This is a (regrettably late) fanfic dedicated to my personal friend TED1OUS. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but with sickness and a broken laptop and corrupted files, plus school starting back up, I've had a rather wild roller coaster of obstacles with posting this fic BUT FINALLY IT'S HERE!
So, without further rambling from me, here it is :) a Christmas Karkat fic!
Fire crackled beneath the mantle, boasting decorative stockings and small wooden nutcrackers. The cozy warmth of your house and hearth was a delightful contrast to the dark winter chilled night outside. You had just gotten snuggled under the homemade quilt your grandmother gave you last year when a rather forcefull knocking started on your door. Untangling yourself from the soft blanket, you slid on your fuzzy socks across the floor to the door. You weren't expecting the sudden flurry of snowflakes that blasted into your home, nor the visitor on your doorstep.
"What the fuck took you so long?! It's as cold as Gamzee's shitty lusus out here and you have me waiting in this disgusting and putrid white wetness that you earthlings seem to find pleasent, what the hell is so wrong with your species?" A crabby troll shivered on your doorstep.
"Oh, Karkles, hey. What's up? And what on earth are you wearing?" You couldn't hide the smile pulling at your lips as you regarded the troll in front of you. Karkat was wearing what appeared to be a hand knitted sweater of grey wool that displayed a woven pattern of white snowflakes and red crabs. Wrapped around his neck was a crimson scarf and on his head covering his horns was a crab winter cap. It definitely didn't help how adorable -excuse you, adorabloodthirsty- he was. If anything, it made his little temper tantrum even cuter.
"What I'm wearing is obviously inadequate human attire for the weather outside 'cause I'm still fucking cold as hell and you still haven't let me in you insufferable nookstain," he growled, hugging himself to fight off the cold. You smiled, stepping back to let the short tempered troll inside. Perhaps it was just your imagination, but you could've sworn he was blushing candy red as he yanked his crab hat off, revealing ruffled unkept hair. God, he was cute.
"Nice to see you too Karkles. What're you doing here anyways?" you asked, following him into your living room where he ungracefully plopped down onto your sofa. Nice of him to make himself at home.
"What did I say about calling me that? You know I hate it. Don't you ever listen to a word I say or is your think pan to full of shit to register a single simple sentence that leaves my mouth?" he growled, glaring at you.
"I do it because I wuv you Karkles," you smirked, pinching his cheeks as he slapped your hands away. "Anyways you never answered my question."
"As I understand it, tonight is the human holiday of Christmas Eve and I hear you're supposed to spend it with people you care about but I don't care about any of you ignorant bulge lickers and your hive was the closest. So there, I'm spending this stupid holiday with you so I can say I participated," he huffed, crossing his arms and glaring into the fire. Was it a trick of the lighting or was he blushing again?
"Uh, Karkat you do realize my house is about the farthest house from your hive right?" you smiled. This only made him more flustered.
"Whatever, so I miscalculated. Bite me."
"Anyways, you came to the right place. I'll take you through all the Christmas traditions-"
"Oh joy."
"-starting with a Christmas movie," you beamed. He rolled his eyes and began to fidget with his sweater. You got up to pop your favorite Christmas movie into the DVD player. Karkat watched you closely. Fuck, was he blowing this? Your house was the closest. Really? Was that the best he could do? Gog damnit why couldn't he be smooth like Strider.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer began to play on your television as you settled back down on the couch beside Karkat.
"What's this movie about? It looks stupid. And how the hell am I supposed to enjoy a movie when I'm so gogdamn cold?" he scowled.
"Do you always complain this much? Sheesh. Just watch," you replied, wrapping your quilt around the both of you. "Here, we can share."
Karkat was all too aware of how close you were to him. He kept glancing at you throughout the movie. Gog you were beautiful, did you know that? And damnit he was too scared to tell you that himself. He was surprised you even let him in your house, let alone that you were practically snuggled up against him. Why were you wasting your time on a pathetic shit sack like him anyways? He turned back to the silly human movie about a red-nosed, horned hoofbeast freak.
By the end of the movie Karkat was almost in tears.
"Hey, you okay Karkles?" you asked, resting a hand on his arm. He sniffled, angrily wiping a red tinted tear from his cheek.
"Yea, I'm fine. Those stupid hoofbeast are the ones with the fucking problem. They hated him cause he was different, and it's not fair. It's not his fault he was born different. He didn't decide to be a freak," he yelled at the TV. You knew he got caught up in movies but this was just flat out adorable.
"Kar, it's just a movie. Besides, it has a happy ending, right? It all ended well."
"Yea but did you see how they treated him? Those fucking nookstains made fun of him because he had a red nose! A RED nose! Because he was a mutant and didn't fit in. Because he didn't belong," Karkat's voice broke. He hid his face in your quilt. Gog, what a pathetic loser he must seem to you. Fuck, why did this stupid earth movie have to hit so close to home with him?
Your heart began to break for this sensitive troll sitting in front of you that hid his feelings behind false anger.
"Sure, the other reindeer made fun of him, but what about Clarisse? She seemed to like Rudolph for who he was." You risked slipping your hand into his, not sure if he'd reject you or not. He stared at your intertwined hands. His blood pumper caught in his throat. He wished he knew how to put what he felt for you into words, but the sentence just wouldn't form in his think pan. The moment was already slipping away. Silence stretched between you and the mutant blood.
"Come on, time for the next Christmas tradition," you laughed, pulling him up by his hand. "We're gonna make a snowman!"
Outside wasn't as bad as it seemed. But still, Karkat was bundled up in his sweater, scarf, and crab hat. He allowed himself to be unwillingly dragged back out into the cold. Snow had blanketed the yard and was still slowly drifting down from the sky. He hopped from one foot to the other to keep his feet from totally freezing. He merely watched as you knelt in the snow and with your mitten-clad hands began piling up snow into what was roughly a ball.
"Jegus , do you have a fucking death wish? What in your fucked up earth mind are you thinking by dragging me out here in this Gog forsaken wet slop when we could be inside?" he complained.
"I told you Karkles, we're building a snowman. Christmas tradition. Now are you gonna help me or not?" you asked, and while you weren't looking he smirked. He had another idea. Recently, he'd seen some human kids do this on the television, and they looked like they had fun. How bad could it be? He knelt down and scooped up a handful of snow.
Suddenly, you were hit in the back by a ball of fluffy white coldness. A smile spreading on your face, you slowly turned around. Karkat was standing with his hands behind his back trying to look as innocent as possible, but this was Karkat so you knew how impossible that was.
"Karkat. Did you just throw a snowball at me?" you asked. His eyes went wide with mock surprise. He shook his head, but oh no, he'd already started this thing and there was no turning back. Before he could register what you were doing you scooped up a rather generous amount of snow and hurled it at him. It struck him square in the face, and with enough force that he fell back.
"Hey!" he yelled. For a moment he looked furious, but his grimace turned into a grin. "It's on!"
The two of you then engaged in a full on snowball war, dodging and diving away from oncoming shots while trying to reload on snowballs. You felt giddy and had never seen Karkat smile so much before, let alone laugh. He continued to give full chase, but was losing speed. Probably tiring out. Now was your chance. You pelted him with snowball after snowball in an unrelenting arsenal. It didn't take long for the red blooded troll to stumble and ultimately fall. The enemy had been conquered.
"Fuck! Okay, fine! Fine! You win! I surrender!" he laughed, using his sweatered arms to protect his face. He fell back into the snow, spreading his arms beside him.
"Yesssssss!" you exhaled as you fell back next to him. You both turned towards each other, breathless. The cold air stung your lungs and made breathing painful, but being so close to Karkat and having him smile at you like that made it worthwhile. "I like winning."
"Yea, I've noticed," he laughed. You couldn't help but stare at him. He was smiling, laughing. You've never seen him look so happy, and happy looked good on him. Why couldn't he be this way more often? You doubted anyone else had even seen this side of him before, and you wanted to keep it to yourself. Suddenly, he blushed and looked away. "What're you staring at?"
Now it was your turn to blush.
"Nothing much."
Nothing much was right, he thought. You probably thought he was nothing, nothing but a loser. The snow seemed a lot colder all of a sudden as silence spread between the two of you.
"Hey Karkat, there's one more thing I want to show you." You stood up, brushing away snow that clung to your legs and back. He watched you with wide, innocent eyes and for a moment you wished time would just freeze right there. He looked perfect. But there was something very important you had to show him.
You dragged him back to your front door by his sleeve.
"You see that plant hanging above the door right there?" you asked, pointing to delicate green stems wrapped in a ruby ribbon. "I bet you didn't notice it when you first got here, did ya?"
"No, what is it? Looks like a normal, scrawny human plant to me," he scoffed.
"Well, this is no ordinary plant. At least, not this time of year," you smiled. "It's called a mistletoe."
"What makes it special?" he glared at it skeptically.
"Let me show you," you beamed. Taking his hand once more you pulled him up to the door way. "First, two people walk through a doorway together-" you both stepped across the threshold "-and then, if the door has mistletoe above it..."
"Then what?" he asked, his brows knitting together in confusion. Your heart was beating like a drum in your chest, the rhythm reverberating in your ears. Oh, how you hoped he wouldn't hate you for this.
"Well, then the two people kiss." You quickly leaned in and pecked him on the lips. Karkat's eyes widened like two full moons. He went rigid, as if your lips had the effect of Medusa's eyes and had turned him to stone. His face was candy red from his neck to the top of his ears. Basically, he looked completely uncomfortable. This was a mistake. Oh god, why did you just do that?! You should've known he wouldn't like you like that. You went and messed everything up. You moved to leave, probably go lock yourself in your room and beat your head against the wall. He could find his own way out. "Sorry, I just...um yea. Sorry."
Karkat grabbed your wrist as you walked away and with a jerk pulled you against him. Before you could formulate a reply he smashed his lips against yours. Now it was your turn to be surprised. Suddenly you couldn't feel the difference between cold or warm, you could only feel his arms wrapped securely around you and the way his slightly chapped lips felt pressed firmly against yours. It felt like heaven.
You began to melt into his embrace, wrapping your arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. The two of you fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, and you wondered why you hadn't noticed this feeling earlier. Butterflies began to dance in your stomach.
Karkat pulled away first, though he stayed close enough that you shared breaths. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. The way he was looking at you, like you were the most amazing treasure he could have ever found, melted your heart and deepened the red blossoming across your cheeks. He pulled you close for another kiss, one of many more that night. There was no way you were leaving his arms tonight.
"I think I like this Christmas holiday," he whispered.