Prologue

You'd been told the story since you could remember. Your father had been twenty-one and so had your mother. He'd wanted to ask to borrow something trivial- a detail that'd dissolved in the ten years time since. The woman that opened the door was your mother. She smiled at him, and though she meant well, she had an unsettling grin. Her pointed teeth were in full view and her black lips stretched wide. But that wasn't unusual to your father. He had the same yellow teeth, and lips only a few shades lighter than hers. But he still gawked. It was not because of the pointed horns atop her head, or her red-tinted sunglasses that shielded her blind eyes from view.

It was because of the child clinging to her knee. A child that clearly could not be related to her. The child that had rosy skin and large blue eyes, a mop of deep brown hair.

He was a human. And he was you.

Dad snapped his dangling jaw closed, and looked for words, trying to ask his question. "Johnny," Mom said to you, ruffling your hair. "Can you go look for it for him?" You looked up at her, still hiding from the other man. Outsiders always intimidated you. You scurried off, eager to hide back into the depths of the apartment, away from the stranger. Mom had always kept you away from them since she'd adopted you, last year, when you were three.

Well, "adopt" was a loose term. They would never let a troll like Mom adopt a human boy like you. Despite the fact that she was practically human, with a few new genes and a scrambled DNA code she was inferior. She was a "troll." And nobody had ever accepted trolls. The last thing the humans were going to do was give their offspring to the genetic freaks. Even though it was the humans that had created the trolls, back in 2017.

No, Mom had not really adopted you. She'd been on her way to work (she earned money for the both of you at an insurance firm- hiding behind a desk, working for just above minimum wage was the way the humans liked her.) There was a rundown playground that the troll children played in. And sitting smack in the middle of it, crying away was you. You were a mess, your face looking like what Mom fondly described as a "snotty tomato" You were howling, and nobody but Mom was around for miles at so early in the morning.

She wandered over, crouching down. "What's wrong?" She said softly. You were scared. Mom has always had a naturally scratchy voice, though not unkind, it was unsettling. And she was a troll. The last troll you had met had been just like the stories- at least you thought so then.

That troll had been your step-dad, someone you didn't remember at all except for the small scrawled note that still sat around somewhere in the apartment. The one that you had crumpled up in your pocket and you had been instructed to give to the next person to come by.

This is John. Please, take care of him.

Mom always bickered about this She thought it was a terrible idea to leave you sitting around as a human baby in a troll neighborhood. But she would always punch you gently in the arm and say it was a good thing she found you. As a young woman, she was perplexed. She first talked to you long enough to calm you down, then picked you up and tilted you around, inspecting you. That was before she lost her sight. She rubbed at your forehead with propped up on her arm, to see if face paint would come off. She poked around your head curiously, her bottom lip jutted out.

And when she realized that you were, in fact, a real human, left in a troll neighborhood for God knows why she took you in, like a stray animal. She said she considered dumping you off at a human neighborhood. But she was nervous and kept procrastinating, Final she decided screw it and let you loose around her apartment. She couldn't afford much, you had a good amounts of toys though. Blocks, big plastic trucks, toy keys and such. She usually had her sister watch you- Aunt Vriska.

You weren't really a fan of Aunt Vriska. She was nice enough but she was loud and impatient and didn't tend to want to play with you. When you wiggled your teddy bear around in her face, a second one tucked under your arm she shooed you away. Then, one day Aunt Vriska ended up breaking up with her boyfriend and had to get a job to support herself. She couldn't watch you anymore. You were too young to go to the troll tutor's (the best thing the trolls had for education)

Then Mom remembered the neighbor who she'd helped a while ago. "He owes me a favorite, right Johnny?"

"Right," you agreed. You were four, and as far as you were considered your mothers words were as good as the words of God. So you agreed. She walked you over to his apartment next door and knocked incessantly until he opened it. You wrapped your arms around her neck, nuzzling against her grey skin. She patted your head.

The door slammed open, making you jump. You peeked out from Mom's neck at the man that had come over the day before. He had messy black hair and frowned, arms crossed over his torso. "Can I help you?" He said, sounding testy. Mom gave her best pleading look.

"Can you please watch Johnny for me?" She said hastily. "I have to go to work and I don't have anyone else."

"I… have work at eight," he said. She smiled.

"Great! I get out at six!" She held you out. "Please? I'll pay you if you want!" He paused then sighed.

"Fine," he grumbled. "I guess I'll watch your…. son. You don't have to pay me either, but it's only this one time. I'm not some kind of babysitter." She nodded.

"Thank you, I'll do my best to get a new babysitter worked out! You're so helpful!" According to Mom this was her attempt to flirt to make him more willing to do it, which usually got a glare out of her father. According to them, it worked out for them. You really didn't want to here this.

"Alright… um…"

"My name's Terezi. Terezi Pyrope. Here's my work number…" she handed Dad a piece of paper. "And here's John." You wriggled angrily. "Sorry, I don't think I've gotten your name yet."

"Mommy!" You pleaded, reaching for her, nearly making Dad drop you. He held you tightly, looking at you with a look of desperation, obviously having no idea what in the world he was supposed to do with you, as you began to shriek and hold the best tantrum you could. She smiled.

"It's… Karkat."

"I'll be back. Don't give, Karkat a hard time, alright, Johnny?" You screamed. "Thank you so, so much. I have to go now." She ran off.

"Hey! Wait!" Mom was already down the hallway. Dad looked at you and frowned. "Great."
You howled.

"What do you want, kid?"

"Mom!" You screeched angrily. He frowned.

"Yeah, well, um… Mom went to work, remember? What does she usually do with you."

"I… Aunt… Vriska!" You babbled, wiping your face with your chubby wrist. He sighed and grabbed a paper towel, wiping your face with it. You screamed once loudly, indignantly, then gave him an angry look, jutting out your bottom lip as you did when Mom was frustrated.

"Well, I'm not Aunt Vixen, or whatever." You bared your teeth and growled as intimidating as possible. He copied you, making you cry again.

"Alright, alright. I'm just kidding. Look, you want soda or something?" Your eyes went wide.

"Soda is for grown-ups," you said. He shrugs and handed you a can of soda from the counter, cracking it open.

"I won't tell mom if you shut u- I mean, quiet down." You glanced at him in shock, then put the can up to your lips, taking a sip. You winced from the bubbles, but drank it. You didn't care for the fizz but for God's sake you were being offered permission to do grown up things.

Dad sat you in front of his old-fashioned television, which was an antique from 2020 or something. You sat and watched a movie, which bored you silly. You wandered around the apartment. You made a tower out of CD boxes. You wandered into his brothers room and got into his face paints and had successfully painted the carpet before he was done making you lunch. He mumbled curses that made your eyes bulge- words Mom usually started apologizing and telling you never ever to repeat when she let them slip. He picked you up by your armpits and stuck you in front of a television dinner which you refused to eat.

Overall, you didn't like Dad at first. But Mom ended up not being able to find a babysitter and Dad kept babysitting you. She always offered to pay, but he always refused. And long story short, they ended up getting together and getting married by the time you were eight.

So you became a human boy with troll parents. To the world of the humans you were acceptable. But only if you kept your parents a secret for some ridiculous racism that existed.

And you found yourself burying yourself in fibs about your parents. And it was all very easy until you had to deal with one person. Your only friend. Dave.