One Plus One Equals Three (Erisol fanfic)

Chapter 23

They had gotten the invitation over a week ago but had no definite plan as to what they were going to do. Eridan stood in front of the ablution block mirror watching himself as he buttoned up his white formal shirt. "Do you think we need a grub sitter though?" he asked anxiously. He turned to look over at Sollux who was frowning at his own reflection and pulling a finger against the bow tie around his neck.

"I mean, no?" the yellow blood answered. "Thiion'th been in her cocoon for a few dayth now. It'th not like she'th going to be getting into thingth while we're gone. Besideth, who would we even athk? Everyone is going to be at FF'th party with uth. Do I have to wear thith? Fuck!" Sollux grabbed at the bowtie again, unintentionally pulling it undone.

"Yes you have to," Eridan rolled his eyes and turned to his matesprit to fix the bowtie that hung limply around his neck. "Or we could just not go and stay here with Psi."

"Ath much ath I would love to not go, it would look odd for the Empreth'th former quadrant mateth to not show up at her inaugural ball. She thpethifically wanth for all of uth to be there," Sollux grabbed Eridan's cold hands after he finished fixing his clothing. "I hate leaving her too, but I doubt she will come out of that cocoon while we're away tonight," he brought Eridan's hands up to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the chilled skin.

"Can't you rig up some sort of monitorin' device that we can take with us?" Eridan asked in irritation. He reclaimed his hands and turned back to the mirror to do up his own bow tie. "Fuckin' hell, what if she does emerge from the cocoon and we aren't here an' she gets scared an' -"

"Eridan!" Sollux grabbed onto the highblood's shoulders and shook him lightly. "Thtop getting tho worked up. We're going to FF'th ball, we'll mingle for a few hourth, then we'll come back home to Thiion and she'll thtill be in her cocoon." Eridan took deep breaths to calm his nerves, his fins flared and he still looked frustrated. "I'll thee if I can figure out a portable monitoring devithe," he sighed.

"Thank you," Eridan said and leaned over to give the yellow blood a peck on the lips. "I suppose I'll finish getting' ready while you do that." Eridan turned back to the mirror and Sollux left to go dig through his spare computer parts to see what would take the least amount of work to produce the results he needed. He quickly pieced something together and when he entered Psiion's room to place the camera near her cocoon he found Eridan there already. The violet blood stood beside the cocoon in his white tuxedo with his fingertips resting on it. "We need to get going or we'll be more than fathionably late. You know how much you hate not being fathionable," Sollux snickered.

"I miss her, Sol," Eridan whispered. "It feels wrong without her around."

"It'th not like she really went anywhere. She'll be back in her new form and will be able to do all thorth of thtuff with uth," Sollux said. "You ready to go thee FF?"

"Yeah," Eridan reluctantly withdrew from the cocoon. "You probably can't call her that at the ball. She is the Empress now after all."

"I don't give a shit. We go way back, if I want to call her FF then I will." Sollux replied stubbornly. The lowblood grabbed his black tuxedo jacket from the couch as they passed through the living room and shrugged it on. Eridan busied himself with straightening out Sollux's tux until the yellow blood swatted his hands away.

The entire way to the party Eridan kept his eyes glued to the tiny screen of the grub monitor. He reluctantly slid it into his pocket as they approached the castle. The entire structure was lit up and teeming with activity. The castle had been built into the edge of a sea cliff and while most of the floors were accessible to a majority of the troll population, the lower levels were submerged in the ocean. Sollux immediately felt uncomfortable being around so many people at such an upscale event. He glanced over at his matesprit and was once again struck with the realization that Eridan was much higher on the hemospectrum than him. He looked around at the other high bloods present at the palace and couldn't stop himself from thinking that Eridan could have done so much better than him.