You were sitting at the airport on one of the seats by the wall with your backpack and waited for your friends to arrive. Today was the day that you all went on a trip to California after years and years of planning, and you were more excited than you had ever been for anything in your entire life. There was only one problem. Since there was sixteen of you heading on this trip (including both you, Dave, Rose, Jade, John and all of the beta trolls) you would need to share rooms with someone. And to make sure no one felt left out or upset if they weren't chosen to be in rooms with anyone, Rose decided the most responsible thing to do would be to put names in a hat and randomly draw them, and anyone who got stuck in a room with someone they were in a caliginous relationship with or someone they just generally don't get along with, their name would be redrawn again.

Jade had luckily got put in a room with Feferi, who she seems to get along with very well, Rose and Kanaya were placed in another room (even though Dave had some objections because he was told he couldn't be in a room with his matesprit Karkat and they got put together) and John was put in a room with Dave. That meant that all of your human friends were in rooms that weren't with you, and that you were bound to be in a room with a troll. You just weren't expecting it to be this particular one.

Ever since you'd first met the sea dweller, you'd been terrified of Eridan in a weird way. He seemed scary for some reason, like he had a villainous vibe to him, and you didn't like that one bit. After Feferi had decided to host a picnic where everyone got to know each other better, the two of you actually got along pretty well after some conversation. He talked a lot about Feferi and Sollux and all of the things that were tough in his life, but sometimes he talked about less depressing things like Harry Potter or white science. You could even say that at times when he wasn't complaining, he was fun to be around. You also knew however about the horrible and twisted nightmares the poor troll would get sometimes. That was one thing that worried you beyond anything else, dealing with Eridan's night terrors all week.

Speaking of the devil, Eridan strode in through one of the sets of automatic doors in the airport with a violet suitcase and cape following close behind him. You were surprised he didn't accidentally roll the suitcase over his cape and get himself trapped. He was also being followed by Equius, Nepeta and Aradia who had carpooled with him because they lived near by. Eridan noticed you and began to walk over to you with the others hot on his trail.

"(Y/N), wwhere is evveryone?" Eridan made himself comfortable sitting next to you.

"I don't know," You sighed. "All I know is if they don't get here soon we're going to miss our flight. You should probably drop off your bag and head through security and stuff. I'll group text everyone and let them know we'll be at the gate.

Eridan nodded and followed you over to one of the self check in machines. Equius, Aradia and Nepeta got the idea and you helped them all check in their bags too. Nepeta was upset when the woman at security told her she couldn't bring her gloves along (seeing as they had long sharp metal claws on them) but promised to hold them until she got back after some 'negotiating' with Equius. Equius had to take off his glasses to pass through, Aradia had to walk instead of floating along as she usually did and Eridan (much to his dismay) had to take off both his cape and glasses to get through. Luckily, you all made it to the gate with half an hour to spare.

Karkat, Dave, Rose and Kanaya were the next ones to make it to the gate. Somehow Kanaya had made it through with her lipstick chainsaw, which made you laugh. Rose carried two books in her left arm for entertainment on the plane and John had plenty of movies stuffed in his bag for him and Dave to watch.

"You know, he literally will not show any of us his eyes," John sat down on the opposite side of you since Eridan was on the left of you. "The woman told him to take off his shades and he walked through with his eyes closed just to avoid it."

"Maybe they're actually lasers like Sollux's and he doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"Ugh, wwhy are you talkin about that asshole."

You turned to look at the grumpy Eridan beside you, who was spinning his wand around with his index finger. You rolled your eyes at the depressing sight and laughed it off.

"Just using him as an example. After all, I know literally no one else with lazer eyes or whatever it's actually called. Except maybe Dave, that's still up for debate."

John laughed heartily and interrupted half of the airport with his annoyingly loud laughter. The next few people to arrive were Jade, Feferi, Sollux and Terezi followed by Tavros, Gamzee and Vriska who had carpooled over with you but ended up needing the bathroom and running off to do stupid stuff. They finally decided to get to where the rest of you were right before your flight was called.

"Hey, does anyone want to come with me to buy some gum or something for the plane ride?" You looked around the table filled with your friends. Sollux decided he needed a break from the conversation and decided to join you. He also wanted to see if they had any honey flavored candy he could eat during the flight. You fiddled with the money you had in your pocket while you waited for him, a packet of candy you were planning to share with the two people you were going to be sitting beside you sitting on the counter.

"C'mon Sollux, we have like ten minutes before we have to board and your wasting it all rummaging around."

"(Y/N), they have tho much honey thuff." You noticed mustard colored tears of joy leaking out of Sollux's eyes. "I can't choothe."

"Just get the gummy bears, they're interesting," You laughed.

"Good idea."

You payed for the candy and walked back over to the table just in time to start boarding. You were on row 18, seat A. That meant you got the window seat, awesome! Sure, the window seat could be annoying if you needed to use the bathroom at some point, but it was always nice to be able to see what was going on outside.

You sat in your seat after the polite flight attendant scanned your ticket and you made it onto the plane. You placed the backpack you had brought with you as carry on under the seat in front of you and waited to see who was seated beside you.

"(Y/N) Dear, I Believe I Am Sitting Beside You."

"18 B?"

"Yes, That Would Be My Seat."

Kanaya sat politely and began to read one of the books she had brought with her. She was calm, kind and quiet, meaning if you really wanted to you could get some sleep on the ride over. You found out that Sollux was sitting in front of Kanaya, which made you laugh because that would mean he was seventeen bee (badumtss). As the last few of your friends finished boarding, the troll who was sitting beside Kanaya finally made it onto the plane.

"HEY FUCKASSES, I THINK I'M SUPPOSED TO SIT HERE."

Oh Karkat, well, looks like you won't get any sleep during this flight anymore. Kanaya seemed to have a strange motherly affection towards Karkat, and stood to help him put his small suitcase into the overhead locker. She also didn't hesitate to remind him not to talk when the flight attendants were doing demonstrations, and not to curse during this flight because there were 'wrigglers' on board. He was doing surprisingly well, that was until the plane took off.

"OH FUCK." Karkat's hands instantly traveled to the arm rests as he gripped onto them for dear life.

"Karkat, I Thought We Already Spoke About This."

"SORRY."

Vriska seemed to be enjoying the entire thing the most and looked the most excited when turbulence occurred. You couldn't understand how anyone could enjoy that, it always made you worried. You took the time that you were in the air for the first few seconds to glance around the plane. Vriska, Aradia and Tavros were across from you. Tavros had boarded before the others because he needed special assistance because of his four wheel device, and Aradia was nice enough to give up her window seat so he could see them flying. Gamzee, Eridan and Feferi sat in front of Tavros, Aradia and Vriska. You decided to call that part the highblood isle. Dave, Sollux and John sat in front of you, Terezi, Equius and Nepeta sat in front of them and Jade and Rose sat behind you guys. The seat next to Rose remained empty, so she decided to place her books in that seat.

"Hey, you guys want some candy?" You opened the bag of candy you had in your bag and offered the bag to Kanaya. "It's a human food, I think you should try it."

You weren't expecting Kanaya to actually take one seeing as she was a rainbow drinker, but she reached into the bag and pulled out a jelly baby. Karkat decided that if Kanaya was going to, so was he and he reached in and took a strawberries and cream. Dave heard the rattling of the bag and had already stuck his hand out through the space in between him and Sollux.

"Hey Sollux, are you going to let me try one of those honey gummy bears?"

Sollux used his psiioniics to send the gummy bear over to you, which honestly scared the crap out of you. Kanaya seemed to actually like the jelly babies, and continued to search through the bag to find them during the trip.

"You do know you are eating tiny human gummy babies right?"

"We All Eat Grubsauce, So I Suppose It Doesn't Phase Me."

Once the plane had finally landed and you all made it to the bus you were taking, you sat down beside Eridan who had made an effort to sit as far away from everyone else as possible.

"Hey Eridan, how was your flight?"

"You wwere on it, wwhy are you askin?" Eridan turned away from you to face the window.

"Because I want to know," You shrugged. "It probably wasn't fun being stuck between Gamzee and Feferi."

"Wwell, Gamzee wwas alright, but Fef..." Eridan huffed. "I'm still not ovver it."

"That's understandable," You smiled at the grumpy fish who was now turning back to face you. "I don't talk to my exes anymore, and you spend almost every day with Feferi. I could definitely see why you are uncomfortable around her. Kind of sucks you got put next to her on the plane."

"Yeah i guess," Eridan fiddled with his thumbs. "Fef wwants Sol and I to get along before she speaks to either of us again."

"Aren't you guys in some kind of feud?" You tilted your head. "Kanaya told me it's more like a kismesis situation."

"No wway," Eridan scowled. "I wwould never be in a kismesis wwith that piece of garbage. Plus, I'm more focused on my flushed crush."

"Ooh, Eri likes someone." You playfully nudged Eridan with your shoulder and laughed as you watched violet spring to his cheeks.

The rest of the bus ride was completely silent between the two of you. Kanaya walked down the isle carefully when the bus stopped at a set of lights to sit opposite the two of you. She continued to talk to you about a few pressing matters like where you and Eridan would need to meet her and the rest of the trolls so you could all walk to breakfast lunch and dinner most nights, and things like trips to the pool and the buddy system. Eridan seemed to zone out until she was gone again and turned back to you.

"I need to tell you somethin," Eridan crossed his arms across his chest. "I wwas tryin not to, but I think I should."

"Uh, okay," you knew exactly where this conversation was about to go, but you continued on anyway. You would never admit it, but Eridan had been growing on you and you were flushed for him in a way. You just hoped you weren't assuming anything. A blush found it's way to your cheeks. "Go ahead."

"I'm flushed for you, and since I get rejected so often, I wwouldn't be surprised if you reject me too," Eridan sighed. "I'm used to it by noww."

"No Eridan, believe it or not I'm flushed for you too," You smiled at Eridan. He seemed to be in utter shock as he turned back to you. "If we weren't on a bus with our friends who I'm one hundred percent sure will take pictures of us, I would kiss you right now."

"Wwell, I guess wwe wwill havve to wwait until wwe get to the hotel."

"Until then."