A silken feather brushed down my temple, to my lips, and then caressed down my neck. I opened my eyes, and a painting sat before me of purples, pinks, creams, and blues. Mismatched fields of dandelions, illuminated gold, adorned the sky, with twinkling fireflies for stars. The ground was shrouded in shadows, with only moonlight reflecting off it's dew. This was too beautiful to be real. As I turned, to take in more of the view, a person's silhouette came into my vision. They sat beside me, to the left of where I had been laying on the tree, in my yard. Their hand reached out, hesitantly, to softly pull my chin to theirs.
"Karkat", they called my attention. My eyes went wide, and my body ran hot. Lightning shot off, in my mind. Self-consciousness hit me with a second wave of heat, and I could feel it pool in my cheeks. With all the intensity, I noticed when their stare went from my face, to the bottom of the tree, behind me. Something was off. I, immediately, felt like I was being pulled between where I was and to some foreign absoluteness; another place in another time. My head was full of fog, and I realized, too slowly, what this place was… Time felt like it was moving too quickly now. I didn't want to leave yet.
"Karkat, wake up."
I startled, and jumped from a harsh finger in my ribs. I opened my eyes, and everything looked just like it had, when I had last talked to Gamzee. I looked to my left, for the silhouetted stranger with the translucent stare. I turned to my other side, and was met with a heterochromatic gaze. Stupid blue and red computer glasses looked over to where I just had, and reflected the horrific light of the sun into my eyes. "UUUUGGGHHH!", I screeched.
"KK, what were you looking at?", Sollux asked.
"Nothing. What in the everloving fuck do you want?"
Sollux shrugged off my answer, and relayed the message, "Gam'thee thay'th that dinner'th ready."
I growled in both annoyance, and delight. "Yeah. Thanks." Sollux reached his hand out, to help me up, and we both walked toward the screen door. Exotic smells greeted me upon entering the house; there was definitely lime, some kind of peanut sauce, and soy sauce in the air. Gamzee and his boyfriend, Tavros, were already seated at the table. While Gamzee was already scarfing his own food down, Tavros waited for Sollux and me to join.
"H-Hey guys. Gamzee made us Pad Thai for dinner." Tavros looked between his hands and Gamzee. He smiled politely, and when we sat down, he began eating his dinner.
"Thi'th i'th th'o good Gam'th." Sollux complimented, after one bite.
Gamzee had already finished his food. "I think it could'a all up and used some more sweetness, but I appreciate it SolBro.", he beamed. He looked over to me for my, as usual, brutally honest answer. "KarBro?"
"God gamzee, give me a minute to actually taste it…", I took a couple bites. "It's ok." I praised. I didn't want to go to the lengths of saying it was good, because it was already quite sweet enough, but I couldn't call it bad.
Gamzee basked in the compliment. He looked over to Tavros with a smile in his eyes, and nodded at me in gratitude. He knew better than to call me out for being genuine. Sollux looked at me like I had grown a pair of horns.
After dinner, I hastily ran upstairs to my room. I needed to see if my dream, from earlier, would continue. As I changed, then laid down, I was suddenly reminded that it was my turn to do the dishes. "KK. Oh no you don't. You better get your a'th down here, and do the'the di'the'th!" I sighed and groaned as loud as I could. Without answering, I let my foot falls echo through the floor, as I descended to the living room. I peered around the entrance between the living room and kitchen. Sollux automatically saw my small movement, and stared at me expectantly.
I marched over to the sink, and started running the water, in the empty side. The soap sudded up, and I started sloshing the water around in the bowls. Warm, running, water, entranced me into a motionless stupor. I stared through the window, above the sink, and watched the leaves rustle in the wind. A beautiful raven flew by and something about it's soft, curved, wings made my face heat.
"KK…" Sollux called my attention back to my task.
"What?"
"For real, are you ok?" I finally turned to see a look of concern fall onto his face.
"Yeah, man. I just… I'm really tired." I sighed in defeat. My eyes made their way to his, and his face told me he wasn't buying it. "Do you really want me to go into it? Because I can. I can sing the fucking swan song of woes to all the barnbeasts of the green planet. We can get into the deep void of astronomical bullshit that drowns at the bottom of the bittersweet ocean. " I rolled my eyes and smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'll grab your voi'the recorder." He laughed and ran upstairs. It was that time again.
