ITS FUCKING DONE OH MY GOD. I have been sitting on this chapter FOR MONTHS IM SORRY. I AM SO SORRY. this was really cute and fun to write though and I'm pretty happy with it u ENJOY!
It was a perfect day to forget about everything. It was cold but the sun was out, promising a wonderful day at the fair.
"Gamzee, hurry up!" Damn, that guy sure was taking his good sweet time.
He skidded over to me, looking around the flat wildly. "Man, do you know where my sponges went? The monsters went an' escaped from my bag."
"Last time I checked, they were in the bathroom cabinet. I put them there after you left the stupid things in the fridge." I scowled, shifting impatiently.
He laughed and went to retrieve the absorbing devices.
"I'm leaving, slow poke!" The door swung shut behind me with a click.
Since the carnival was so close to us, Gamzee had suggested that we walk over together. It was a great idea until he remembered that he had lost his spare painting supplies which resulted in a mad scramble to a party store earlier this morning.
I was halfway down the street when he finally caught up.
"Got everything?"
"Sure do, motherfucker."
"Lock the apartment?"
"...I'll be back real quick."
I rolled my eyes and grinned. What an idiot.
By now we were near enough to hear the music and laughter. The smells of popcorn, cotton candy, and funnel cakes swirled into a nostalgic and slightly nauseating mix. And rising above it all was the ferris wheel. God, I hadn't been on one of those in a long time. I stopped to take it all in.
As Borimir once said:
"Remember today, little brother. Today, life is good."
Gamzee stood beside me. "World sure is beautiful today," he commented serenely.
"...Yeah. It really is."
"Karkat!" Sollux walked up to us. "Whatcha staring at?"
"Nothing," I smiled.
"Woah, Karkat Vantas is smiling?" He did a mock double-take. "Get out the cameras!"
I punched his shoulder. "Hush!"
"Mister Appleberry Blast!" A voice loudly exclaimed from behind us.
"You never told me that your friend smelled so delicious!"
Suddenly, I felt something on the side of my jaw-oh sweet jesus was that a tongue?
"What the fu-" I spun away to face my attacker.
It was a girl, dressed in an atrocious combination of red and teal. She laughed-no, cackled-and hooked her arm around Sollux's.
"Terezi, don't lick people," Sollux reprimanded, as if talking to a dog.
"But he smells so scrumptiously candy red!" Terezi protested and grinned a smile that showed way too many teeth.
"What the blabbering fuck are you going on about?" I broke in. "I'm pretty sure I don't smell like a goddamn color."
"'Pretty sure' doesn't mean positive, Mr. Vantas!" She sung. "The court has found you guilty and you will be locked up for having such a tempting fragrance."
"What?" The heck was she going on about?"
Sollux snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Tz, stop freaking KK out, please."
Yes, that would be very nice.
"Karkat," Sollux said, addressing me. "This is Terezi. Terezi, this is Karkat."
Terezi started chattering away about how exciting all of this was and how great it was to hang out with everyone- yada, yada, yada.
What was this girl smoking?
"Well isn't that dandy, we're all acquainted now." I couldn't believe the words had come out of my mouth. Mortification shot through me as Sollux gave me a funny look. I wanted to sink into the ground.
"Uh. I'll be right, um, back."
I hurried in the direction I thought Gamzee had gone. Oh my God how did that happen? The words had just flown out of my mouth and I really hoped she didn't notice. Panicked thoughts ricocheted through my brain as I walked.
I found Gamzee already painting faces near the ice cream truck.
"Hey man." I sat down on the grass and leaned back against his stool.
"Hey," he replied absently, not taking his eyes away from the tiger face he was painting on a little girl.
I watched all the people running around and yelling while I waited. When the last kid hopped off the chair and skipped away, a finger poked my face.
"Thanks for waiting, best friend."
I nodded. "How's it coming along?"
"Pretty fine, pretty fine." He took a long drink from a water bottle and patted the seat in front of him.
"You're not going to paint my face, are you?" I eyed his paints warily as I sat down.
"Sure am." He clipped my hair out of my face and started sponging on paint. Oh, whatever.
"So where's your friend at?" His question derailed my train of thought and I winced. He clucked and wiped the paint off my ear.
"Uh. Over there, actually." Sollux and Terezi were slowly making their way towards us. What should I do?
"What happened?" Gamzee's eyes locked onto mine, demanding an answer. I looked away.
"Why would you presume something happened," I mumbled.
He coolly raised a painted eyebrow. Damn, this guy could go from cloud nine to a one man inquisition squad in two seconds. He put the sponge down.
"Karkat, man, I know when a brother is in distress. And you, my brother, are most certainly straight up distressed. Why won't you confide in a motherfucker?" He picked up a paintbrush and kept painting.
I fidgeted again and he made a hissing noise. I froze, not daring to move again. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sollux and Terezi getting closer.
"I said some stupid stuff," I admitted.
"Was that so hard to say?" Well, considering that-
"You know what's all to be done, right?" He swirled the brush around in a cup of water and I watched as it slowly turned black.
"Yeah," I sighed. I'm so stupid, this turned into such a big deal and-
"Don't worry yourself," Gamzee said, unclipping my hair and smiling.
I hopped off the stool and went over to Sollux. I motioned to Terezi for her to keep going.
"Could you give us a moment, 'Rezi? Gamzee's straight ahead." Sollux nudged her in the right direction and she nodded her head. I'm not even going to try to understand that.
Sollux turned back to me and raised an eyebrow. Woah, that was hot-mind out of the gutter, Karkat!
I took a breath to calm the nervous feeling in my stomach and looked up to where I thought his eyes were. I mean, it was pretty hard to see them behind his glasses.
"I'm sorry for being a dick. I was rude and it was dumb and...I'm just really sorry."
Sollux just wrapped his bony arms around my shoulders and pulled me to him, squashing my face into his chest.
"Are we still friends?" I asked quietly.
"Hmm," he sighed and perched his chin on my head. "I dunno. After all, you're getting paint all over my shirt..."
I scrunched up my nose and pinched him. "You're such a douchecanoe."
"Of course we're still friends, you twit. Thanks, though. I appreciate it."
Gamzee was finishing the swirls on Terezi's face as we walked up.
"Are we all miracle brothers now?" I rolled my eyes.
"Always were, motherfucker." Gamzee winked. It occurred to me that I don't appreciate him as much as I should.
Terezi poked Sollux. "Can you get me some icecream?"
"Yeah sure." Alright. There was definitely something going on here.
Terezi's hands slowly went to her bag, as if she didn't expect it to be there. She kept looking straight ahead as her fingers fumbled at the zipper.
Sollux batted them aside and unzipped the purse. He fished out a wallet.
"Anyone else want anything?"
Gamzee and I shook our heads. Another kid came up to Gamzee so I sat on the brick wall overlooking the midway.
A sudden burst of delighted screams echoed from across the grouds. Oh joy, they got the Eagle working. It was one of those ninety degree drop rides that kids would ride until they threw up.
"Karkat?" Terezi sounded almost scared.
I watched a kid knock down milk bottles with a baseball.
"What?" I heard the leaves scuffle behind me. When she didn't answer, I turned around just as her foot got caught on a large tree root.
She screamed as she fell, one arm stretched out awkwardly to catch herself. She hit the ground with a thump and didn't move.
"Woah, shit!" I crawled over to her limp form. Terezi whimpered and curled away from me.
"Shit," she sniffed. Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-was she crying? Why was she crying?
"Where are my glasses?" Her hand was feeling around on the ground next to her, smearing the grass with blood.
"You're bleeding!" I exclaimed. Why was I always around bleeding people?
I shot Gamzee a pleading look but he wasn't paying attention.
"I thought I could do it," Terezi cried. "Where are my damn glasses?" Her nails tore at the dirt frantically.
I silently plucked them from the leaves and put them in her hand. She sat up and jammed them onto her face. "I'm-," she hiccuped.
"I'm blind."
Son of a gerbil-fucking whore.
"I d-didn't want to use my cane today. It makes me feel like a freak."
In a situation like this, what are you supposed to say? Guilt and pity washed over me. The way I acted...And she was fucking blind.
"I thought I could pretend to be normal for one day. But it's too much! The sounds and smells are all too much for me."
"I-" My voice was small and unsure as searched for words. What should I say?
"Blindness has always been a part of me. I accept it but..."
"You're so brave," I blurted out and she froze.
Feeling embarrassed, I rushed on. "I mean, I would never be able to do something like that. I would stay in familiar places. Putting yourself out like this, it's incredible-you're incredible."
She swallowed and smiled a little. Her sniffles died down and she took a calming breath.
"Thank you," she whispered. "That was really kind, Karkat."
"Any day," I replied and was surprised that I meant it. "Gimme your arm." I searched Gamzee's bag for a band-aid. When she hesitated, I realized my mistake. "The left one," I clarified.
Poop. This was going to take some getting used to. Let's hope I don't say anything too offensive. After wiping off the dirt and putting a Tweety Bird band-aid on the cut. Her hand caught mine and squeezed it.
I suddenly found it very hard to breathe and my blood pounded in my ears. Chill out, it's friendly and she doesn't mean anything by it. I mean, she is pretty but I'm trying to start a relationship with Sollux and anyway he's her best friend so it isn't like she'd screw him over like that.
"He doesn't have to know," a little voice in my head whispered.
No no no no no. Shacking up with his best friend is not going to win me any points. And he would probably stop talking to me and it would be a huge clusterfuck.
"Go fuck yourself," I hissed at the voice. Terezi stiffened and pulled away.
"Aah, shit! Did I say that out loud? I wasn't talking to you!" I was flapping my hands frantically until I remembered that she couldn't see them.
Terezi giggled and a shadow fell over us.
"Having fun, kids?" Sollux was holding two ice-creams. "'Rezi, you're covered in dirt!"
She wiped her face with her sleeve and giggled again. She cleared her throat and smiled that shark-tooth smile. "I'm fine!"
I sighed. Disaster mostly averted.
The carnival had so many things to do and sights to see. We ate cotton candy and played dumb kid games. Inexplicably, Terezi beat us every time at the shooting range.
"It's because I'll be a police officer one day, dummy!" She declared as the guy handed her a stuffed dragon.
It was unanimously decided that the fun house should be next.
"How long have you two been friends?" I asked him as we wandered through the fun house. Terezi had charged ahead with a group of small children.
"Most of my life. We've know each other for as long as I can remember."
We passed a wall of mirrors and a ball pit. I squashed the urge to jump in headfirst.
"Why didn't you tell me she was blind?" Kinda important, don't ya think?
He shrugged. "I guess it isn't that huge of a thing for me and it slipped my mind."
A fake clown popped out of the wall, interrupting our conversation.
"Fuck!" I screeched and stumbled, landing ungracefully on my butt.
It took me more than a couple of seconds to get my ridiculous heart rate back under control and to start breathing again.
I picked myself up, trying to pretend nothing had happened, and ignored Sollux's howls of laughter.
"Go drown yourself, Captor," I huffed and went in search of an exit. Well, there goes all of my street cred; first the movies and now this. Holy balls, that was embarrassing. And it hurt.
I hid outside the end of the fun house and waited.
"Hey, KK, where did you go?"
I grabbed his ankle and tugged, whooping with triumph as he practically somersaulted forward.
"Terezi, c'mon!" I grabbed her hand and ran away as fast as I could while laughing.
"You little bitch!" He scrambled to his feet and launched himself after us.
A rather unsettling thought hit me as we raced past rides and food stands. Terezi was putting an awful lot of trust in me to be running like this...
"Karkat, if I run into a tree, I'm sending you the medical bill!" Terezi yelled, as if she had read my mind.
I hid Terezi behind a bush and peered around, looking for Sollux.
Cold hands suddenly covered my eyes and I felt breath by my ear.
"Gotcha." He blew into my ear, making me snort and elbow him lightly.
"Stop! That tickles!"
Sollux uncovered my eyes and instead wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me to him. He nuzzled my hair and I froze. What if someone saw? They would stare and-
Hush. Who the fuck cares what those asspirates think?
I exhaled and let my head flop back against his chest.
Terezi, still behind the bush, cleared her throat. "Perhaps you could continue that after we acquire refreshments?"
I realized how dry my throat was and agreed. After that, we went back to walking around.
A bright sign caught my eye and I stopped.
"Ooh, a petting zoo! We should go!"
"With all those smelly animals?" Terezi stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Eww no thanks."
"You could meet up with us later," Sollux suggested.
"Aha! This is all just a ruse so you two can go off and have sloppy makeouts!"
I choked on my lemonade and began to cough. Christ on a shish-kebab. The woman had no shame.
"Very well! I'll find you later!" She swaggered off in a tree root-free direction, looking very not-blind.
"Does she know where she's going?" I asked Sollux when I could talk.
"No clue. Now let me guess: you want to go see the ponies."
"Of course not," I scoffed. "I want to go pet the bunnies."
The bunnies were adorable, of course.
"Excuse me?" A girl waved at us from the other side of the table. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you two together? Like, dating together?"
"Uh-" That was actually a good question. Were we?
"Yeah," Sollux cut in. "We are."
A warm feeling spread through my chest.
"That is so cute!" She squealed.
"Are we really that obvious?" I muttered after she'd gone.
"Dude, you're fruitier than a poptart," Sollux said as he nudged me in the ribs.
"Rude," I retorted.
"Princess."
"Jerk."
"Wuss."
"You're such an ass."
"Your affection has me swooning, KK."
I rolled my eyes but smiled as I turned away. I looked at the horizon and saw the sun setting.
"That means the ferris wheel will be lit up!" I almost bounced in excitement.
"C'mon!" I grabbed Sollux's arm and practically ran out of the tent.
"What's the big rush?"
"It's a ferris wheel, that's what. And you'll see," I answered and grinned.
By the time we made it across the fair, it was almost completely dark. Neon lights flared to life as all the rides lit up.
I stopped to take in the view. The huge wheel was decorated with so many lights it hurt to look at it for too long.
"Whatever floats your boat I guess." He shrugged as we got in line.
The short bench was barely able to fit both of us but it wasn't too uncomfortable. And besides, Sollux was warm and smelled nice.
The machinery squealed and jerked a bit before moving. My insides fluttered with anticipation as we slowly went higher. And then we were over the tree tops and I could see stars twinkling in the sky. This is it.
I turned towards Sollux and pressed my lips against his. In my mind, fireworks were going off. It was soft and sweet, and when I pulled away, there was a huge dorky smile on my face.
"Kissing on a ferris wheel?"
I looked at Sollux and saw that he was smiling too.
"The romanticist in me never sleeps."
"Not that I mind."
