."

[chronologicalpulse]

"My ridiculous human moirail is sharing a room with his matesprit," Karkat called back at him before he reappeared in his own pair of shorts, pulling a sleeveless tshirt down over them then sticking his hands into the pockets of the shorts. He had to stop a moment when he spotted the extent of Eridan's tattooing. He'd seen part of it the first time they'd run into one-another at the beach, but now he could see it close up and he couldn't help but stand and examine the art. His fingertips skimmed over the arm of the octopus wrapping around his forearm, until he was distracted by the large tribal half-sleeve with his sign as the centerpiece. His ears turned just the slightest bit red and he looked up at Eridan briefly. He cleared his throat and turned to gesture back across the hall. "Rose and Kanaya are in the room across the hall if you wanna say hi to them or whatever."

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan arched a brow to Karkat's inspection of his tattoo, his cheeks darkening once he realized whst Kar had to have thought about his sign permanently on his skin; he'd done it when he wanted to have something to remember Karkat and what he'd said to him, what he meant to him, not knowing that they'd ever meet again. He stood and put his hands behind his back, huffing quietly through his gills. "Well, I suppose sayin' hi won't hurt," he said with a look over to his old friend.

"Y'know, I'd been meanin' to stay outta everyone's hair. Kinda feel like I shouldn't even be here, but since I'm gonna be a nuisance whether or not I wanna, I might as well be one with good fuckin' sense." He opened the door and walked over to knock on the door across the hall.

When Kanaya answered, her surprise to see Eridan there - in as little as he was wearing, no less - took her aback, but she smiled and offered the 'gentlemen' to come in. The four of them spoke for a while, simply catching up and then getting distracted by a discussion about the possibilities of their fabricated reality's history becoming an amalgam of various worlds' histories, when there was a knock on the door.

"Y'all comin' down for dinner?" It was Bro.

[chronologicalpulse]

"I'm pretty sure that at least she would like to know what you're up to," Karkat sighed and followed after him just to make sure that he wouldn't end up inadvertently offending either of the girls while he was in with them.

It was only when Bro appeared that he realized how long they had been in the room just talking, making nice. He looked around at the others then back at Bro and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know, are you guys hungry?" he asked, getting an affirmative from Rose at least and figuring that was impetus enough to head down. The others were already congregated down there, including Sollux hanging out around the grill and poking some at the charcoal in Bro's absence. There were several surfboards poked into the sand and John was sitting down near them, laughing at a ukelele that he'd acquired some time over the past few days. It looked ridiculous and natural on the windy doofus. Karkat sat down on the opposite side of the blanket from where the food was stacked up, scooting over to allow Eridan a space beside him.

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan, to his credit, barely acknowledged Sollux, simply walking past him and having a seat beside Karkat, watching as Dave wandered back towards the group with a large cooler that he'd been told to help lug around by Bro. As Eridan watched quietly, he smiled when Kanaya started to glow, helping to illuminate the area. "Almost forgot you could do that now," he mentioned offhand.

Once everyone was settled and chatting with each other, Eridan stayed quiet for most of it, simply trying to take it all in. All he'd seen in his time here were Vriska and Feferi, and neither wound up being the best of encounters. He simply had to soak it all in, try not to get overwhelmed with the odd feeling that no, he wasn't a part of this, anymore.

He drew his legs up and rested against them, arms around his legs, only half listening to Terezi chatter on about her classes. He was obviously off in his own little world. When Bro brought over a few fish and veggie kebabs for him, as well as a bottle of beer, Eridan nodded his thanks and started to eat quietly, still somewhat drawn into himself and watching the group. He looked to Karkat with a small smile, and murmured, "Thanks for invitin' me," after he swallowed a small bite of fish.

[chronologicalpulse]

"I'm just glad you're behaving yourself," Karkat replied with a smile of his own, leaning against Eridan's side briefly then setting into one of the hotdogs he'd just been handed. He was impressed when he bit into them; apparently Bro remembered his Thing about hotdogs in general being absolutely disgusting pink slime amalgamations and had opted for the more expensive but much more tasty organic type. He opted to stick with one of the Caprisun pouches that Sollux had brought along, sucking almost contentedly on the thin yellow straw.

After most of dinner was finished off in short order by the small military force that was their group of friends, a few of them wandered off toward the water while others decided they would rather sit and pester Eridan about his work. Karkat was just fine with sitting and watching him attempt to explain what he was doing, just sipping on the soda he'd grabbed before they ran out.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Karkat asked once more of them had wandered off toward the water.

[princeofmelodrama]

Eridan explained briefly that he was the head of the troll health division of the company he worked at, and was presently using that power to the advantage of their kind to jump-start a reproductive project, to look into what they were missing in the genetics to be able to reproduce without a third party. As he spoke, it was short and to the point, and with nothing in particular that was considered at least by himself to be bragging. Simple facts. And he knew the details would bore them, so he explained that what he was mostly doing, until the project got underway, was doing research into various diseases that only affected trolls. "Gruesome work, believe me, but I'd rather put my time to good use."

When they were left pretty much to themselves, Eridan stretched his legs back out, leaning back on his hands. "Got a meetin' in the mornin', lastin' 'til noon, an' I'm plannin' on tourin' the facility an' gettin' a better idea a what my branch is gonna need here sometime either tomorrow or the day after." He turned to look at Karkat. "Would you like to go back to PRS with me?"

[chronologicalpulse]

Karkat nodded some and sat up with his elbows propped up on his knees, his hand tucked up under his chin. "I think I'd like that. And maybe lunch, when you're done with the meeting then. I'll be picking the place this time," he added, watching the others play in the water. He had managed to sunburn over the course of the day, but at least it wasn't bad and in this light, it wasn't even really noticeable. He'd just end up being a little bit freckled when it healed.

"Thanks for actually coming," he said quietly, leaning up against Eridan's side again. This was comfortable, even familiar, being able to slouch with the seadweller and simply talk. He hadn't had this chance since well before the humans had entered their lives. He just wondered how long it would last.