Not Thinking - JohnKat
Karkat never slept. That was one of his quirks. He has others, more pronounced quirks that everyone noticed and dealt with and loved on some level. And even though this quirk was one of those, it was one that not many people acknowledged because it was so well known. Karkat never slept? Yea, but did you hear his rant the other day about mega buckets that fly at heads?
Ok, that made no sense. But it would be like that. It would be known, but he has such other quirks that kind of overshadow this one. The one where he never slept. Ever.
But as John walked through his room to the window, to check the weather and figure what kind of clothes he would have to wear for the day, in the corner of his eye he saw a mass of black. A messy mass of black. A messy mass of Karkat.
Asleep.
And it was so weird, so abnormal, that John at first thought that Karkat was just sitting with his eyes closed. That's more of an obvious happening, right? Karkat is just sitting with his eyes closed. But he wasn't. After John called his name two, maybe four, times, he realized that oh my god, Karkat is actually asleep.
And then he realized how calm Karkat looked. Serene. At peace, just sleeping on the floor of John's room.
And then he asked himself, What the heck is Karkat doing sleeping on the floor of my room?
But, surprisingly, that wasn't on the front of his mind. All that pushed forward was how sweet Karkat looked, the lines of his face smoothed out and his scowl softened to just a small frown.
It was pretty. Karkat looked pretty.
John walked forward to where Karkat sat against the wall and plopped right down next to him. John fiddled with his hands for a moment then decided what to do with them, suddenly and incomprehensibly, because why would he be doing this? but he was doing it anyway and he was currently okay with it. It, being, putting his arm around Karkat's shoulder and bringing the troll closer so that his head lolled to the side and landed on John's shoulder. Then John made another decision. A quick one, one he didn't have very much time to think about (because he wouldn't let himself), one that was even more incomprehensible but still something he would apparently want to do. He used his other arm to slide under Karkat's legs and bring him around so the troll was sitting on his lap, head on his shoulder, breath still soft and slow even though his body had been moved and prodded and caressed.
Caressed? Well, okay. Maybe. Maybe John had softly touched Karkat's cheek with his finger when he wrapped his arm around him, and maybe the other hand had grazed Karkat's thigh as it was moved. Maybe.
But John wasn't focusing on that. He was focusing on the breath that was still proving Karkat's sleep, the eyes softly closed and the mouth that was set in a nice little frown. Karkat wasn't yelling. Wasn't scowling. Wasn't glaring or cussing or pulling at his own hair.
He was asleep. And, currently, though John didn't let himself think on it too much, he didn't want to ever let Karkat go again. Maybe he could help Karkat sleep more. Others have tried, but John had just accepted that Karkat never slept. But now he wants to. Try, that is. Try to help Karkat sleep so he could look like this more often. Maybe Karkat's scowl would lessen, or his eyes would widen more, or his scalp would hurt less. Or maybe Karkat would smile.
Karkat smiling. Hm.
"You're thinking too loud," A groggy voice interrupted John's current thoughts. John started and looked down, but Karkat's eyes were still closed. His mouth, though, was set in a firm line that showed the slight wakeness of the troll.
"Sorry," John whispered, even though Karkat hadn't. John felt as if he should, though, so he did.
Karkat made a nondescript sound before he burrowed into John's shoulder.
John waited a couple moments before asking, "Are you half asleep? Like, not totally awake?"
Karkat grunted and made no move.
John smiled. "What are you doing sleeping in my room?"
Karkat sighed and smacked his lips before he answered.
"Less lonely."
John paused and his brow furrowed. To him, it made no sense, but he wasn't going to pry for fear of completely waking Karkat.
"Ok," John whispered back, and settled more against the wall and closed his eyes. Karkat seemed to be back to sleep, then suddenly a hand lightly closed into a fist around John's shirt.
"No one," Karkat said. "No one will know about this."
John chuckled and said, "Sure," before he let himself feel tired and fall asleep. And not once, not ever, did he think closely about what had happened between him and Karkat, and not once, not ever, did he focus too hard on the hand that fisted his shirt and the warm body cradled in his arms.