I held back a scream, as I sat up abruptly in my bed, eyes flashing open, waking up in a cold sweat.

I panted, every single detail of the nightmare, racing around in my mind. For a moment I believed I was still in the nightmare, until I took a moment to take in my reality. I turned my head to the side, and on the table by my bed, I eyed the clock. It was early. 4:29am to be exact, I looked out the window, and saw that it was mostly still pitch black, with a little bit of light, which tinted the sky, and made it look slightly blue.

I sighed, blinking away the tears that I had only just noticed were brimming my eyes. Being only eleven years old at the time, I did what any terrified kid would do.

All right, I did whatever terrified kid, who was a total wimp would do.
I climbed out of bed, and tip toed out of my room, sneaking quietly into my older brother's bedroom.

Kankri's room was less hazardous than mine, while my room had toys, and crumbled papers, and whatever the hell else, all over the floor, Kankri's room was spotless, even his desk was spotless.
His papers all neatly tucked away in folders, and his backpack and jacket were neatly hung on a hook.

I stopped in front of my older brother's twin sized bed, and just stared, afraid that if I came any closer, he'd suddenly be awake, calling me out on my triggering behavior.
I very carefully, climbed up into the bed, freezing every few seconds, as I tried to lay down, making sure Kankri wasn't waking up.

I finally managed to successfully lay down in his bed, beside him, but it was hardly rewarding, since there was hardly any room in the bed.

Now, a brave move on my part, I scooted forward, and cuddled up to him, it was the only way to be somewhat comfortable in his small bed, to get as close as I possibly could.

Which wasn't a problem for me. Being an eleven year old, who'd just woken up from a horrifying nightmare, it comforted me slightly to be close to my older brother. Staying cuddled up to him, I eventually fell back asleep.

Hours later, the sun coming through his windows woke me up, I'd started to forget about my nightmare entirely, in fact, for a moment, I'd forgotten that I'd climbed into my brother bed.

I only remembered, when I opened my eyes, to see none other than Kankri, still laying in bed next to me, staring at me, with a blank expression.

My eyes widened for a moment, and I ended up staring right back to him, in silence, not knowing what I could say to explain why I was there. The two of us just laid there in total silence for almost a whole minute.

Until words that I should have predicated left my brother's mouth.

"…Check your privileges."

At this I started full on shouting at him, out of defense, out of anger, out of embarrassment.

It was a tricky situation trying to explain to your brother why exactly he'd woken up next to you, in his bed.

Kankri, however was used to my shouting, and got up, taking off his white tee shirt he'd been sleeping in, slipping on his usual red sweater.

"Why are you here exactly, Karkat?" He asked casually, over the sound of my shouting.

That silenced me, when he asked, hearing the genuine concern in the back of my brother's voice drew me at blank.

I'd never gotten much affection from our dad, neither of us did, and Kankri wasn't affectionate either, but when I did catch the small hint of care in his voice, it always seemed to draw me at blank.

The silence between us lasted a few seconds, before Kankri simply guessed why I was there.

"Nightmares, again?" He inquired.

Nightmares for me wasn't a constant thing, but when I did get nightmares, they were horrible, horrible nightmares.

Not the kind you could forget in a matter of hours. Ones that haunted me, continuously.

Kankri knew about the nightmares, I'd been getting them since I was really little.

I hated owning up to it, but I had to give him a reason as to why I was there, and the truth in this case, was just as good of a reason as any.

Sitting there in his bed alone, with him looking me from across the room intently, I hung my head, and finally, just nodded in response to his question.

There was no answer from him for a few seconds, until I felt him wrap his arms around me, softly, climbing back onto the bed, and pulling me closer to him, running his fingers through my hair.

"It's okay."

I eventually nodded in response to his reassurance. While, Kankri wasn't the easiest older brother to put up with, he did have his soft moments, when he knew exactly what to say to calm me down, he had his moments of being a really good older brother.

. . . . . . . . . .

My brother was an asshole. A dickmongering moronic bastard. I couldn't stand that disdainful douchebag.

Kankri had been fourteen at the time, when I'd shown up in his bed a terrified mess, but the second he turn eighteen, he applied to several colleges, all of which were states away.

He was accepted, and he just fucking took off.

I knew that it was because of our father, not because of me, but… what the fuck? He honestly stopped caring about me enough to just take off Sure, he used to call, but I'd always just yell at him, and eventually, he gave up calling me altogether.

And you know what? I didn't give two shits about it.

Sure, Kankri and I used to be close, seeming as we had a mutual uncaring father, but the second he walked out that door, he was history.

And that left me with absolutely no one to tell me to check my privileges.

Doing the math, Kankri was fucking twenty years old by now, to think I hadn't spoken to him since he was eighteen.

Okay, to be honest, I did give two shits about it.

I felt bad about losing contact with my own brother, but then, the second I thought about picking up the phone, I got flashes of the preteen him, holding me in his arms, claiming that we'd always be together, and then a second flash of eighteen year old him walking out the door.

He might as well just said "Fuck you, you pompous asshole" as he walked away, leaving me, because thats how much it hurt, it would have barely added to the pain if he had added an insult.

But he would probably considered that too triggering.

I laid in bed, groaning at the thought of getting up for school.

I almost turned back over.

Maybe I could call in sick?

Maybe I could skip school?

But I heard a crash from downstairs, and that instantly made me throw myself out of bed. My dad… he wasn't home, right? No… he always left early, and he almost never missed a day at work.

All of this thinking about Kankri made me think that he possibly came home?

But that wouldn't make any sense, it wasn't even summer break yet, plus he never came home for summer break.

Oh my fucking god, now I was panicking.
I started digging through my closet, and eventually found my old metal bat, back from elementary school, the year I'd picked up baseball for a season, biggest failure of my life, but I did still have the bat for some goddamn reason.

I tiptoed down the stairs, peeking around the corner, and I saw a tall figure in the kitchen.

Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I clenched the bat in my hands tighter, and silently creeped into the kitchen behind the tall figure, who was wearing a black hoodie, the hood pulled over his head.

I held my breath, readying myself to hit the guy, and I started to, but forced myself to stop in midair, when the figure turned around, and I saw that vile clown makeup.

"Oh, hey best friend, what's with the motherfucking bat?"

At that I exploded at him.

"Gamzee what the actual fuck? You scared the living shit out of me, I thought you were a bandit, or some shit like that, you fucking douchewad!"

Gamzee laughed a little, and he put his arm around me, casually.

"It's all cool, bro. You can put the bat down, you're all up and motherfucking safe from harm." He informed.

"Get. Your. Fucking. Hands. Off me." I said, through gritted teeth.

Gamzee took my serious request as light hearted behavior, as he always did. I shrugged, shoving his arm off me, and going down the hall, placing the bat in the hall closet.

Gamzee was at my table, eating dry cereal from a bowl.

I groaned, taking the milk out, and pouring some into his bowl.

"Ah, thanks, best friend."

"Why the fuck are you wearing a hoodie, anyway? It's not cold outside." I told him, as I sat down beside him, pouring cereal for myself.

"Because man, it's raining." He grinned.

"April showers bring May flowers, and flowers bring motherfucking miracles."

"…Your stoner is showing." I told him.

"You can't fight the miracles, brother."

"Whatever."

Eventually, I went upstairs to change into my uniform, telling Gamzee not to get into trouble while I was gone. Jesus, Gamzee acted like his foster parents never fed him.
Always showing up at my house fucking mooching off me.

Gamzee had quite the abusive father as a kid, it fucked him up a little in the head.

He'd convinced himself that his father hit him, and smacked him around because he cared about him, as a result, he still thought he loved his dad.

And as a result from that, he absolutely hated his foster parents, he always had, even though they were a perfectly nice couple, who attempted to keep him in a safe environment.

He had three scars on his face, from where his father had cut him, as a little kid.

Upon dealing with the past abuse, and later finding out he wouldn't be allowed to see his father again, until after highschool, which they still recommended that he cut off all contact with him, he eventually turned to drugs.

And became the easy going, happy Gamzee who called me "best friend" and followed be around like the stoner he was.

I slipped on my uniform, tossing my cellphone into the side pocket of my back pack, and lastly grabbed an umbrella, considering the fact Gamzee claimed it was raining.

I took Gamzee's bowl off the table, and loaded it into the dishwasher along with mine.

I didn't open the umbrella inside the house, knowing that Gamzee might freak out over the bad luck, or what the fuck ever.

I shut the door behind the two of us, forcing Gamzee under the umbrella with me, because he was right, it was pouring out there. I locked arms with him, just so he didn't stray out into the rain, because I knew he would.

And with that, we both took off into the rain, readying ourselves for another hell-like day of school.

A/N: Ohai, guys~ I wanna thank you, because I'm already so close to having 30 followers, and this is only the 4th chapter! This chapter was just basically so I could show Karkat's relationship with Kankri, and also his relationship with Gamzee, because also needed to be put into an example.
Thanks for reading, and follow, if you haven't already, and review if you can~ the next chapter will be up shortly! Until then, guys~.