towerofanimus | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Characters: Willow Rosenberg and AU7 Eridan Ampora
Setting: Floor 25 - the meadow
Format: Action
Summary: Eridan's got a little something to give Willow
Warnings: Cavity-inducing cute

[Eridan sits on a rise on the meadow, fidgeting as he waits for Willow. He has something burning a hole in his pocket, a little trinket he's spent the last several days working feverishly over. He's quite proud of it, but nervous about the reception it will get. Will it be good enough? Will it offend Willow in some way?

But he's determined to give it to her. He just has to hope that nothing horrible happens before he can do it. The last time he waited for Willow, he got attacked by the Grand Highblood Subjugglator and nearly died. Of course, they also became matesprits that day, so it could have been worse]

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[He blinks, honestly startled at the words] You don't havve to apologize for that, Wwill. I don't think there's anythin wwrong wwith the wway you are.

I feel like there's something wrong. I just... I don't know, I'm happy sometimes, but I'm tired of always going back to... [Missing her and hating herself.] To being depressed, I guess.

I don't want to put all that on you. [So she's been trying to keep it to herself, but Willow isn't really very good at that.]

Shoosh. [He ran his fingers through her hair soothingly.] Wwill, you got a realize you havve no idea wwhat emotional histrionics I can handle. Givven evverything I'vve learned about you, I doubt you'd get homicidal wwhen havving emotional theatrics. Wwhich means you'll be wway easier for me to deal wwith than Fef.

[She really hadn't thought of it that way before, and the reminder is effective. Some of the tension leaves her, and she sighs almost silently, leaning into his hand.]

As long as I don't have to watch you die, like with Tara... no, probably not homicidal. But I'll try to, um, keep the emotional histrionics down all the same. You deserve better, Eridan. You're not a replacement, you... you just deserve better.

I'll try not to die, though in this place it seems like it happens evvery other wweek, to some people. [He shakes his head] I couldn't havve anythin' better than you. So there's no apologizin for wwho you are.

Let's... let's hope not. I don't want to go crazy again. [She tries not to show how tense the very thought makes her, but probably fails at least in part.

She forces herself to relax, though, when he goes on. Willow lets out a breath.] I'm sure I'll have to apologize sometimes. But I just-- want to be as good as I can be for you. [Leaning in, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.] You've been through so much already.

I wwant the same for you. [He returns the kiss and hugs her tight] Let's just be happy wwith wwhat wwe'vve got, okay? This is no time for glubbin anywway.

... Yeah. Sorry. [She returns the hug, cuddling into him and hiding her face in his chest.

It's hard to stay thinking about things like this with him right there, anyway, and her voice sounds a bit mischievous even as it's muffled.] By the way, is it just me or does glub mean something different every time you say it?

[He sniffs] Glub's a pretty fuckin vversatile wword.

[She can't restrain a giggle, still muffled.]

I can see that, I just think it's funny. Does Feferi say it, too?

[He chuckles] It wwas all her wwho started it. I just picked it up. She glubs all the livve long day, you don't evven knoww.

Man, she does sound cute, with all that glubbing.

Tell me about her? It's your turn to share.

She sure is the cutest... wwith the possible exception a you, a course.

[He's silent for a moment, thinking] I don't knoww wwhat to say, though. She's beautiful and wwild, and she hates bein cooped up. She's a wwhirlwwind a fire and rage sometimes, and also the swweetest troll in the coddamn univverse.

She's had a lot more years to work on it than I have, so I'm okay with being a possible exception.

So she's a handful? In the way that you never want her not to be a handful, because then you'd feel incredibly lonely.

[He goes quiet for a bit, thinking with a faraway look] She an me nevver had lusi, at least, not that wwe remember. Wwe basically raised each other, in a wwreck of a ship in the middle a the ocean. Not havvin' a lusus messed us both up real bad, and sometimes she's half crazy wwith the longing a it. But wwe're all wwe evver had.

[There's a moment as she processes this, thinks about how incredibly sad it sounds. How much she wants to wipe away the hurt and the memories, though she knows she can't do that, not really. All she can do is just make the present better. And Willow thinks, too, that maybe she understands this whole pity being affection thing more than she'd thought.]

... Sometimes having each other is more than enough, [she says softly.] Sometimes it's a lot.

Yeah. [He smiles and gives her another nuzzle] I didn't mean to make things sad, Wwill. Wwe had each other, and that's all wwe really needed.

Nah, it's okay if it's sad sometimes. Life is that way.

I was just thinking that I'm glad you had her. Troll romance might be about pity, but... human romance is about wanting the best things possible for each other. And I do, want that for you.

I don't think troll romance is so vvery different... I wwant wwhat's best for you, too. And for Fef. Not so much wwhen it comes to the black quadrants, but that's different.

I don't know, you guys make a big deal out of it being hate-based, and I mean, it obviously is, but... It doesn't really seem that dissimilar to me. There's still all the same relationship issues, they're just about something a little different.

Wwell... it's more about bein' rivvals than takin' care a each other. Wwe're still important to one another, but I wwouldn't go out a my wway to help Sol unless he really, really needed it, because if he wwere too wweak then he wwouldn't be up to bein' my rivval.

No, see, I get that, but it's like... you still really care about each other, even if it's in a different way. I don't know, it's just that when I'm talking to you about him or to him about you, I can tell that it's important.

[And the funny thing is, it's so different from a regular relationship in her mind that when she thinks of it this way it doesn't make her jealous at all. Though sometimes she is jealous, knowing Sollux personally had helped a lot not to feel that way. She smiles.] It's just... nicer than I thought it would be.

Wwell, yeah, it's important. [Eridan flushes, cocking his head] Nicer? You mean like because wwe aren't activvely tryin' to kill each other?

Kind of. When you first mentioned it I was afraid that it was like... legalized spousal abuse, or something. I was worried. I mean you have blood castes and totalitarian rule, it's not unlikely.

But it's a lot more balanced than that. If the power dynamic's uneven it completely defeats the purpose of the relationship. ... Right?

[He chews on his lower lip] Yeah, that's right. That's wwhy I wwas so wworried wwhen wwe first met, because our powwer dynamic's alwways been unevven. But I feel better about it than I did, evven if the ring doesn't really wwork.

[Oops...He never told her that, did he]