The air was still; hot and heavy, it stifled his lungs as he peered over the railing at the drop below him. This vacation had been a disaster. No, his entire life had been a disaster. He took a tentative step up onto the base of the rail, rocking back and forth as he wished for something, a breeze, a gale, a storm, anything that would bring a change to the humidity that had seemed to follow him the past three days. Karkat sucked in a gasp of a breath as his foot slipped, falling the short distance before the railing caught him by the gut. Groaning, he shoved himself away from the metal, storming down the stairs slick from children's wet feet as the sun sank farther into the endless ocean. His raging didn't end as he crossed the brick paved patio and hurdled himself unceremoniously over the barrier separating him from the sand.
Strangely enough, the beach was devoid of life. Every evening he'd checked, the shore had been littered with obnoxious tourists trying to snap pictures of the sun before the sea swallowed it entirely. The angry teen observed this newfound silence with pleasant surprise, as this was one of the only times he could safely venture into the rays of the unforgiving Florida sun. One would think that his father would have chosen a different location for their summer "getaway", having full knowledge of his son's condition, or would have at least left him at home where he was halfway happy with the very small group of friends he had.
Of course, Karkat was only kidding himself when he referred to this summer long trip as a "vacation." In reality, it was an annual practice for the family. His father, a corporation lawyer, was sent every summer to a different conference zone to represent his company in a series of week long sessions, all expenses paid. However, this invitation extended only as far as the man. The boy and his older brother were dumped for the summer at some second rate hotel, only seeing their father for dinner or lunch on the weekends. He didn't care about that part, however. In fact, he couldn't care less about the fact that his father was too busy for him. It was the small matter of his overbearing, well meaning brother that drove Karkat absolutely insane.
Shaking his head in frustration, Karkat kicked his shoes off by the wall before continuing his tirade as he made a beeline toward the waves. When his toes reached the wet sand, he clumsily lowered himself to sit, not caring about the sand that he'd be sure to find in his pants later. He tried not to fume too much, the anger only adding to the suffocating heat already pressing down on him as he found himself praying to a benevolent God for rain for the fourth time that day. Pulling his knees to his chest to rest his chin on them, Karkat was surprised to feel the sting of tears in his eyes. He quickly scrubbed them away, feeling trapped by his own confusion as to why he was so upset.
Having been too absorbed in his pity party, he completely missed the sound of crunching sand behind him. He remained oblivious until a thin figure dropped gracefully to sit beside him, causing the small teen to jump about a foot in the air.
"Yo, you okay, bro?" And suddenly he was confused. Because, who was this boy, and why was he talking to him? Karkat turned his head to face him, narrowed eyes meeting a pair of reflective aviators, and was quickly reminded of why he avoided most people as his reflection stared back at him. Alabaster hair, pale lips, dull, pasty white complexion topped with snowy eyebrows and eyelashes. Ghostly. Well, other than the deep crimson of his eyes, ringed with dark circles that could only mean it had been far too long since he'd woken up on the right side of the bed. Karkat couldn't help but hate what he saw staring back at him. The cause of ruthless teasing throughout his school days, the boy loathed every aspect of his appearance. "Hello? Anybody alive in there?" The new boy prompted, snapping him out of his confused, self-loathing stupor.
"M'fine." Karkat snapped back, suddenly too self conscious to be seen in public. "Leave me alone." His grumpy tone was met with a snort from the boy Karkat had not even bothered to glance at.
"Where's the fire? I only just got here." If Karkat had been anyone else, he might have confused this stranger's taunting for flirting. Seeing as that was not the case, he gave a frustrated grunt before rolling his eyes. The albino glanced at his reflection once more, just to make sure he hadn't magically transformed into something he knew he wasn't, before going to push himself up off the ground. He was stopped as a surprisingly strong hand grabbed his wrist, simultaneously feeling immediate embarrassment at the sheen of sweat he knew this stranger was bound to notice. 'Whatever' the crabby boy thought, scowling 'It's not my fault it's this damn hot.' And it was true. If the humidity had been suffocating before, it was killer now.
"Wait, I didn't mean to scare you off." The new boy spoke in a rush, his jerky facade cracking. "Don't go." Karkat curled his nose in distaste at this development, gritting his teeth as tried to tug his arm free. He didn't have time for this. His friends at home hadn't returned any of his FaceTime calls, nor did they respond to his open post on Tumblr about how badly vacation had sucked, and now this annoying jerk had come out of nowhere and tried to insert himself into the one moment of peace Karkat had been striving to achieve. It was enough to make him livid. He yanked his wrist back, using a quick motion he'd learned in his self defense class.
"Leave me alone. No one wants to hang out with a freak anyway." He spit out the old taunt he'd heard all his life for good measure, trying to ensure with his openly bitter attitude that this guy would just leave him be. Turning to stomp back up the shore, he was surprised to notice that this loser was following him. This hadn't happened to the angry teen since freshman year, but it still freaked him out beyond belief. He whipped around, holding his hands up to ward him off, a bit startled to see that the boy had done the same in response. The waves crashed, filling the awkward silence that had fallen between the two, the air becoming thick and muggy the longer Karkat stood out there. It seemed his desperate plea for rain would go unanswered.
"Relax." The stranger started calmly, breaking the tension that had fallen between the two. "Who are you calling a freak anyway? Try looking in the mirror sometime." He grumbled, actually looking a bit hurt. Karkat was completely confused, wrinkling his nose as he tried to piece together what he was talking about. Giving up, he took a much more blunt approach.
"What the heck are you talking about?" He asked gruffly, looking himself up and down. "I know I'm a freak. That's what just I said." Now it was the stranger's turn to look confused, pushing the bridge of his aviators up until they rested on the top of his head.
Karkat sucked in a breath at the sight that met him. Crimson eyes bored into ruby, and it was only then that he allowed himself to look at the other signs that he'd been too busy to notice. Snowy bangs fell neatly over an equally pale forehead. Bangs that Karkat knew from experience could pass for blond when wet. In fact, their complexions would have been identical, were it not for the obvious fact that this stranger definitely got more sleep than he did. He found himself speechless, staring at the stranger for an embarrassingly long moment. His gaze must have still looked irritated, however, because the new boy shifted before holding out a hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm usually a lot cooler than this. I just saw...I saw you when you were passing the front desk a while ago." Karkat raised an eyebrow as the boy in front of him began tripping on his words, ignoring the hand and putting his own on his hips.
"And?" He asked bluntly, a bit rude about it.
"And I've just never seen anyone like me." He finished, pressing his lips together as if he regretted coming over to begin with. Karkat said nothing, passing him to sit back down on the sand. After a long stretch of silence, he glanced back at the stranger.
"You just going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to come sit down?" He asked sharply, the only way he knew how. He was secretly pleased, however, when the stranger came to sit next to him. "I'm Karkat." He said after a moment, wiping the sweat from his hands before leaning back on them and staring out over the sea to admire the moon already hanging high in the sky. It would have been a beautiful view if the beach weren't so desperately in need of rain, but how had it gotten to be so late already?
"Dave." The stranger answered back. "Nice to make your acquaintance."
And then it started to pour.