Chapter 1

Karkat sighed. He knew the dorm room would be small, he had taken a tour a few months back, but he didn't realize how small it would actually be when filled with his and Gamzee's shit. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if Gamzee hadn't insisted on bringing his unicycle and the cases of Faygo, or if Karkat had maybe left a few of his romcoms at home, but neither one of them wanted to part with their treasured possessions, so they were stuck living in cramped quarters.

Speaking of that clown, where the fuck was he? Karkat looked out the window to see if maybe Gamzee was unloading the rest of their shit. Of course fucking not. What a useless asshole, why am I even rooming with this waste of space? Oh yeah, because neither one wanted to room with someone they didn't know. Because no one else in their right mind could put up with either of them. Because they had been best friends since preschool and neither of them wanted to room with anyone else. Sure, Gamzee was high about 99.9% of the time, and he might have been one of the messiest people to have ever existed, but he had always been there whenever he was needed, and that really counted for something. Karkat walked into the hallway, careful to grab the keys and lock the door, and headed down towards the stairwell.

"We live in room 250, man, if you ever want to come up and get your chill on. We've got some wicked games and my main mother fucking bro's got some mo-"

"Asshole! What the fuck are you doing out here talking to these morons when we still have shit in the car to unload? You're the most useless piece of shit roommate, I swear to god! Why am I even torturing myself by living with you?"

Gamzee smiled "That's my main bro now! He's pretty chill, once you get to know him, don't let him mother fucking worry you. But he's right; we gotta get shit done."

Karkat watched as the other boy walked away and grabbed Gamzee's arm, dragging him to the car.

"Really, you're going to start hitting on every asshole that lives in our dorm?

"Oh come on Karbro, it ain't mother fucking like that. I was just getting all friendly with our neighbors and shit. Maybe we can make some mother fucking friends."

"We don't need any fucking friends" Karkat grumbled as they grabbed the last of the boxes from the car and headed back upstairs.

With a loud "fuuuuuck", Karkat hit the alarm clock. It was 7:45, way too early to be up at all, let alone getting ready to sit in class, and certainly an ungodly hour to be thinking about math problems. He hated math. To be fair, he hated almost everything, but math was pretty much right at the top of that list, and why he had decided to take the class at 8:00 in the morning was beyond him. "I'll probably be skipping this class more often than I actually go" Karkat mused as he quickly grabbed some clothes and the books he laid out on the desk the night before.

The weather outside was refreshing, being the tail end of summer; warm enough to still need shorts and t-shirts, but cool enough that the heat wasn't yet oppressive. Karkat knew that later it would get hotter, but it made the walk to his class at least a little bit easier. The walk from dorm to classroom was about 10 minutes (he had walked to each and every building and meticulously timed each walk to ensure the maximum amount of sleep time), so he took the opportunity to watch the other students unlucky enough to be awake at this hour.

There weren't a great many people out and about yet, unsurprisingly, but it was still enough to remind Karkat of the diversity on campus. He and Gamzee had come from a relatively small town, not tiny but certainly no sprawling city, where most people either knew everyone, or knew someone who did. It wasn't that he disliked his hometown, just that it was nice to get out of there as fast as he did and move on to bigger and better things. Ok, so maybe he disliked it a little…Here, there were so many different types of people, so many different organizations mentioned during their orientation, so many different shops on or near campus to visit…He'd never admit it, but he was excited to explore everything. Not math class, however, and the ten minute walk was coming to an end too quickly for his tastes. He sighed as he walked into the building, following all the signs to find his classroom.

Classroom was a bit of an understatement, Karkat realized. This was a huge lecture room. He realized this must be why they had to have a lab for this class, because there was no way in hell the professor would be able to help everyone, though he wondered how many of them would bother showing up after the first week of classes anyway. Picking a seat in the back and to the corner, he pulled out a notebook and pen and looked around at all the students. Everyone was looking a little sleepy, many still in their pajamas, sitting quietly or pulling out supplies. Everyone except for the dumbass a few seats to the left who's hammering on his keyboard like a fucking drum set. Seriously, who the fuck is this awake in the morning that they have a burning need to be on the computer? He can't be chatting with someone, because who does this asshole know that's even up at this goddamn hour? Karkat glared.

"Excuthe me, ith there a problem?" the other boy finally broke the silence without looking over.

Karkat had to fight a chuckle. Was this kid serious with that lisp? "I'm just wondering why the fuck you're typing like a goddamn maniac right now when it's fucking 8:00 in the morning. Who's even up right now for you to talk to? How much coffee do you have to drink to even be this fucking awake this early in the morning?"

The kid shrugged. "Not that it'th any of your buthineth, but I'm doing some coding. And I didn't go to thleep latht night. It'th eathier for me to jutht thtay awake all night and thleep when I get home."

Karkat looked at the boy in disbelief. "That is seriously the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard."

"Well it'th a good thing no one athked you, athhole..."

Karkat would have come up with something to say, something biting and hateful, but the professor was up in front starting class, so instead he just glared at the other boy and then looked forward.

He tried to concentrate during class, he really did, but it was math, and it was too fucking early in the morning, and goddamn that kid would not stop his incessant typing! Karkat turned his head slightly, trying to be discreet in his staring. He could tell the other boy didn't take care of himself much; his dark blonde hair was a mess and he was incredibly skinny, his wrist bones jutting out sharply as his long, thing fingers flew over the keys. "God, this kid is a fucking wreck. I bet he's on some sort of drug…probably meth or cocaine. Too bad, he'd be hot if he just ate a few fucking meals…" He shook his head slightly, trying harder to concentrate on the math lesson and not on the boy a few seats away.

The class was slow and boring, but it did eventually end, and Karkat was more than happy to get out of there. Having to hear typing all morning, plus the early wake up, and the whole class in general was making him more irritated than usual, and all he wanted to do was go home to sleep. Luckily for him, his next class was at 4:00, plenty of time to catch a nap and some food. Walking out of the lecture hall, he couldn't help noticing that the kid from class was ahead of him and heading in the same direction he was. As they got closer to the dorm building, Karkat started to wonder if they perhaps lived in neighboring buildings, or even the same one. "Oh god, if he's my neighbor, I seriously think I might fucking kill myself…" He watched with mounting horror as they headed for the same building, but before the other boy could open the door, he spun around.

"Dude, theriouthly, are you following me you creep?"

"What? Are you fucking shitting me? Why the fuck would I follow you? I live in this building you asshole!"

"Oh great, jutht my luck. I live in the same dorm building ath the worldth biggetht prick."

"Oh shut it, I'm not too thrilled with it, either. What fucking floor do you live on?"

"Thecond."

Karkat cringed "Goddamnit, seriously? I have the shittiest luck ever. Same floor."

The other boy groaned and opened the door, Karkat close behind as they mounted the steps to the second floor. He almost wanted to ask the boy what room he lived in, but didn't because he didn't want to give the wrong impression. Not that he much cared about the impression he gave, but he did have to live in the same hall as him, and they did have a class together, so better to not have every eventual run in between them be that much more awkward. Actually, speaking of classes…

"Hey fuckass, what's your major?"

"Computer thience, why?"

"Ok, you have got to be shitting me. We live in the same goddamn dorm, the same fucking floor, have the same shitty math class, and are majoring in the same fucking thing? I don't know what I did to piss karma off, but I must have fucking did a terrible number to her if she's getting back at me this hard."

"Oh shut up and thtop being melodramatic." They reached the top of the stairs where the hall separated. "Left or right?"

"Left."

"Oh thank god, I go right. Thee ya, athhole"

Karkat flipped the boy off, grateful that while they lived on the same floor, they weren't next door neighbors, and made his way back to the dorm. He quietly unlocked the door, although he didn't really need to, seeing as Gamzee would most likely sleep through an earthquake, and stacked his books on his desk. Looking over at his roommate's bed, he could only make out the black mop of too wild hair under the mass of blankets and pillows. "Fucking lucky bastard gets to sleep in…I should wake him up just for spite." He didn't, of course, preferring to just climb into his own bed and settle down back to sleep. He had a feeling this year was going to suck royally, and all he wanted to do at the moment was slip into sweet unconsciousness.