Hello, might I suggest watching this as a type of mood music? Like, uber suggest! It's a great song and really goes with this fic, but not as much as originally planned I guess :3 But you know, you just gotta go with the flowwwww X3 Anyway here:
watch?v=YQDa_epEFc0
I hope you enjoy the fic, long live JohnKat! 3
"John, what the fuck happened? Why are we stopping?"
"Um, I'm not sure. Just keep calm, Karkat. We can just figure out what happened and fix it," John said as reassuringly as possible.
Karkat sat back in the seat with his arms crossed, scowling.
It all started yesterday afternoon. John just decided to take a "vacation" and Karkat was forced to go with him. Who knows where he got this idiotic fucking idea, but Karkat's bad feeling had apparently meant something for once.
They were stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. It was 10 degrees outside.
John tried to give Karkat a smile, but he knew it looked a bit too nervous as he tried to remember what went wrong. He had grabbed their suitcases, his keys, then said his goodbyes to Dave and Terezi, their housemates.
Dave and Terezi had decided to move in together a little while ago and decided to split John and Karkat's rent, by invitation of course. John and Karkat had been living together for a few months and it was going as smoothly as could have been expected.
Truthfully, Dave had been the one who suggested the little getaway, obviously not so that he and Terezi had the house alone.
John and Dave were hanging out in the living room, goofing off as usual, when it came up.
"Hey, Egbert. Why don't you and your boyfriend take a beautiful romantic vacation?" Dave said in his ordinary cool voice, sprawled out on the couch.
"What?" John asked from the plush chair nearby. "Why?"
"You two deserve a little relaxation once in awhile. Maybe the hardass might loosen up, as impossible as that seems. It would be ironic as shit," Dave said.
John rolled his eyes, his derpy smile on his face. "I don't really see how that's ironic."
Dave shook his head, smirking. "John. John, John, John. You still have much to learn, but I'll teach you, being as awesome and considerate as I am. It would be fucking ironic if you two went on some romantic thing and Karkat actually wasn't being an asshole for like a week. Pure irony at it's best."
"Okay then," John said, still not really understanding, then thinking about it. Maybe it would be nice for a little bit to get away and possibly calm Karkat down for a while? "I actually think that's an okay idea."
"See, I told you, man," Dave said.
"Yeah, actually, that sounds fun," John nodded, warming up to the proposition.
So the next day, Karkat was abruptly dragged into the car and on the road with their bags, packed by John.
John sat in the car, trying to think of what happened while Karkat fumed, when it dawned on him. "I... think I know what happened."
Karkat turned to the tense boy. "Okay, what."
"I may... have forgotten to fill up the gas tank," John said, trying to speak in a way so that his matesprit/boyfriend wouldn't flip out.
Karkat took a deep breath and glared at John. "How. How the fuck did that happen? And isn't there a thing that tells you how low the fucking gas tank thing is?!"
"I didn't notice," John shrugged while putting a hand on Karkat's shoulder, warmly reassuring him. It wasn't completely ineffective, but it wasn't the most calming gesture either. "John. What the fuck are we supposed to do now. We are in the middle of fucking nowhere."
"We're pretty far out already so we should probably get out and push the car until we get to a gas station. I can check my phone to look for the distance between here and the nearest station. Worst case scenario, I call Dave to pick us up and get the car towed," John said calmly, taking control.
"Whatever," Karkat turned and fixed his gaze out the window.
John awkwardly laughed a little, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. He quickly found that it was dead. He glanced at the annoyed troll next to him.
"Karkat?"
"What."
"My phone is dead."
John winced as the troll's head slowly turned to give him a death glare. "What. The fuck. Do we do then."
"Um," John said, thinking of a way to tell him. "We'll have to get out and push, and just hope for the best."
"John, so help me, if any more goes wrong, I am going to rip someone apart," He said through clenched teeth.
"I know, I know," John said, regretfully getting out of the rapidly cooling car and slamming the driver's side door behind him.
Karkat let out an exasperated breath and also got out, meeting John at the rear of the car. He took his grey mittens out of his jacket pockets and put them on. "Okay. Let's get this shit over with."
John pulled his gloves on and began to push the car with Karkat following suit.
After a while, John thought it would be nice to have some kind of conversation. He looked at Karkat and smiled brightly. "So Karkat, how's it going."
Karkat glared at the blue-eyed boy. "You mean besides trudging to the nearest shithole in the middle of nowhere? Fucking great."
"Oh yeah," John said, ignoring the sarcasm. "Me too."
Karkat was about to look back ahead when he noticed John's more heavy breathing. "Are you okay?"
John studied Karkat's face curiously. Sure, he was getting a little worn out, but he was fine. "Yeah, you're such a worry-pants."
Karkat scowled. "That sounds disgusting and stupid and that is not me."
John watched their breath billow up in the cold December air. They continued to push the car until John got Karkat's attention again after a respectable amount of time.
"Hey," He said through heavy breathing. "How about we take a break?"
Karkat stopped, admittedly a little worn out himself, though not nearly as tired as John appeared to be. "Okay."
They got back in the car and relaxed, pushing the seats back as far as they would go. They lay down, looking at each other.
"How much longer until we get to the damn place?" Karkat asked in a tired snarl.
"I don't know. We just have to see," John replied positively.
"What if you fucking die by then, look at you," Karkat said, taking note of his developing shivers.
"It's fine, cold is nothing. I can just ignore it," John said, waving it off.
The troll rolled his eyes and waited silently for John to catch his breath. Once the John smiled at him and gave him the okay, they got out again.
Karkat was determined to get to the gas station as fast as possible when he felt something cold and wet land on his nose. He growled as he swiped it off with one finger, only to find his efforts pointless as more snowflakes drifted down to Earth. Fucking Earth and its weird unpredictable weather.
John, however, couldn't have been happier. "Look, Karkat it's snowing!" He said, gleefully jumping around.
Karkat couldn't help but find this cute. "Yeah. I noticed. Just what we fucking needed."
"Right," John said, joyfully running to the back of the car. "Come on, lets go!"
Karkat smiled slightly, but hid it from the hyper-active human. He didn't know how much of this weird cuteness he could take until he would finally crack and-
He let out a tiny laugh and John's face lit up.
"Holy shit, Karkat, you're laughing!" He said, grinning ear to ear.
That smile, Karkat can't help but love.
"Don't get used to this shit," Karkat warned, smiling straight ahead as they bulldozed the car.
The snowflakes gradually got bigger and fell more heavily. John observed the white crystals in the troll's hair and giggled as he brushed them away. They would still have a great vacation. He would still be with the one he loved no matter what.
Karkat watched the smiling boy as he ruffled his hair. The cancer took in the sight of his matesprit's twinkling blue eyes partially hidden behind snow-dusted lashes.
What stopped him from seizing the moment and kissing his lover was John's constant quaking.
Karkat frowned and put a hand on John's back as if it would ease the chills. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"
John tried to make his tone as reassuring as possible, but his helpless shivering meant that it didn't quite work.
"It's kinda cold, but that's okay..." John trailed off, removing his gloves and trying to warm his extremities by rubbing them together, which wasn't really working.
Karkat ceased his pushing and grabbed John's hand. He was surprised to find that John's flesh was ice cold. He gazed at his matesprit intently as John took back his hand.
The human blew into his hands, ignoring his staring partner. He replaced the gloves and quickly resumed moving the vehicle, making little progress without Karkat's help. When the troll didn't move, John looked back expectantly.
Karkat glared back seriously.
"John, you're a fucking popsicle. It's not okay."
"Yeah, well, there's nothing we can do about it, so come on!" John replied through violent shudders.
Karkat returned to John's side and continued to progress, sneaking cautious glances every so often. Meanwhile, John concentrated on walking and keeping his teeth from chattering. His fingers were numb inside his soaked and useless gloves. He didn't stop, but slowly peeled them off, stuffing the sopping wads of fabric into the pocket of his jacket.
The troll brushed wet hair out of his eyes and saw white flecks of snow beginning to stick to the black pavement.
John distracted himself from the cold and numbness taking over his hands and feet by watching his feet form footprints in the thin layer of white as they walked along.
Karkat noticed it was far harder to move the vehicle and he was pretty sure it wasn't him. He looked at John worriedly.
John didn't notice Karkat staring at him, too busy trying to keep pushing the heavy object. It felt like the car's weight had doubled. He gritted his teeth as a frozen gust of wind went straight through his jacket.
The cold, dry air nipped at both boys faces as they both stopped. They knew they would never get to safety if they didn't push, but they also didn't want to freeze to death. Karkat was more worried about the shivering human than himself.
Said human shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled through the thin layer of snow, back into the car. Karkat sighed and joined him.
"Well this situation is a bitch," Karkat breathed, looking at John intently.
"Yeah," Came a short, shaky reply as John tried to warm his hands and bury his face in his jacket collar.
Karkat couldn't take it anymore and leaned over the passengers seat and drivers seat armrests, wrapping his arms around John as the boy shivered. Karkat reached down and took John's hands into his own, sharing what little heat the troll had.
"You're so cold," Karkat said quietly, focusing on warming his matesprit.
"You're really warm," John said, trembling. He paused then continued. "I don't want you to be as cold as me, you don't have to do this."
Karkat held John's gaze, the troll looking serious, the human looking innocent. John started to lightly pull his hands away but Karkat's grip strengthened, holding them in the warm embrace. John looked up.
"Listen fuckass, I'm not letting you freeze. I'll do whatever it takes," Karkat said as he pulled John closer.
John's glasses were skewed as he was awkwardly yet sincerely pressed to Karkat's body. Heat seemed to radiate from the troll, making it nearly impossible for the shivering human to resist. John leaned into Karkat as he gave the troll's hands a thankful squeeze.
John then lifted the armrests out of the way and pulled Karkat gently to the back seats. John snuggled close into Karkat's protective arms, gratefully accepting the warmth and affection.
Karkat closed his eyes and took in the scent of John's messy black hair. Karkat rested his chin on John's head as the human tightened his grip on Karkat's cradling arms. John clung to Karkat and continued to shake.
Karkat smiled the tiniest bit upon observing John's crooked glasses as the blue-eyed boy rested his eyes. Even though John was shaking like a leaf, Karkat couldn't help that he loved the impossibly cute human. Love was a human concept Karkat had grasped and acknowledged fairly quickly.
"Why don't you stay in here and I get this thing moving again," Karkat whispered as John looked up groggily.
"I can't just let you do that, Karkat," John tried to dissuade his vigilant love interest to no avail.
"You are not freezing to death, I've said that a million times. Stay here, okay?" Karkat said, his expression changed from slightly perturbed to faintly pleading the second his eyes met John's once again. "Please?"
John nodded sleepily and Karkat kissed his forehead before getting out. John was vaguely aware of the car moving again before he began drifting off to sleep. He started to feel warm and he didn't know why, but he really appreciated it. He thought about how maybe it was a good idea to stay in the car before slipping into unconsciousness.
After what seemed like forever, the sun was going down and Karkat was excited to see a gas station up ahead. He thanked Gog for it. His fingers and toes were going numb, not to mention he was starting to get a little hungry. He glanced at the orange sky, smiled slightly in relief, and went as fast as he could. John would be safe now. Everything would be alright.
The troll stopped right before the station, then tried not to slip on the snow and slush as he rushed to tell John they were there.
"John! We're here, get the fuck up," Karkat said with the tiniest hint of hope and excitement. John didn't move and Karkat started again a little worriedly. "Fuckass, we're here. Get up."
John still didn't move as Karkat climbed to the back seat and shook him and spoke desperately. "John! Get up, this isn't funny! Fucking stop!"
Karkat began to panic when this didn't help. He thought about how his matesprit could be dead and ran like hell for the building. He nearly slipped and fell but he caught himself and flung open the door. "John is fucking freezing to death, help!"
An alarmed young woman looked up from her magazine behind the counter. "What?"
"He's dying! Our car broke down and we had to push it here and he's freezing to death!" Karkat said frantically while staring back out the door at the car where Egbert was still motionless. "Please, help him."
The lady picked up a phone and dialed three numbers, telling someone what happened and where they were. She hung up and turned back to Karkat. "You're lucky there's a backup generator here or the power would be out and the phone wouldn't have worked. I don't know how fast they can get out here, especially in the snow, but don't worry," she said as reassuringly as possible.
Karkat nodded thankfully and ran back to the car. He took his jacket off and wrapped it around John as he climbed in the back seat to warm him as best he could. He hugged John tightly, Karkat shivering a little now as well. His numb fingers did their best to grasp the jacket, holding it around the boy.
Karkat hoped beyond hope that John would be alright. There's no way Karkat could live without that derpy smile or cheerful laugh or any of John's traits at all. He couldn't live without John.
Karkat shivered and embraced the still human until red light came flashing up ahead not more than ten minutes later. People in white came over and asked him questions while taking John away.
He answers as best he can and follows them to the vehicle. They offer to carry Karkat as well but he declines and rides along with many blankets provided in the back of the emergency vehicle. He doesn't really know what's going on but he's glad that he's with John who is now safe.
Before long, they arrive at what Karkat interprets to be a big building while all other humans would call it a hospital as the vehicle was really called an ambulance.
Everything flew by and before Karkat knew it, he was separated from John and waiting in a waiting room. He looked around nervously while the woman behind the desk snuck glances at the troll. She had never seen this type of "cosplay" before.
Karkat tapped his fingers against the armrest and waited. Eventually he decided he would ask to use a phone and call Gamzee. He couldn't take this shit.
Karkat walked up to the desk as the lady flitted through papers. She looked up when Karkat spoke. "Is there a phone or something I could use?"
She nodded and pointed to a payphone nearby. Karkat hardly knew what a payphone was and nodded a slow thanks before walking over to the phone. He poked around before figuring out how to use it with the change John gave him.
The phone rang once before Gamzee picked up. "Hey motherfucker, what's goin' on?"
"Hey, Gamzee. I'm just kind of freaking out. We're in some kind of medical building and I'm not sure where John is. They told me to wait, but I'm worried."
"Whoa, what happened, bro?" Gamzee said, seemingly preoccupied.
"Gamzee, what are you doing, I'm being serious here!" Karkat seethed.
"Sorry, bro. Tav was just helping me to up and bake this motherfuckin' pie," Gamzee drawled.
Karkat rolled his eyes. Here's to the most annoying matesprits, Gamzee and Tavros. Raise your fucking glass. "Okay, well, can you stop for a second? Please?"
There was a clang. "Okay, best friend. I'm all ears."
Karkat took a deep breath. "Basically the transportation vehicle broke down and I had to push it to a fuel station with Egbert. Let's say by the time we got there, he wasn't doing so well in the fucking cold."
"Oh, is gonna be all motherfuckin' right?" Gamzee asked.
"I don't know," Karkat admitted worriedly.
"Aw, it's okay, motherfucker. He'll be motherfuckin' fine. I heard those places are super safe and good for getting better and shit. Don't worry, bro," Gamzee finished before the line went dead.
Either Gamzee hung up or the fucking phone thing was a stupid piece of shit that Karkat didn't understand.
Karkat sat back down, feeling a little better despite the abrupt hangup. He looked around and watched the clock until it was a little past six.
A nurse came out and called him. "Karkat Vantas?"
She looked bewildered for a few moments as he stood up, then got over it. "Follow me, your friend is recovering nicely. The doctor says he'll probably wake up soon."
Karkat is lead to a room and behind a curtain where John was lying under many blankets. A weird beeping noise is coming from a machine that John is hooked up to. Karkat steps a little closer before the nurse speaks up.
"You shouldn't bother him yet," she advised, hugging a clipboard to her chest. "You can sit and wait for him to wake up."
The troll reluctantly sat in one of the two chairs against the wall near the bed as the nurse left. Karkat was revelling in the rush of relief at John's safety when the boy's eyes fluttered open.
"John?" Karkat said, standing up.
John turned his head slightly to look at his boyfriend. "Hey, Karkat."
Karkat let out a breath he didn't know he was holding at the sound of John's voice. The voice he couldn't live without. "I'm so glad you're okay," Karkat said, getting up close and grasping the plastic bar on the bed. He gave a little scowl and ran a hand through John's damp hair. "Don't ever do that again. And, even better, let's never do THIS again."
The blue-eyed boy laughed. "Fine, but only 'cuz you asked so nicely."
Karkat leaned down and planted a kiss on John's cheek. John giggled and looked at the odd yellow eyes he loved and would love forever. Karkat smiled a little and looked at the boy he loved and would always love.
I am WELL AWARE of how stupid and flawed that was but meh I did it for the halibut :3