Sollux was gasping for breath by the entrance of Barnes and Nobles. He had just completed a rigorous sprint from the parking lot to the store. The summer heat combined with the running caused him to be drenched in sweat and left him desperate for air. He mentally scolded himself for forgetting that his best friend's birthday was today. Ignoring the strain in his chest, he rushed into the large bookstore. Sollux made his way to the help desk and was frustrated to see that there was no employee there. He pressed the little, silver bell over and over.
"Yo, chill out with the button. No rush. What do you need?" said a blond guy.
"I need a copy of," Sollux looked at the smudged writing on his hand, dammit, he couldn't read a single racked his brain, searching for the title of the romance novel that Karkat had been talking about forever. "'The Worst of You'? It's a romance novel." That wasn't right.
"You mean 'The Best of Me', right? The one by Nicholas Sparks?" That sounded right. That was the book he was looking for. Sollux celebrated a little inside.
"Yes! That one!"
"Well, tough luck, bro. I just came back from showing another guy that book. Last copy, too. Try talking to the guy. Purple streak in his hair, hipster glasses, he's hard to miss. Or you can just order it online," the employee offered.
But even before his sentence was over, Sollux had rushed away, searching for the guy who had something very important. It was a matter of life or death. He frantically searched the entire store, from the kid's section to the Starbucks, but there was no sign of the purple haired guy.
He exited the store, shoulders slumped in defeat. What would he get for Karkat? Sollux had no ideas at all. He regretted tuning out Karkat's long rants and tirades. Sollux was absolutely sure he'd get one if he showed up to Karkat's party empty handed. Maybe he'd get a prank gift, like a dildo. No, John would probably do something along those lines. Clothing? No, Kanaya was making something for him. Food? It'd probably be eaten by the food vacuum also known as Gamzee. Sollux gave up for now, his creative juices were drained.
When he arrived home, Sollux was not really surprised to find that Karkat was fussing around while John haphazardly put up decorations and set up food. Sollux deftly maneuvered himself away from the ball of anger and into his room. He slumped down at his desk and looked at his computer. He opened up his coding program. Sollux covered his ears with headphones to muffle out Karkat's shouts coming from downstairs. Karkat. Coding. Karkat and coding. Then it hit him. Karkat was always interested in coding, but he failed miserably at it. That was it, he'd get Karkat a book to help him code, with his own annotations since he was obviously the best programmer around. Genius.
After another trip to the bookstore and back, Sollux was satisfied with his progress so far. A book. Step 1 of 4 complete. Now all he had to do was add in some commentary, write a "heartfelt" message, and wrap it up. He had three hours till the party started. Just three hours! There was no way he could read and annotate a three hundred page book in three hours. No, he could do it and he would do it. Pushing his glasses up and clenching his fist in determination - and a totally not habitual way from his weeaboo days- Sollux got to work.
Two hours, forty-five minutes, and five cups of coffee later, Sollux was done. He felt like his eyeballs were falling out and he'd turned into the Hunchback of Notre Dame. But he was proud of himself. And he had fifteen minutes to get ready for the party. After taking a brief shower, Sollux headed for his closet. He decided that he'd dress nicely, just for Karkat. Sollux donned a short-sleeved button up which was black on the right of the buttons and white on the left, a pair of beige pants, and checkered Vans. It was an outfit that Kanaya had put together for him, but he'd only worn it once. He did a once over in the mirror and decided he looked good enough. It was much better than his baggy t-shirt and sweatpants look.
The buzzing of his phone caught Sollux's attention. He had gotten a rather long text from his dear best friend.
"WHERE THE EVERLOVING FUCK ARE YOU? YOU LEFT THE HOUSE *FOUR HOURS* AGO AND NEVER FUCKING CAME BACK. DID YOU FORGET THAT TODAY, JUNE 12, IS THE BIRTHDAY OF YOUR SO CALLED BEST FRIEND, YOU UNGRATEFUL MORONIC SHITSACK. ARE YOUR FEW BRAIN CELLS NOT CAPABLE OF RETAINING VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION? COME TO THE LIVING ROOM IN FIVE MINUTES, SHITSTAIN, OR I'M CHANGING THE LOCKS."
Sollux was five goddamn minutes late, and Karkat was acting like Sollux murdered a kitten. Sollux grabbed his gift and rushed down the stairs to see that about half the living room was filled with guests. He saw a table piled with gifts and tossed his gift onto it.
"I'm going to end your pathetic life, Sollux fucking Captor," a voice shouted from behind him. When he turned around, he was greeted with two middle fingers stretched gracefully in front of his face. Lovely.
"Love you too, KK," Sollux said sarcastically to Karkat. He ruffled Karkat's hair, making it messier than it already was.
"Fuck off, bulgesucker. Where were you hiding for the last four fucking hours?"
"It's a secret," Sollux said in a sly tone. Karkat rolled his eyes and flipped him off one more time.
"You were probably jacking off in your landfill of a room. Whatever, I don't have time to concern myself with your sad excuse of a life." And with that very affectionate ment, Karkat left to greet the other guests. Sollux's eyes followed Karkat's path to the front door when he saw him. Him. Him. It had to be. There was probably no one else in the world with that combination. Purple streak in his hair with hipster glasses. The guy who took the last "The Longest Ride", the guy who caused Sollux so much trouble and effort. Sollux didn't even know his name but he already hated him.
