This is the second prompt, Middles. It seemed fitting that Karkat gets to fill a Quadrant for it. Sooo, AU in which things go well for all involved in the lab.

In The Middle

Karkat face palmed hard as he saw Eridan and Sollux getting ready to fight, even after he had purposefully told them both no fighting.

To one side, Feferi was looking worriedly on. Karkat understood exactly why she wasn't trying to break the two boys up. She was heading for a Quadrant already with Sollux that was either flushd or pale, but not in any way close to a black Quadrant.

Jumping in to stop them was decidedly ashen in nature. Feferi didn't want to flip on Sollux, and didn't want anything to do with Eridan romantically. Kanaya, who was also in the room, was fastidiously checking every single inch of the matriorb to make sure it wasn't hurt in any way.

Once she was sure it was fine and healthy still, she grabbed it, turned away from the oncoming fight and held it close.

That left him to break it up.

Well, he did have a little bit of a black crush on Sollux and hadn't figured out just how deep it went. If it only came to an ashen fling and didn't develop fully into pitch, well, so be it. Taking a deep breath when he saw Sollux's hands going for his glasses, Karkat jumped between the two of them and held out his hands, one towards each.

"Just what the fuck do you think you two are doing?!"

"Move out of the way, KK. Eridan has to fucking learn his place with FF and that he is not included in it!"

Eridan growled and raised his wand, trying to have it somehow go around Karkat, but failing. He pointed it up to the ceiling, ready to use it the moment Karkat moved from his spot. "Kar, move outta the w-way and let me destroy the useless piss blood. He has no right to speak about me that w-way!"

Karkat wanted to just shake the two of them until they saw sense, but he was afraid if he moved from his spot, the other would attack without a second thought, so, instead he let out a loud warning hiss. It was the first time he had ever made the sound, and it left even him surprised.

The two on each side of him froze.

"What the fuck, KK?"

"W-what?"

Feferi started to grin widely, before bouncing up and down like an idiot and squealed out a happy "Yay! Crabcatch!"

Kanaya was now staring at him too, blushing a slight shade of her jade which just set Karkat's face off, making it bright red when he realised just how public a display this was. This was pure romance movie shit. Holy fuck! "What the fuck did I tell both of you not even two minutes ago? That's right, no fucking fighting! What the fuck do you two bulgelicking shitstains think you're doing? No one is killing anyone else, or even fighting for that matter on my watch. Now sit the fuck down. Now!"

Sollux plopped himself down on the horn pile he was standing next to, his face lightly yellow around his cheeks. Eridan planted his ass on the ground he was already occupying. He was staring up at him with a slight look of wonder on his face.

"You really mean this, Kar?"

Karkat knew what he meant. He rolled his eyes and growled at the stupidity Eridan was showing. "I wouldn't have stopped you two nooksniffers from fighting if I didn't now, would I? Now you go play with your wand in some other part of the meteor, or sit down and be quiet."

He then turned to Sollux and Feferi. "As for you, stay there and figure out what the fuck the two of you want in a quadrant. Because I refuse to watch this butchering of both the pale and flushed quadrant. Pick one and stick to it. Have a goddamn feelings jam, or eat each other's faces in a red way. Don't do both."

Feferi grinned widely, showing off every single one of her shark teeth and nodded. "Don't worry, Karcrab, I'll get us settled."

He nodded to her in the way a fellow Quadrant mate would and grinned.

Holy fuck, he felt good, and annoyed, and if one of his two idiots stepped out of line he didn't know what he'd do but he was sure they'd follow his thinking because they were too new and probably giddy as well. He was the middle leaf in a fucking Auspisticeship.

His first Quadrant filled and it included his best friend and gossip buddy.

He couldn't be happier.