She was quiet; that was how he knew something was on her mind. Very rarely did they sit in total silence as they were now, and each time before, she broke the silence with a question that left him stunned.
"hey Nubs," she started. "I heard you got gills"
This was no different.
"Where the fuck did you hear that?" he asked, folding his arms and sinking deeper into the couch.
"A friend." She shrugged, her vague answer making Karkat's brow furrow. "So is it true?"
"It's really not any of your fucking business." He drew his knees up to his chest. Meenah thought to herself if he curled in on himself any more, he'd disappear completely.
"C'mon, Nubs. Lemme see your neck. I bet it's real cute anyway," she said, leaning closer to him.
"No," he mumbled, raising his shoulders in a protective shrug.
"Please? Just a quick peek?" She slid an arm across the back of the couch. "I won't tell no one, I promise."
"No!" he tried to twist away from her, but her hands were already reaching for the neck of his tried to swat her hands away, but she swatted back, still reaching for his sweater. Karkat finally just shoved her off of him and rolled off the couch. He pulled his sweater up over his ears and glared at Meenah with tear-filled eyes.
Her look softened and he turned away from her. She saw his back tremble, and her heart ached. She slid off the couch and kneeled on the floor behind him.
"Hey, Nubs?" she said quietly. He curled in on himself just a little bit more. "Karkat?" She picked at the fraying strings on a hole in her jeans. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.. upset you." Her tone was soft, completely lacking its usual harshness.
Karkat remained quiet. She stood up, walked over to him, and kneeled down in front of him.
She took his hand gently. "Come on," she said, standing up and trying to pull him to his feet. He sniffled and wiped his tears on the back of his sleeve; his eyes were red and puffy, and he kept staring at the ground. Meenah led him through the bubble, changing it to something a bit more to her liking. Suddenly, the air smelled of sea salt, and he could hear waves crashing against a shore. She released his hand and walked to the water, pulling her shirt off and tossing it to the side. She stopped just at the water's edge and kicked her shoes off and stripped out of her pants.
"You gonna get in the water, Nubs?" She smiled at him, a huge shark-toothed grin, and walked into the water. He just stood there, looking at her.
"You can leave the sweater on if you want to. Just get in the water, you dork!" He blushed as he pulled his pants off and waded into the water, still wearing his huge sweater. As soon as he was out deep enough, Meenah tackled him, forcing him under the water. She laughed as he came up sputtering. She gestured for him to follow, and she swam along the shore, towards a bunch of rocks farther down the beach.
"Look," she said, pointing at the tide pools. There were several cuttlefish in each one, their bright colors showing up even in the dim light of the moons. She sat down on one of the rocks and trailed her hand through the water, watching the cuttlefish.
"I have gills," Karkat mumbled quickly. If it wasn't so quiet where they were, she wouldn't have been able to hear him at all.
"What?"
"I have gills," Karkat said, a little louder that time. "They don't really... work, but they're there." He stared down at the cuttlefish, and for a second, Meenah thought he was going to cry again.
"Oh," was all she said.
"I might.. show you... one day." Meenah's fins perked up. "I haven't shown anyone, because wow who actually wants to see a set of ugly, mutated, unusable gills." He pulled the neck of his sweater a little higher. "Most of the time, I try to pretend I don't even have them."
There was a moment of silence, and Meenah reached out and laced her fingers with Karkat's.
"Thanks for shelling me that," she said. "It reely does mean a lot to me."
She stood up and stretched, shooting a grin at Karkat. "We should probably go get our clothes before the tide washes them away. You wanna race?"
"You're on."