Karkat crossed the room and flopped down on one of the two beaten-up sofas. John followed and sat down at the one perpendicular to it and glanced around the room. It was fairly small, the sofas sitting in the middle around a coffee table covered in stains. On it sat a slightly outdated flat-screen TV. Sollux sat in a swivel chair, typing rapidly, but it was too far away for John to make out what he was saying. Next to the desk, there were several cabinets bolted on the wall, the paint peeling off. Underneath sat an oven, and on it several pans.
John turned behind him and saw that there were three niches in the wall, and in them were blankets and pillows-sort of bunk beds, John supposed. Next to them a door led into another room. The floor was covered in mismatched rugs and carpet squares, giving it a sort of checkerboard appearance.
"You hungry?" Karkat finally said.
"Tired..." John answered. He wanted to ask if he could sleep in one of those bunkbeds in the wall, but he felt like it might be rude.
"Well too bad. Sorry, but you have to stay up 'till dawn."
"What? Why?"
"We're nocturnal," Sollux answered without looking up from his screen. "Once your skin changes the sun burns."
"Like vampires?"
Sollux laughed. "Sort of, but it's not fatal. It just really fucking hurts."
"Whatever, I'm hungry." Karkat said, then got up and went over to the stove. John lay back on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling, figuring he might as well get used to being nocturnal now. Last night he slept in his own bed, and now here he was in the secret underground fort of two disease-ridden teenagers which had somehow become his new home.
Yesterday seemed ages away.
Five minutes later, Karkat returned with three bowls of soup, shoving one at John. He looked down at the bowl, surprised to see something so familiar.
"Ramen?" He asked.
"Yeah. Get used to it it's sort of the only fucking food that survives in this place."
"Aw, really?"
"Yeah. I mean, sometimes I can trade and get other stuff like twinkies or whatever but they didn't give us any food when we came and the grocery stores here are really, really old."
"We do have an oven," Sollux added. "That beats, like everyone else. Your welcome by the way."
Karkat rolled his eyes. "We've had it for like three years now, people don't need to keep thanking you."
Everyone was silent for a moment, the only sound was slurping noodles. After a few minutes, John spoke.
"So...what do you guys do here?"
"Dick around on the computer. Go outside. Kar sells black market ramen." Sollux said.
"I don't sell it, dumbass I trade it for stuff. The stuff that you use. And it's not the black market unless there's a regular market. I mean, there's no laws here so you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want."
"Especially shady noodle dealings in dark alleyways."
"Hell yeah."
A lump had formed in John's throat, unrelated to the soup he was eating. Karkat and Sollux's back and forth banter had forcibly reminded him of his own best friends. The phrase 'black market ramen' seemed exactly the kind of thing Dave would say for no fucking reason, then go on a long metaphorical tangent about it. He didn't even get to say goodbye to them, the last thing he had said was how much he didn't want to take that quiz in math, which Rose, Jade and Dave had agreed to. Then they all had to get in alphabetical order along with the rest of the school, so he drifted off to the front of the line with a wave and didn't see them again.
Sollux eventually got up and put on a movie, something that John remembered seeing in theatres several years ago, but he didn't pay much attention. When the first movie ended and they put on a second one, John could hardly keep his eyes open. Karkat gestured that he could sleep in the leftmost bottom bed, then muttered something about it being the worst to Sollux, who sniggered.
John, however, was far too tired to care. He curled up on his side, facing away from the two boys. He slipped off to sleep quickly, dreaming of home.
(kind of a short and pointless chapter, i know, sorry. but next chapter will be longer and more stuff will happen i promise! thanks for reading everyone :D)