Authors note: Hi ! This is my first homestuck fanfiction so I hope you all like it. please feel free to review, especially about the characterization.
Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own Homestuck
John had to admit that he felt nervous. He straightened his cap on his head, tugging his worn shirt into place. He wasn't used to this style of clothes; the rough fabric scratched at his skin while his usual silk and cotton robes would do the opposite. He looked himself over in the mirror, deciding that he looked normal enough. Grabbing his oldest fitting pair of shoes on his way out, John scampered out of his room. He dodged maids and other servants, ducking behind statues and entering closets when he heard footsteps. Almost to the door. C'mon Egbert you got this! John grinned as he spotted the engraved front door. After checking both ways, he slipped on his shoes and escaped into the outside world. The morning breeze instantly blew at his dark messy locks, only making his hair look more wind-blown then normal. John took a deep breath, relishing the smell of the early morning dew, a smile gracing his lips. He sprinted forward, sneaking through the iron gates separating his mansion of a house from the others in this area.
He began running down the path, heading for town. His old shoes clacked noisily against the cobblestone as he entered the more populated part. People would give him odd looks, and ladies dressed in fine gowns would give him a disapproving glare before giving their parasol a spin and looking to their male companions. John frowned, he was not used to such looks and instantly wondered why they did that. Then he remembered his apparel. They think I'm middle class if not low class. John's heart sunk a little in his chest. He had made his daring escape to the outside world because of how back at home he had to do everything properly and dress the right way and talk the right way and so many other things that needed to be done 'the right way.' He didn't want to come to town if it meant the same treatment. An inkling of an idea was slowly being processed in John's mind. This was the rich and snobby part of town anyway, if he went further surely he could escape all of these expectations. He turned on his heel and abandoned the cobblestoned path, instead finding a dusty dirt road leading off into uncharted territory. A burst of excitement flowered in John's chest.
He walked for a little while before coming face to face with much smaller buildings then the ones in the previously village. For one thing, not only were the buildings visibly less attractive and appeared to be slowly crumbling away, ivy climbing along the walls but also a sort of smog seemed to hang in the air, creating a suffocating feeling. The streets were crowded, and as John got closer he had to dodge carriages more frequently. Nervousness was starting to build in his chest. He had never been exposed to this sort of environment, and he wasn't sure how much he liked it. People shoved past him when he paused on the narrow brick sidewalk to study the surroundings. John kept walking and he noticed many dark passages splitting off from the main street and leading off into back alleyways. Determined to escaped the hot crowded walkway, John took a sharp turn into one of the alleyways.
He sighed and leaned against the cool brick, his head spinning with everything he was seeing. Never had he seen so many people all crowded together in such a way. Never had he seen falling apart brick houses with boarded up windows, or people dressed in rags and begging for spare change. All he had be exposed to were finely dressed people with high class manners and elegant, perfect buildings. He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by someone tapping on his shoulder. "Hey kid outta the way before I push you outta the way myself." John looked down to find a small teen, only appearing a year or so younger than him with short messy dark locks and tan skin. He was glaring up at John, his arms crossed in annoyance.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to block your way!" The particular alley that John stumbled into was only about 3 feet in length so John flattened himself as much as he could to allow the other to pass. Muttering under his breath, the dark haired boy maneuvered around John preparing to merge into the sea of people. Before he could leave, John leaned over and grabbed the boy's wrist. "Wait! Actually do you think you could help me out? I'm err kinda new to these parts and I-" The boy quickly flung John's hand from his wrist, turning back to face him.
"What do I look like to you some fucking tour guide?! Fuck off and mind your own damn business!" The boy's voice flared up. Turning on his heel in frustration the boy made an attempt to leave again.
"Waaaait please? I'm uhh new here!" John called after him. The boy didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard something. "C'mon I don't have anywhere to go!" John was feeling a bit desperate as his last chance to get a non-creepy and his age person.
"Fine, I know a place where you can stay on one condition." The boy turned, his dark eyes boring into John's "You owe me, got it? Whatever I want WHENever I want."
John shrugged "You got it!" He then held out a hand to shake, "My name is John by the way. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
The other boy just stared at his outstretched hand a moment before reluctantly taking it, "Karkat, and I swear to god if you keep doing all this formal bullshit I will run off and leave you abandoned in this hellhole of a town."
John's cheeks burned. "sorry geez in my last . . .er. town we did a lot of formal junk."
Karkat narrowed his eyes. "Well this isn't your 'old' town so you'd better listen to me if you want to know how things work around here, infact you should get down on your knees and kiss the ground I walk on since I'm saving your ass from the sharks that roam this place."
Man this guy really has a mouth on him John thought idly. "Uh is that what you want me to do? Kiss the ground you walk on as your favor?" John smirked, starting to kneel down.
"What! No fuck face are you insane?! do you realize just how much filth is on the ground?! besides I'm not such a pompous freak that my only desire would be for you to worship me, in fact if I'm being quite honest you should probably do the exact opposite."
John lifted his hands in a defensive manner. "I was just kidding calm down." John gave Karkat a smile. "So about that place to stay. . ."
Karkat sighed heavily, "Right okay you gotta keep up got it? and I gotta pick some stuff up first." Karkat grumbled and blindly reached for John, his grip locking on John's sleeve. He dragged them both into the stream of people, he effortlessly navigated through the crowd, pulling John behind him. soon the bigger road split into two tinier roads which then split into four other roads, Karkat directing the pair down different paths, occasionally going down back alleyways claiming that the route would be faster that way.
Their conversations were limited, often ending up in Karkat cussing out John for being slow or for stopping to breathe. John noticed that the further they traveled the cleaner the streets looked. They were leaving the slums and entering the land of the better off. After dragging John through a few stores and buying a few armfuls of food, he turned back starting to go back the way he came. John trailed behind, carrying about half of the purchased items. John was actually quite surprised at the amount of trust that Karkat had given him automatically.
John wasn't as obvious as he seemed, and he knew that you didn't just hand off food you just bought to some stranger you just met. John wasn't planning on running off anytime soon (not just because his feet were killing him) but it made him feel honored almost that Karkat seemed to trust him so soon.