A/N: I'd love to thank my amazing beta reader for all of the stuff she does, and writing the whole of a very important piece of this chapter(minus a few added details) I love this girl! ~heart~ Love: Katy

BR/N: ((I love you too Katy boo)) Guys, I'm probably gonna open up an art blog for art for this fic. If you guys have a tumblr, and would like to post some fanart of this fic, please tag it as ps-fanart. Additionally, we have made a combined blog to dedicate the fanart. Some of our own fanart is already up there, reblogged. The URL is the same as the tag. Unoriginal, I know. But please check it out! ((You can do submissions too btw))

At the restaurant, Gamzee put in an order for a large cheese pizza, Karkat holding a bubbly glass of Sprite. His eyes were still a little red, but Gamzee either didn't notice, or didn't care to ask. The place was near empty, few other tables or booths held occupants. Karkat looked over to his friend, who sat doodling with a pen on his napkin.

"Hey, Gamzee," Karkat said quietly, and indigo eyes looked up to meet orange.

"Yeah, motherfucker?" He responded, putting the pen down.

"Do you ever… think about when we first met?"

"All the fuckin' time, man. Do you know how grateful I am to have you in my motherfuckin' life?" They sat looking at each other, thinking about how long ago they had met.

~Flashback Begin~

Gamzee had the most troubled past of anyone Karkat had ever met. At the age of 13, he watched as his stepfather got out a gun, and aimed down his mother and himself. He shot at Gamzee first, hitting his arm, and flinging him back against a dresser, resulting in him blacking out. There was blood everywhere once Gamzee woke up. The bullet wound in his right shoulder throbbed, and on instinct he winced as he tightly held it. He looked next to himself, and saw his mother slumped against the wall, face covered in blood, head tilted toward him. Her forehead held a perfectly circular bullet hole, and her dead eyes stared at Gamzee lifelessly, turning a milky white.

The gun... where was the gun? It looked like his father had been shot. But where was the gun? Gamzee pressed his hand on the floor to get up. But once he did, he felt something warm and metallic. He picked up the item. Realizing what it was, he looked down at his dad's corpse in horror. He had no gun. The gun was in his hands. Gamzee's hands. The gun fell to the ground as Gamzee covered his mouth. I killed him... I killed him! The sentence echoed throughout his mind as tears began to form. Once one fell, he screamed. He kicked the gun away from him, as if trying to escape from the object. "No no no no no no NO!" he shouted. The sound of police sirens began to ring throughout the neighborhood. In response, Gamzee backed up into a corner. Will they take me away? Am I going to get arrested? Questioned? Tortured?

The door splintered as it was knocked down. He tried to shrink further into the corner as he watched the police who had rushed inside the house. One noticed him, and suddenly he couldn't move. He was frozen. As the policeman walked over to him, Gamzee began to panic. But instead of pulling out the cuffs and forcing him to stand and take him away, the policeman simply knelt down to him. "You saw what happened here?" Gamzee nodded slowly. "Is this your family?" The question broke Gamzee, and he started sobbing.

"I didn't do anything! I swear I didn't do anything!" he cried. Another policeman came over, and this one noticed his shoulder.

"Hey guys! This kid's hurt!" he shouted to the rest. Gamzee began to feel faint. "You okay kid?" the policeman asked, noticing the boy's face draining of color. He soon fainted.

Gamzee woke up at the sound of beeping. He grunted at the brightness of the room around him. "Oh, you're awake," a woman's voice came. He looked around, seeing only a nurse.

"Where am I?" he croaked.

"You're at the hospital. That bullet wound you sustained was quite complicated," she said, putting a tray of food in front of him. "You've been here for a couple of days. Eat this."

Gamzee looked down at the food in front of him. His stomach growled as he picked up a bun. Once he took a bite, he began to shove the food into his mouth. The nurse giggled at him. He looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks. Really, thanks," he said.

The nurse looked at him with a soft, caring expression. "You're welcome, dear," she replied softly and began to exit the room.

"Wait!" Gamzee called out. The nurse turned to him with a questioning expression. "What time is it?"

The nurse laughed. "It's Wednesday, about 6:30 PM. If you want, you can wander a bit," she said. Gamzee nodded in response and went back to shoving food in his mouth. He winced as he accidentally jerk his right arm. He looked down at the bandages and frowned. He suddenly remembered what happened, and felt panic rise. He reached over, and gripped the edge of the padded bed with his good arm, and the padding made a light honking sound. Gamzee stared at the bed, and felt a little chuckle escape as his panic subsided with the honking. He squeezed it a few more times until he was completely calm. Maybe it was the honking, or the morphine, but Gamzee decided it was the honking.

He soon finished his meal and set the tray aside. As soon as he walked outside his room, he spotted a short guy sitting at a bench, tears at the edge of his eyes. He looked like he was about to cry. The boy's arm was in a sling, and he had a thick bandage wrapping from his neck down under his gown. The boy had a gauze pad taped over one of his eyes. Gamzee blinked once, then walked over to the boy. Once his presence was noticed, the boy glared up at Gamzee, who winced in return.

"Yo, sorry. I just saw you all up and depressed here and was wondering what's wrong." Gamzee frowned at the boy, who showed a slightly shocked expression at the tall man's words.

"It's none of your business," the short guy croaked in return.

Gamzee smiled and sat down next to him. "You don't seem like you're here for just a check up, bro," he said. He stared at the ground as the boy stared at him. "If you want some cheerin' up, I'm all for ears. I just got all woken' up. Had surgery on my right shoulder."

The boy looked at Gamzee curiously. "What happened?" he asked.

Gamzee grinned at him. "'It's none of your business,'" he quoted. The boy glared at him as he laughed. "Just kiddin', man. I'm all up for sharin'. It was just a bullet wound. Nothing big."

The boy's eyes widened. "A bullet wound? How old even are you?" he gasped.

"13, bro," Gamzee laughed. "Now you go on and tell me what's up."

The boy looked down at the ground. "Well, first of all I'm 12, today's my birthday," he said, then looked up at Gamzee. Hesitant, he asked, "What's your name?"

Gamzee smiled. "Gamzee Makara. You?"

The boy looked away shyly. "Karkat... Vantas..." he mumbled.

Gamzee laughed, patting Karkat on the back. "It sucks you gotta be in the hospital all up on your birthday. Well then, Karkat, it's great to meet someone who doesn't think of me as a freak."

Karkat looked up at Gamzee with one of his rare smiles. It was small, and sweet. "Same here, Gamzee."

~Flashback End~

They looked into each others faces, by the way Gamzee's shoulder had stiffened, and Karkat's fingers lie on his scar, they both knew they were remembering the same thing.

"You're my best friend, Gamzee. I never would have spoken to you if you hadn't come over…" Karkat said in a hushed tone, trailing off at the end. Gamzee nodded, and their pizza came, placed in between the two of them. The waiter quickly rushed away.

"You were sad, and scared man," he said quietly.

"You were too, Gamzee."

"We were both scared then, and both sad. We were both freaks in a place where we didn't understand how to act. Maybe it was chance, but I think it was a motherfuckin' miracle of fate I met you, best friend." Gamzee smiled widely, and let out a soft honk. They both piled their plates high with the steaming, cheesy mess of pizza, and gorged themselves on the greasy, yet delicious food.

Thursday came quicker than anyone had expected. It seemed like Karkat had just dozed off, belly fully of pizza, when his alarm clock blared, making him crash to the floor again. He really needed to adjust how he slept. He groggily stumbled to his feet, shutting off the loud music that was his alarm. He turned on a lamp, illuminating the small room. He scratched his bare stomach, and yawned.

"I really don't want to go to school today," he grumbled as he changed from crumpled boxers to his uniform and jeans. He tied his tie quickly, pulling it straight, and tight. The red was a striking contrast from the black button down he preferred over the white most students wore. Hell, most students broke the dress code more often then they forgot their homework.

Karkat walked out to find Gamzee putting peanut butter and Nutella on toast. Karkat stopped in his tracks.

"Gamzee, what the fuck?"

"Hey, best friend. I thought I'd make breakfast for a change," the tall boy explained, still concentrating on the placement of the hazelnut spread. All Karkat could do was stare at Gamzee, surprised that he was even awake. He usually woke up after Karkat had left for the school, as he liked to take the longer route.

Gamzee's hair was curly, long, and messy, and fell all around his face as he put the toast on plates along with strawberries. His indigo eyes were unnatural, but sparkled with kindness. His skin had golden undertones, giving him a slightly tanned appearance, which only enhanced those round blue eyes.

Karkat sat down and bit into a piece of the warm toast. He licked the gooey peanut butter from his lips, and nodded in approval. "It's really good, Gamzee. Thanks." Gamzee honked and smiled. They ate their breakfast with little conversation, just casual chat about their classes.

They left for school together that morning, bags slung over bodies, and hands shoved deep in pockets. The late October air was crisp, and leaves were beginning to turn vibrant shades or red, yellow, and orange. Karkat inhaled deeply, enjoying the early morning scents. Gamzee observed his best friend's actions, noting the hand resting on his messenger bag, and the other deep in the left front pocket of his pants.

Although short, Karkat took long, quick steps, he few stray leaves crunched under his feet. He loved mornings, but hated nights. He had been plagued by nightmares for a long time, causing him to get little sleep. And whatever rest he did get was far from sufficient. He liked the way the Earth looked as it woke up, damp with dew, and soft with the rising sun. His eyes were constantly searching the environment. The walk to school was short, but relaxing.

John waited by his locker for Karkat, and smiled his welcoming smile when he approached.

"The school is throwing a huge costume party for Halloween!" John exclaimed, obvious excitement brewing inside him.

"Really? Sounds lame," Karkat said smirking, causing John's face to fall. "I'm just kidding, dumbass, it sounds cool. What are you going as?"

"I'm asking Kanaya to make my costume, she's an excellent seamstress. I want to be a magician for the party, what about you?"

"Fuck if I know. I should be a fucking giraffe," Karkat chuckled, thinking of his favorite animal.

"Karkat, you're too short to be a giraffe! Gamzee could be a giraffe!" John teased, and Karkat punched his arm, making a face at him.

"Clown ass will be a clown. There has not been a single year that Gamzee was not a fucking clown. He can ride a unicycle! Did you know that?" Karkat asked, walking with John to his classroom.

"I didn't have a clue. That's crazy! You should brainstorm with Kanaya for your costume, you could always be my lovely assistant," John teased, elbowing Karkat affectionately. Karkat stuck out his tongue between his pearly white teeth.

They broke away from each other, and Karkat slipped into Roxy's class trying to fight back a stupid grin. He sat down, got out his homework, and spent the rest of class thinking about costumes.

In gym, he chatted with Kanaya, Dave, and John.

"I'm going as a roman soldier. Leather skirts for maximum irony," Dave said, sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Rose and I are going as vampires. John's going to be a magician. How about you Karkat?" Kanaya asked, smiling, and displaying vampiric canine teeth that nobody seemed to notice.

"I have no fucking idea yet, to be completely honest," Karkat said shrugging.

"My assistant position is always available," John teased yet again, causing a playful glare from Karkat.

"Maybe I'll just wear a suit and bring my violin, I could say I was a musician, or some shit like that," he finally said, rubbing his bare knee awkwardly.

"Alright, dorks, we're playing dodgeball again today," Dirk called, picking out Karkat and another boy as team leaders. Karkat swept up Kanaya, Dave, and John for his team, before choosing others to make the 20-20 split.

Kanaya and Karkat smirked at each other, knowing they'd win again. They scooped up their weapons when the whistle chirped, dodging, diving, dipping, ducking, and dodging some more while throwing the colored foam spheres.

Nobody noticed that Dirk had brought out his flamingo until J-pop began blasting through the gym again. It sounded like one of the vocaloid covers, probably Len Kagami. Dirk sang to the flamingo again as "Gee" bounced around the walls. It was a spectacle to see, as Dave pushed his head into his hands at his brother's flamingo serenade.

Kanaya and Karkat ended up winning, and somehow John managed to never get hit. Once the bell sounded, signaling the end of Gym, the day flew by in a flash of lectures, cheetos, and bad school food. The school seemed to be getting more tolerable, and Karkat found himself almost enjoying it.