Disclaimer: I think we all know what this is.
A/n: Look at what you all did. Although this was heavily delayed, I finally came to the conclusion that this couldn't be held back. See, I was reading some fanfics and then I became quite upset when either a) they weren't continued for quite some time or b) they ended on an upsetting note with a 'what will happen next?' question. Well, I then found out what a pain in the ass that is, so, when I was looking through my reviews on my fanfics as I was deleting documents (and other useless fanfics) I came across your wonderful reviews. So, I decided to push myself to write this, despite my initial attempts to not continue this. Besides, the last/first chapter was weird and everyone was out of character ... so, here's my second attempt. Enjoy the random ships I threw in there too, and the implied sexual innuendos. Cheers.
The steady hum of the computer was all that pleased the troll for the moment, strands of dark ebony hair falling across his brow as he bit venomously at his bottom lip, nipping at the darker flesh as he crouched on the chair, his knees brought to his chest and his crabtop posed in front of him. He scrutinized the chat again, an ever permanent frown splaying across his sharp and angular features.
CG: SOLLUX, THIS SHIT IS SERIOUS
TA: Calm your 2hiit, KK.
CG: CONSIDER MY SHIT CALMED
TA: Bull2hiit.
CG: YEAH, WELL, FUCK YOU TOO
TA: Nah, iif there wa2 any fuckiing going around, iit would be between you and wiindy boy. And, that would be ju2t awkward.
CG: ...
CG: SHIT, SOLLUX, THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS. I'M IN A CRISIS HERE. I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOUR SICK FANTASIES.
TA: Woah, II'm keeping all my 2iick fanta2ie2 to my2elf. But yeah, all you've saiid wa2 2omethiing about JH before goiing off on a rant.
CG: YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ANY OF IT, DID YOU?
TA: No, II couldn't. II diidn't have my 2peaker2 on.
CG: SMARTASS.
TA: We already know that, KK.
TA: But that'2 be2iide2 the poiint. We need to fiigure out a way for you to get iinto hii2 pant2 again.
CG: SOLLUX
TA: Alright, II gue22 we have to fiigure out thii2 quadrant bu2iine22. Unle22 you go the hiigh road and travel wiith me, going 2olo. Be2iide2, iit'd be niice to have 2omebody el2e beiing alone. After all, everythiing goes better iin two2.
CG: NO THANKS, SOLLUX. I ACTUALLY WANT MY QUADRANTS FILLED, WHETHER OR NOT THE DRONES COME AND CULL US ALL. I DON'T WANT TO BE ALL ALONE, SOLLUX.
TA: Holy 2hiit, that wa2 kind of deep.
TA: Have you been watchiing more of your 2hiity redrom moviie2 agaiin?
CG: FUCK YOU. AND NO.
TA: ...Sure, whatever you say, KK. But you better talk thiis over with JH. II mean, thi2 i2 really 2tartiing to feel pale.
CG: YEAH, WELL, KANAYA KIND OF RAN OUT ON ME TO HELP WITH ROSE WHO WAS HELPING JOHN. STRIDER WAS THERE THOUGH.
TA: Go talk about thii2 wiith DV, then.
CG: NO.
CG: THE FUCKER BROKE MY NOSE.
TA: He diid?
CG: YEAH.
TwinArmageddons has become an idle chum!
TwinArmageddons is no longer idle.
CG: ...DAMMIT, SOLLUX IT'S ALMOST BEEN ELEVEN MINUTES, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU DOING?
TA: II could make a complete bucket reference riight there and say 'AA' and
TA: Oh, waiit, I ju2t diid.
CG: WHATEVER.
CG: BUCKETS DON'T BOTHER ME ANYMORE.
TA: Bull2hiit. But iin all actualiity, II was ju2t congratulatiing DV for punchiing you iin the face.
CG: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
TA: But he also 2ugge2ted that you go talk to JH. He says that R2 is probably stiill with hiim, but iif you even hope to 2ort thii2 me22 out, you better talk iit over wiith hiim and deciide iif iit'2 worth iit trying to stiick with your faiiliing kii2me2ii2 or 2wap to a po22iible unrequiited mate2priit2hiip, or ju2t drop all your quadrant2 together. Which, iif II actually gave a damn about anyone's quadrants, would worry me. But II don't care.
CG: WAIT, STRIDER ACTUALLY SAID ALL THAT.
TA: More or less.
CG: WELL, THANKS, I GUESS.
CG: UGH, THAT EVEN LOOKS STUPID. WHY DID I EVEN BOTHER TYPING A THANKS TO THAT.
CG: ACTUALLY, DON'T ANSWER THAT.
CG: OKAY, SOLLUX, I'LL GO TALK TO JOHN ABOUT THIS MESS.
TA: Ju2t don't come cryIing to me when iit all fall2 apart.
CG: SHOULDN'T YOU SENSE ALL SORTS OF DOOM THOUGH? WOULDN'T THIS COUNT AS DOOM?
TA: Probably and most liIkely.
TA: Now go get your human.
CarcinoGeneticist ceased pestering TwinArmageddons.
TA: Priick.
CarcinoGeneticist started pestering TwinArmageddons.
CG: FOR THE RECORD, WE ALL KNOW YOU'VE BEEN FUCKING STRIDER SO DON'T PRETEND THAT HE'S NOT IN THE SAME ROOM AS YOU WHEN YOU WHINED TO HIM ABOUT MY PROBLEMS. AND STOP PREACHING ABOUT ALL THAT LONER SHIT. DAMN, YOUR LIKE A FUCKING WRIGGLER. SERIOUSLY, JUST GO BACK TO FUCKING STRIDER, ALRIGHT? JUST KEEP THE NOISE LEVEL DOWN, GOG DAMMIT.
TA: Lii2ten here, KK!
CarcinoGeneticist blocked TwinArmageddons.
CarcinoGeneticist unblocked TwinArmageddons.
TA: Don't thiink you could get away so ea2iily.
CarcinoGeneticist ceased pestering TwinArmageddons.
TA: Fucker.
Karkat gloated in satisfaction and awarded himself by smoothly smashing his crabtop shut, the bright green symbol glittering up at him as he slid it away. Well, Sollux could fuck whoever he wants, he decided sourly, setting down his knees and rubbing his bandaged nose. He grumbled under his breath, kicking the chair away as he half fell-half got off the rolling chair, and stumbled before smashing his knee against the floor and proceeded to smash his head against the bottom of the computer desk as he tried to get up. "Fuck," he groaned, rubbing along his head, his blood seemingly willing to pound louder in his ears. With a half-limp he began to stomp towards the door, kicking aside a spare chair as he went, feeling overall better about the situation that had occurred a few days prior.
The red-blooded troll slumped through the doorway, ignoring other's questioning stairs. He hadn't slept much since the break up with John. In truth, John was the only support that he had when the nightmares came. It felt so surreal, so numbing when the nightmares flooded back the first night and he woke himself, screaming into the silence of his heavily padded room, blood-red streaks staining his cheeks for nights on end before he calmed himself and gathered up the courage to leave the safety of both the public computer room and his own private chambers.
Sighing, he made his way down the hallway, tired eyes blinking through the darkness, his perfected troll vision making it remarkably easy to travel through the hallways. He reached out, palm up as he grazed it against the rough texture of the walls. As he passed down the hallway, he made up his mind. He'd end it with John. They both couldn't handle this; John couldn't handle swapping to kismesis, again, and Karkat couldn't possibly handle swapping to matesprits after having his taste of having an actual kismesis.
A figure danced along his line of vision and he glanced, letting his eyes adjust quickly to the low lighting and frowned, teeth marks having long since been gnawed into his lips. The young girl stood just outside of the hallway, her short cropped hair framing her face, her deep violet eyes glittering with well-hidden emotions as she watched him approach. When he stopped, just outside the door and in front of her, she pursed her thin black lips, a serious look crossing her face.
"I don't think it's best if you see him," she objected softly, as if afraid that John would be able to hear them from inside. Well, all the rooms were sound-proofed, well, most of them anyways, and even then, the door wasn't exactly sound proof. How the hell did you get a sound-proofed door, anyways?
"He's emotionally unstable right now, and doesn't need your bullshit to rile him up again. I only managed to get him to finally sleep now, so you'd better leave." When he didn't move, her eyes narrowed and her eyebrow quirked and he knew that he must have been pressing a button. He only raised an eyebrow and she sighed, still blocking his path. "Karkat, I'm serious." For a moment, some sort of emotion surfaced through her hardened mask before she gently reached out and patted him along the shoulder. "Please."
"I just need to talk with him," Karkat objected, his tone harsh but quieter from when he'd last spoken in outrage at the boy in question. "It'll only take a few moments." Her eyes were calculating, and for the briefest of moments, the ashen-skinned troll realized why Kanaya fell in such deep pity for her. Rose finally sighed before brushing aside a few locks of her stark blonde hair before sighing, glancing dubiously at him before stepping aside.
"Don't hurt him anymore," she whispered before moving away, the soft click of her shoes -seriously, who wears shoes here? he wondered- echoing down the hallway as he walked away. His frown deepened before he gathered his wits, and perhaps made the best decision of his life.
But then he opened the door and his whole plan fell apart.
John was sprawled along his best, the bed having long sunken low and now was practically a mattress with stunted legs that barely supported the fifteen year old. His glasses were askew, which mildly surprised Karkat as he would have assumed that Rose would have placed them elsewhere. His dark chocolate locks were falling across his brow, his mouth open slightly, his creamy skin looking slightly flushed beneath the heap of blankets that covered his lower body. His light blue shirt was askew, his god tier outfit abandoned somewhere nearby. Tear tracks were still visibly along his cheeks.
Hovering over John's frame uncertainly, Karkat leaned down to brush aside a stray lock of dark brunette hair. He reluctantly withdrew his hand, despite John's subconscious attempt to nuzzle into his palm. The troll curled his hand in on his chest, a strange but strong feeling pressing along his chest. Closing his dark grey eyes, he tipped his head back, simply breathing in John's scent with his acute senses.
Everything simply smelled of John here - oh wait, no surprise there, considering it was his room - and slowly, it dawned upon the lowblood that perhaps, he was quite royally fucked. With a sigh of self-loathing, he leaned down again and placed a gentle kiss along John's parted lips, his hand brushing along the other's cheek with a strangely gentle stroke. Well, despite the sharp pain that ran up through your bandaged nose it seemed like any other kiss, except, with no exact response.
This was for the best, he decided as he turned to leave. He hadn't even taken a step when a hand latched onto his wrist a bit weakly, causing the troll to freeze. Slowly and with mildly concealed amazement, he turned and glanced at the once-sleeping human.
"Kar...kat?" he mumbled out, his voice groggy with sleep, his blue-eyes heavily lidded.
"Go back to sleep, John," Karkat ground out, glancing over his shoulder helplessly at the open door, as if willing Rose to return and check up on them.
"Did you ... kiss me?" he asked, searching the troll's face with confused eyes, his bright gaze looked pasty and bloodshot from his recent crying. The candy-corn horned troll frowned and bit his lip, tugging his wrist away from John's hand, letting John's hand drop to the god tier's lap as he got up into a sitting position. "Karkat?"
"No!" Karkat said a bit too loudly, startling the other boy and earning a pitying glance. John's face fell as he glanced at his lap, his pale boxers just visible from beneath the covers. Karkat glanced away before turning to leave again. He couldn't deal with this; he couldn't handle with another failed matespritship, especially after Terezi. Besides, John deserves better than him, and maybe Vriska would be more suitable.
"Please, stay with me." Karkat froze mid-step before setting his foot down, glancing over his shoulder. Was John so keen on stopping him from leaving? But then the Heir of Breath's words registered and the troll frowned, despite the briefest of hopes that flickered in his eyes. "I don't want you to go." Karkat swallowed nervously, his eyes shifting towards the door.
With a soft sigh of resignation, the troll gently nudged John back, peeling the covers back just to make his way in, surprised at the sudden warmth that flooded him as John immediately took to curled up to the troll's chest, his head just beneath the other's chin. "We could try again, if you'd like," John murmured against Karkat's chest, and with a soft tenderness, Karkat managed to tip his head down and kiss the top of John's head.
"No. I think it'd be best if we did something else, and stayed away from the black quadrant," he hummed in response, his arms curling possessively around John as sleep fogged his brain and made him giddy with happiness. Why could he not see it before? "Perhaps we could try again ... as matesprits."
"Matesprits," John tested the word out on his tongue, his voice already growing heavy with sleep within the dark room. "That sounds nice." Karkat nodded in agreement, simply glad that John seemed to agree with the suggestion, especially since it seemed that John had suggested it first. "So, we're okay?"
"We're okay," the troll murmured, before pausing and chuckling, a strange sound to be heard from the usually feisty troll. The sound vibrated through his chest and only caused John to cuddle further into his chest, earning a small 'oof'. "But I don't know if I'll ever forgive you for spilling that bucket on my head. I thought I taught you about that."
"Hmm, it was fun though," John objected, stifling a yawn as he shuffled back to place a soft kiss to Karkat's lips.
"Fuckass," he murmured, despite the possibly innuendo that he might suffer as a result. John merely laughed and rubbed his nose along Karkat's, enjoying the sour look that crossed his face.
"Jerk." But he said it soft and tenderly, as if he never wanted to let Karkat go.
The best part of it all was the fact that Karkat wasn't exactly planning on letting John go either. Despite their bumps in their relationship ... despite everything they've faced and are about to face, it'd all be worth it. As long as Karkat held John in his arms, he could fake that everything was okay in their messed up world. That for once, something would have a happy ending. If believing in something like that made somebody a fool, well, then that made Karkat a fairly big fool - but at least he would be a fool in love.
Now, if only they could get Sollux and Dave to lower the volume or get their room soundproofed...