Chapter Twelve

This was the last fucking straw for Karkat. It had been going on for weeks now. Every single time he was in the middle of something in a dream his fuck ass of an alarm had to drag him up to the real world. This time the clock was going down. Karkat reached over to his bed side table, grabbed the clock, and, with all his strength, chucked it at the wall of his rundown apartment.

The clock shattered and the buzzing ceased. Karkat threw his blankets over on the other side of the bed as he sat up, ready to take on the whole fucking day the only way he knew how. Like a boss. Ok scratch that out, that was dumb to say. The only way he knew how to deal with the day was with three cups of black coffee and a bitter attitude to match. Here he was no prince; here he had work in an hour. He turned the coffee maker on then proceeded to take a shower after all last night had been a nightmare and happy sun shine rolled into one fucking tortilla.

Karkat honestly had no clue what the heck his dream had been all about, but he glared at the stack of movies he had watched the night before as he walked through the bathroom door. That was the last time he had a Disney marathon with the Princess Bride on top of that. Though he did know one thing. The man in his dream, who he could no long remember the name of, was defiantly going to return other nights even if it meant Karkat having to turn to the dark arts.

Freshly showered Karkat changed into his uniform, red shirt and khakis. Though he detested his job, at the moment it was his only source of income so he had to live through it until a better job came up. He then guzzled down the first cup of coffee along with whatever he had left over in his fridge. Then Karkat finally left to go to work.

For the majority of the day Karkat simply sat behind the counter at the convenient store he worked at. It was a small enough place that only two people at a time was needed to manage it. Today it happened to be him and his douchebag of a friend Sollux. Who, at that very moment, was busy flirting with his new girlfriend. So Karkat took the liberty of reading a magazine instead of cleaning. Only the sound of bottles hitting the counter brought him back to the real world.

Karkat looked up over the magazine. The first thing he registered was the mess of hair. It curled, waved, and stuck out at odd angles. Next was the painted face that lay half hidden by the hair. A clown face stared back at Karkat. His eyes traveled down to the bottles on the counter. Over ten Faygo bottles sat neatly on the counter. Karkat grimaced, he had tried it once before, and it had been alright instead of terrible like every one told him; though he normally denied liking it slightly. "You know this stuff is complete shit right?" Karkat asked while ringing up the soda.

"Nah brother, this shit is from the motherfuckin' gods," the man replied. His voice was deep and in away seductive. Karkat had thought he heard it before.

"If this was from the gods, people would be paying honor to them by drinking every bit of it. But seeing as no one has died of overdose thus sacrificing themselves to these supposed gods, I'm going to say its all bullshit. This crap is disgusting," Karkat said finishing with the soda, "That'll be 12.60."

The clown gave a small chuckle as he pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. He paid, grabbed his soda, and left with a small smile planted on his face. Some more objects landed on the counter pulling Karkat's attention away from the door. Before him sat Tavros, literally, the poor boy was paraplegic because of an accident a few years ago. Though that never seemed to stop him from pursuing whatever he wanted to do. Karkat remembered the days when he had such low confidence that it was a fucking disgrace, but now Karkat could stand him a little better.

On the counter sat a few things, mainly candy and some soda. "How you doing today wheels?"

"Not, uh, bad. Yourself?" Karkat simply shrugged. When it came to Tavros he had no idea what to say. Luckily for him it didn't turn into awkward silence this time. Tavros kept up the conversation.

"Are you coming to Terezi's party tonight?"

"Why would I grace that cackling witch with my presence?"

"Because it's going to an awesome party."

"Oh how so?" Karkat asked much exaggerated.

"Terezi got the Bard of Rage to perform," Tavros said a little excited. Karkat had to stop and register what was said. "The bard is coming?" Tavros nodded quickly throwing his Mohawk out of place.

"Isn't he like impossible to book? Terezi's been trying to get him to come for years now."

"Yeah, that's why this party is going to be the best she's ever thrown!" Karkat handed Tavros his items. "Well then I just might come. Is it a costume party like every other year?"

Tavros nodded, "Yeah. I got to go but I'll see you tonight." Tavros wheeled himself out; the clown hadn't left yet and opened the door for Tavros. With one last smile toward Karkat the two left. Since there was no one else to help, Karkat set to work cleaning the floors while letting his imagination wander. It settled on the party that was going down that night. The bard happened to be one of his favorite artists. The vocals were amazing, except for his raps they were just fucking terrible, and the way the man could play any string instrument caused Karkat's heart to beat a little faster. For once he was excited to go to Terezi's party.

Surprisingly the day went quickly and before he knew it he was getting ready for the party. Karkat stood over the plethora of costumes he had accumulated over the various years of parties Terezi had thrown. One year it had been a banana another was a crab. Why he had these, he knew not, but tonight none of these would work for him. So Karkat decided to mix and match to come up with something. He pulled a puffy shirt, pants, and boots, from a pirate costume. Next a vest from a suit he used for interviews. Finally he pulled from the stack a white jacket and cape he had used for a costume pairing when he dated Terezi. The last piece he added to the mixture was a crown just for kicks and giggles.

He would be the prince he had dreamed he was last night. He began to dress and was ready within a few minutes. Karkat pulled up the invitation in his email to check the location of this fair extravaganza. It was at the Hivebent Bar, which was Karkat's favorite place to go. He made the decision at that moment to get completely wasted.

The trip over to the bar was quick seeing as it was only a few blocks away. The air was chilled telling of a winter that was coming. Karkat watched his breath as it slowly curled in the air like smoke. The bar on the other hand was warm. People had already shown up and Terezi was greeting them in her dragon costume she wore every year. Karkat snuck in unseen, which wasn't hard seeing as Terezi couldn't actually see anything, but she did have a sixth sense that unnerved a lot of people. She could tell when people were lying or what they had eaten that day. It's what made her a fine law student.

The bar was small but had enough room for everyone who would be attending. The bar was on the right side of the room and a small stage on the left. On the stage the musicians were warming up for their night performance. A tall man stood in the center of the stage and was tuning several string instruments. He first started with a violin, and finally finished with a cello. Karkat guessed this was the bard. He was tall and his hair went in all different directions. He was faced away from Karkat, so there was no seeing what he actually looked like. Rumor had it he wasn't bad looking, aside from some scars on his face.

He was dressed in a white tanks top that was tucked into an orange jumpsuit. Many bracelets adorned his wrists. A tattoo also snaked up his right arm. From where Karkat was he could see it was a Capricorn goat fish thing. "You guys ready to start? I think everyone's here," Terezi asked looking up at the group. The bard gave a swift nod before picking up a bass. "Alright just remember to play the set list I gave you." She went back to the crowd that now filled the room.

The band began clapping to a rhythm Karkat knew quite well. After all it had been playing on the radio quite often. Other instruments started to play, and the crowd joined in the clapping. The bard then turned around to begin singing "It's Time". Karkat almost dropped the drink he had grabbed. There on the stage happened to be the very man he had dreamed about last night. His face a little thinner than what he remembered but the scars on his face definitely stood out.

"So this is where you feel and I are left to sell. The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell," he sang while playing along with his band. All Karkat could do was stare in wide eye wonder as memories of the dream came flooding back; tender touches, and others among the first to be recalled. Before the song even finished Karkat was outside taking deep breathes. There he stood until Terezi came out looking for him. "Hey you going to come back in or what? The first set is finished and the bard wants to meet you."

Karkat looked up at her, "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say dumbass. You were the only reason he came in the first place. I mean it was weird, I was practically using the Spanish inquisition on him to get him to come, and then he was all 'who's all coming?'. I told him a few names including yours and he stopped me by saying 'who's that motherfucker?'. Guess he doesn't know your reputation but when I told him you were an albino guy I use to date he got all excited and said he'd do the gig. He wants to meet you now." She finished her story in one whole breath which seemed nearly impossible to do. It has Karkat on edge though. He wondered why someone he didn't know wanted to talk to him. Though he had his doubts he stood up and started walking into the bar. Terezi had more information to tell him so she grabbed his arm sharply.

"Listen, Vantas. This guy has a pretty sweet ass and I nice face to boot. If you even try to interfere with me getting him I will personally see to it you end up like Tavros." Karkat rolls his eyes at her.

"Just because you get in my way of romance doesn't mean I do the same."

Terezi just scowled as she followed Karkat into the building. Music from the DJ blared; people were jumping and dancing in awkward ways. Karkat's friends were never the best dancers, but the majority had found their way over to the bar with the intent of slowly getting intoxicated. Terezi took Karkat's hand and lead him over to the snack bar she had set up. Most of the snacks there were colorful and fruity after all Terezi loved things with diverse taste.

The bard was admiring his choices. Terezi tapped lightly on his shoulder, and he lazily glanced over. He was slow in movement seeing as there was no real need to hurry along. When he fully faced Karkat, he could finally see who the mysterious bard was. He was thin but not overly so. He had a little tone to his muscle just not what Karkat had dreamed about. The more he looked over the musician the more things shifted and didn't match up. Only two things did; the three scars that lay diagonally across his face, and his olive skin. "Gamzee this is Karkat. My ex-boyfriend you wanted to meet."

The name came rushing back to Karkat, now there were three things that matched. Gamzee let a smile creep onto his face causing his light blue eyes to light up. "Yeah I know I met this motherfucker this morning." Karkat was a little taken a back. When did this happen?

"You probably don't recognize me because I had my face painted then. Don't really like wearing it when I preform it has a way of coming off," he said while motioning to his face. Karkat thought for a moment.

"Wait… the clown?!" A grin spilt across his face as he bobbed his head. "Well this sure is interesting, but you should probably head back to the stage for the second set. And then when all the guests leave the real party begins!" The real party, Karkat knew that is was just close friends going over to her house and getting dead drunk while playing spin the bottle. Gamzee's face instantly saddened a little before he headed back up to the stage. Karkat remained for the second set which mainly consisted of Gamzee playing various instruments to different songs that consisted of pop or dubstep. Then with an encore the party ended guests left and Terezi's close friends headed over to her place. Gamzee of course was more than welcomed.

The party was well underway as soon as Terezi pulled out all the liquor she had in store. Everyone was higher than Kites in less than thirty minutes and that is when Terezi downed the final bottle of beer so the game could commence. "Remember everybody you must have full slurpy makeouts with whoever the bottle points to," she slurred as she spun the bottle first. It landed on Dave Strider and she crawled over and began the sloppy makeouts. And so the game played out everyone kissed everyone; except for Karkat who never really liked this game.

It was Terezi's turn again and the bottle had just pointed to Gamzee who, just like everyone else, was drunk and maybe a little high. Karkat was worse off than the rest; he had fulfilled his decision and got wasted. He wished his was even more so as he watched Terezi. She was all over Gamzee grabbing anything she could, but finally Gamzee stopped her to reach forward and spin the bottle. Karkat watched un-amused until it pointed directly at him. His eyes quickly darted up to look at the scared face. Gamzee stared seductively over at him while taking a long drag from the cigarette, which was probably something else, before blowing out the smoke.

Karkat licked his lips trying to keep his nerves down as the Bard crawled over to him. A hand cupped the back of his head and soft lips met his gently. Karkat opened his mouth slightly and hands traveled up into wild hair. He laid down pulling Gamzee with him to keep their lips locked and moving. At this Terezi gave a slight screech of frustration. Karkat did the only thing he could think to do. He flipped her off with his left hand while tangling his other fingers even more in the soft hair. There was laughter and whistles at the gesture. You're pretty sure that Terezi rolled her eyes at them.

The party ended some time, Karkat wasn't sure when, but soon he and Gamzee were being ushered out the door to venture into the world while still wasted. Out on the street Gamzee took your hand, "Can I stay the night with you? Tavbro has his lady friend over and I don't want to interrupt such a sweet thing."

Karkat pulled him down into another kiss, "Yeah sure." With that he took off into a run, pulling Gamzee along and they laughed the entire way to Karkat's apartment.

Author's note

Soooooooo sorry for the late chapter. This was going to be released on Christmas but I got busy with work and moving for college.
Alas this is the last chapter for the story. I'm already working on the next one but it'll take longer for chapters to come out because I do want it to be a long story. thanks for sticking around for this short dumb story that sort of lost it's steam.

I do not agree with drinking. Nor will I ever. Just so you know.

Finally I'd like to thank my wonderful editor setablaze for fixing up my grammar and so on. I look forward to working with you on my next project.

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