Karkat slammed his door shut. As if his day wasn´t shitty enough already, he´d just been informed that he´d have a roommate. Second semester had started two weeks ago, but somehow this kid managed to get in and get a dorm in one of the better buildings.
He looked at the paper he´d been handed. His future roommate had changed his mind in the last minute and chosen this university instead of another that was almost 80miles away.
"John Egbert" he scoffed. It better not be another of those hipster losers he´s been seeing around. He´d rather sleep on the street than share his living space with one of those cocky assholes. He crumpled the paper and let it dart trough the room as he threw himself on his bed, landing with a big thud. The clock was nearing midnight and he had to get up early for his classes tomorrow. With a sigh he dragged off his shirt and black jeans, threw them into the middle of the room and crept under the blanket wearing only boxers.
The alarm went off at 7am. With a grunt Karkat turned off the sharp screeching and dragged his blanket over his head. He stretched out his scrawny body on the hard mattress. The now yellow-ish tinted bruises spread across his body hurt as he moved himself out of his bed. It had been over three weeks since he left his former home, but not a single day passed without reminding him why he left.
He closed his eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed, stroking a bigger bruise on his left arm. The memory from the day he left was still crystal clear, as if it happened just hours ago.
It was a rainy Tuesday night, Karkat had stayed at Sollux´s place as usual, avoiding home as much as possible but was eventually forced to go home again. He´d tiptoe past the living room, hoping that his father had passed out on the sofa.
"Karkat?" a voice grunted from the said room. "Is that you?" the voice was getting sharper. He could hear bottles getting tipped and roll around on the hardwood flooring. "Fuckfuckfuckfuck" Karkat cursed in his head. Maybe he could still manage to get to his room? He was tired as hell and another fight with his shitty father was the last thing he wanted.
He´d just got to his room´s door as a hand grabbed his collar, choking him as he was pulled backwards back to the living room.
And then hell started. He´d been through this a thousand times before, but it was just as awful every single time. His father´s hands all over him, beating the living hell out of him as he yelled what a worthless piece of shit he was, how he´d be better off dead and so on. Sometimes he got tired of beating him out only a couple of minutes later or Karkat passed out. Unluckily this was not one of those nights. He´d grabbed one of the empty bottles from the floor and started bashing Karkat´s head with it, causing him to bleed heavily.
Karkat´s sight was blurred and so was his mind, but somewhere between the hits everything cleared. He´d had enough, once and for all. At least twice a week for six years he´d been beaten black and blue by his alcoholic father. Enough was enough, suddenly he was filled with all the rage he´d been holding back against his father bubbled up at once. He fought back like an animal, biting, kicking and screaming. Eventually he´d overpowered his father and knocked him out. His whole body was shaking in shock. All the hatred and anger he´d bottled up for so many years had burst out of him, he´d never felt this strong before in his entire life. Without further hesitation he´d pack his belongings into two big sport bags and left his stinking, bleeding father passed out in the middle of the floor.
The following weeks were tumultuous. He´d shown up at Sollux´s front door at 2am, scaring his mother almost to death with his black eye and bloody head. She´d rushed him to the hospital where they´d stitched him up. Karkat had been friends with Sollux since third grade and his father´s beating and drinking habits were no news to the Captors. They had tried to make Karkat a report against his father many times before, but he never dared to, not even now.
He stayed at the Captors home where he was taken well care of. His father had tried to break in one night while he was drunk and ended up being driven away by the police. When school started again one week later he´d collected the rest of his belongings, such as his dvd collection of romcoms, and signed the papers for a dorm at the school. He´d been handed a double room all for himself, much to his enjoyment. His school was almost an hour away from home, so living in a dorm close to school made many things easier. Hopefully he wouldn't have to meet his father this way. But there was one thing that made him worry quite a lot; he had to get a job as soon as possible since the dorm and food wouldn't pay itself. He´d tried to get at least a temporary job over the summer, but without success. All the places took in more experienced persons, or people they knew through various contacts – cousins, friend's kids, grandchildren and so on.
He snapped back to reality, the clock was 7.30 already. Wearing the same clothes as yesterday he took a last look in the mirror. His uncombed, black hair was in desperate need for a cut and there were deep bags under his eyes from many restless nights.
He headed to the door with a sigh and dragged this gray hood over his head. There was a crunching sound under his foot. A crumpled paper ball reminded him that his future roommate would move in today.
Karkat swung his backpack over his shoulder and carelessly flung open the door, almost hitting a guy who´d been standing in front of it. The said guy let out a small scream, muffled by his hands. Sapphire blue eyes were staring at Karkat in a mix of chock and surprise.
Karkat felt his heart drop to his stomach. It took him only a second to register the guy in front of him. And holy shit, this guy was adorable in every single possible way.