Becoming Truly Happy :Erisol:

Chapter 5

When Eridan returned home that evening, later than he had ever returned home before, his father was terrifyingly nowhere to be seen. It was nearing midnight, but there was no furious parent standing guard at the steps, nor anywhere else in the house, and as he crept around he was filled with a horrible, freezing sense of dread - which was probably his father's plan. It made his stomach turn, especially when he made it to his room safely and still hadn't bumped into his father - and it wasn't a simple case of not going to the room where his father lay waiting to pounce, because Dualscar knew exactly the rooms Eridan would visit, and the ones he wouldnt.

He never thought he would say it, but he thought he'd prefer his father to beat him than not see him, that night. It just terrified him so completely, not knowing when he might spring, that he lay in bed staring at the door for a good hour before he finally gave in to exhaustion and drifted off. The only slight solace he had was the memory of a beautiful, actual date with Sol, and a brand new status of actual boyfriends. That was fucking unbelievable, but he wasn't going to complain for a second. Sollux had even kissed him goodbye, and the memory of that warmed his cheeks slightly despite his abject terror of being attacked by his father at any point.

But he made it to sleep, far later than he normally did - it would probably have been later had he taken himself up on the idea to message Sol to take his mind off the absence of Dualscar. But eventually he did manage to switch his brain off and drift off, only remembering when he was halfway to sleep that he had school in the morning, before waving it off. He knew he could make it, he'd done it a million times.

Eridan woke up sleepy and still retaining a slight sense of dread, which intensified a thousand times when he saw the clock. Fifteen minutes later than when he needed to leave, and that was seen through bleary not-quite-awake eyes, that snapped open in terror when they saw the time.

Instantly panicking, Eridan shot up and got ready in a whirlwind, muttering curses under his breath as he brushed his teeth and pulled on pants at the same time. No time for cape, no time for hair gel, no time for rings, just wind your scarf round your neck (to hide from everyone because fuck knew what they'd say if they saw what was beneath), make sure you look halfway decent and shoot out the door like your life depended on it.

When Eridan sped out the front door at top speed, his car was nowhere to be seen, which instantly dropped a stone into his stomach. He knew immediately this was the work of his father - he wouldnt put it past him to have turned off his alarm as well. Dualscar knew how much his son hated tardiness, because he despised it himself. Probably trying to teach him a lesson.

He had no time to ponder it, because with a split-second decision he was off, sprinting down the road at top speed, scarf flying. Top speed was, admittedly, not very fast, but it was enough to power him down a street or two before his lungs started to fail.

Panicking even more at the collapsing sensation inside his chest, Eridan began to wheeze and slow down, but his stubborn nature forced his legs to keep moving, and he wished he had a bike or something, something that would take less effort. It had been years since he had last had an asthma attack, but as he sprinted way too fast down the street the possibility of having one became all-too-real.

He stumbled on a corner, and almost tripped, but managed to just catch himself, no thanks to the stare from an old lady walking nearby. Fuck off, old lady. There's a sort-of asthmatic sprinting down the street and he is late as hell for school.

Eventually he tripped and fell through the school gates, half an hour late and close to tears. He sprinted through the halls, earning stares and whispers, before finally, mercifully, crashing into his math class, making the teacher stop talking and glare at him.