Karkat looked at the clock as he came home from work. It was only 10:15. Terezi didn't expect him to be back until 11.
He took off his hat and messed up his neatly combed hair. Now that he had a job, his boss made him comb it, which he hated more than anything. Terezi didn't like it much either.
"I think I'll have time to run to John's hi—ugh, house," he said to himself. "I need to ask him anyway."
When Karkat got to John's house, he sighed before he knocked on the door. John yawned as he opened it. "God, Karkat! You don't go over to someone's house unannounced at 10:30 at night!"
"Sorry," Karkat sarcastically replied. He went inside, totally ignoring John. "If you don't mind, I need to ask you something. In private."
"You're being unusually polite," John said. "Sure, come with me. You'll have to be quiet, my dad's asleep."
Karkat sat down in a chair in John's room. John sat on his bed across from Karkat.
"So?" John asked. "What is it you need to ask me?" He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with his shirt.
"Well, uh..." Karkat began. "You know how Terezi and I have been mate—ugh, I mean, 'dating' for a while, right?"
John nodded. "Yeah?"
"Well, I've been thinking for the past few days, I want Terezi and I to become more than matesprits—fuck, 'boyfriend and girlfriend'—like, what you humans call 'getting married.'"
"Holy—!" John exclaimed. "Karkat, I don't think you understand! You don't do things like that right away! And besides, how old are you guys anyway?"
"Eight solar sweeps."
"Um, I'm guessing that's about eighteen human years, it looks like it, so you guys ARE the legal age, but...what are you thinking!"
"I don't fucking know! She's the only other troll on this shitty planet of yours, might as well, no human would want to marry an ugly dumbass like me!"
John sighed.
"John," Karkat continued, "just tell me the basics of this whole 'marriage' thing."
"Well, uh," John uneasily began, "first off, there's a ring."
"A ring?"
"Yeah. The guy always buys the girl a ring. Not one of those cheap plastic ones, I mean one of those really expensive ones with real jewels and gold and all that stuff."
"Expensive? Fuck, I don't think I make enough to afford a nice one..."
"Oh, there's several ways you can get one."
"How?"
"It's long and complicated, I'd rather not go into detail."
"Okay." Karkat paused a moment. "What else?"
"Well," John replied, "once the guy buys the ring for the girl, he takes her somewhere special, where he proposes to her."
"Proposes?"
"He gets down on one knee, pulls out the ring, and asks, 'Will you marry me?'."
"Oh, okay. That seems easy."
"I'm not so sure about that."
Karkat stopped. "And how do you know all this stuff?"
John coughed.
The door to John's bedroom opened. "John, what are you doing up? It's almost 10:45, you don't need to be talking to friends!"
"Oh, sorry Dad," John said. "Karkat just needed to talk to me."
"That's fine," his father replied, "just try to talk quieter, okay?" He yawned and shut the door.
"Um, I'm pretty sure you can just Google everything else," John told Karkat.
"Thanks." Karkat looked at the wall clock. "I'm usually home by eleven, so I don't want to worry Terezi or anything."
"Okay. Just ask me if you need anything."
"See ya."