"How've you been eating lately, Mr. Vantas?"
The young man with light brown hair scowled at the therapist across from him. "If you're asking if I can keep anything down, the answer is still no."
"I don't think you need me to tell you your family's worried about you."
"Doesn't take much to worry some of them."
"Your brother does have a reason to worry. He tells me that you fainted at school once because of malnourishment."
The young man rolled his eyes. "That was an accident, 'sides, I apparently deserved it."
"Would you care to talk about it?"
"You're gonna need more than that notebook."
The therapist smiled softly, casually plucking a fresh legal pad from their desk. "Start at the beginning."
His name is Karkat Vantas and he is so done right now. There is a long list of reasons his doneness level is steadily approaching an all time high, including but not limited to: that time Porrim and Kanaya decided that he and his older brother would make the greatest dress up dolls, the mere existence of said brother, the fact he is currently being used as a pack mule, the existence of implied extended family, the morons across the street, the continued existence of aforementioned brother, the asshole from across the street that hits on the annoying brother who doesn't realize what's going on half the time, the idea of existence in general, and the asshole who decided to call him right in the middle of carrying an over sized box down a set of stairs. Goddamn fuckasses.
"KK, ith everything ok?"
"Everything's just fine and fucking dandy. I'm only hauling around Porrim's shit because Dolores won't let me do anything unless I help her."
"Ithn't Porrim the one who thays the dothn't need a man'th help?"
"She has a lot of shit Captor."
"That'th bethideth the-"
"Point? Yeah, listen Captain Lisp, I gotta go. Kankri's been following me for the last hour waiting for me to stop lugging around Porrim's shit so he can tell me something I don't really care about anyway without 'triggering' me."
"KK wait!"
Click.
I am surrounded by idiots. Karkat sighed to himself setting down the final box in Porrim's car-thing.
"Karkat, now that you are not doing anything there are several things I wish to bring to your attention."
Karkat, however, wasn't paying attention to his older brother's ramblings, he was too busy eying the moving van across the street. "Since when did anyone live there?" He interrupted the obviously well outlined in advance essay.
"If you actually listened while I spoke, the fact that you do not is highly triggering to me, you would have noted that I had mentioned the fact several times."
The younger boy watched another guy around his age clamber from the truck. Another guy, his brother perhaps?- removed himself from the driver's seat and slung his arm around the younger looking one.
"I ran into the older one yesterday at the coffee shop-" Kankri continued.
"Don't you normally consider coffee triggering?"
"That's-"
"Besides the point? Is that the only fucking thing people can say today? First Dolores, then Sollux and now you."
"Kindly cease interrupting me. Anyway, the elder one's name is Cronus and that's his little brother Eridan, I believe his name is. Their father died a few years back, well that's what Cronus likes to say, but I get the feeling that he's lying about, and Cronus has been taking care of Eridan all this time, though this will be the sixth, I think was, school Eridan's been to since beginning high school."
"I thought that gossip is also triggering."
"Karkat, that is so far beyond the point its not even within the atmosphere. I do hope you'll try to make friends with Eridan, from the way Cronus spoke yesterday, the poor boy needs one."
Karkat grumbled to himself for a moment before responding. "Kankri."
"Yes Karkat, have you considered this proposition."
There was no proposition in all of that.
"Shut the fuck up."