This was the cliché among clichés, Karkat knew it. The person he had considered as only his 'online friend' turned out to be the stupid guy he kind of hated at school. He could name at least 10 shitty romcoms with that same argument without thinking too much about it -he'd seen way too many of those things.
And yet, it didn't feel surreal or forced. Actually, the moment they realized this, everything fell into place inside his head. Things started making more sense. It felt as though he'd walked out of a room filled with smoke, and now he could look at the sky and the surroundings much more easily. He could breath in and exclaim "ahh, this is fucking great".
"What is?", he heard his friend asking from the side. Oh, had he said that out loud? Fuck. Karkat shook his head, and turned to look at John Egbert, sitting next to him in that Starbucks.
"Nothing, just a stupid thought. What were you saying?", he dismissed his previous comment with a swing of the hand, and tried to urge Egbert to go on. But he could feel his ears getting red. FUCK. The other simply shrugged, and continued. Thank god you're so dense.
"Well, that's basically it, really. I see you've read ahead of our classes, so I think you didn't really miss anything this week. I'll lend you my notes so you can copy them if you want". Karkat nodded, and took the notebooks with care.
It was a Monday afternoon, and the first day after a week of unassistance that Karkat had attended University. Thankfully, as John had stated, he had always made sure to be slightly ahead of the rest of the class -not out of arrogance or anything like that. He just loved his career with a burning passion, and he knew it wasn't as easy for him as it was for geniuses like Egbutt. He needed an advantage if he wanted to stay on top.
"Why the hell are you so good at everything anyways?", the crabby teen asked, almost pouting, as he sipped on his chocolate frappucino. The other looked at the beverage with seemingly amused eyes, but said nothing when questioned about it by the other's glare.
"I'm not good at EVERYTHING. I'd say ALMOST everything", John snickered, sipping on his own latte. Karkat had been surprised when he ordered that; he always thought he looked like the kind to order strawberry frappucinos, or something stupid like that. "I've just always loved science, so I'm more used to studying it".
"Oh? So did you always know you wanted to be a biologist?", Karkat asked, raising his eyebrows. It was funny, because they'd always talked about many things on pesterchum, but never about their dreams and ambitions.
John laughed cheerfully, and shook his head. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a ghostbuster!", Karkat cringed, and facepalmed. "Either that, or an expert on the supernatural. You know, the guy they go to when they film a documentary on aliens, or mysterious poltergeist appearances", with that he continued laughing for a little longer. He didn't seem embarrassed at all. "In time, I figured that if I couldn't approach the unknown, I could at least get to know our reality as well as I could".
Karkat chuckled, and shrugged, "I guess that would make sense for an idiot like you".
They walked out of the place with John laughing cheerfully, and Karkat looking cranky. But there was a certain joy to that crankiness. Something only people like John Egbert could notice easily.
"Oh, but we don't have all classes together", John seemed to realize that after a few minutes of walking by the park. He insisted on Karkat joining him for a walk, 'you need to take in some sun rays or you'll turn gray!', he had whined, much to Vantas' annoyance. "Why do we have different classes anyways? We're both on the second year of the same career, right?".
"Because, fuckass, I want to sepcialize in genetics. So I'm taking special courses and extra classes and shit like that", Karkat answered, shrugging it off like it didn't eat up necessary hours of his life, or bury him in extra work, or as if it wasn't the reason his eyebags were a very special shade of black. John didn't comment on it either, although he did look at him with silent admiration for a while.
"Right. Sollux told me he's seen you in some of his classes. Maybe you could ask him for his notes in that case?", he proposed, his grin shinning more than the sun at the prospect of introducing him to one of his best friends.
"Who-? Oh, the lisp idiot".
They walked for a while longer after John promised he'd introduce him to Sollux some other time. Not like Karkat really cared; the guy seemed like an asshole from the little he'd observed him in the few classes they shared together. Too full of himself, too confident in his code writing abilities. Granted, the guy was pretty good at it, but that only pissed Karkat even more, because of how much he SUCKED at it, no matter how hard he tried.
He was going over all of this inside his head when he realized John wasn't walking aimlessly anymore, but was rather leading him somewhere.
"Where are we going?", he asked curiously, annoyance tinting his voice. He kind of wanted to be home right now.
"There's someone I want you to meet. I think you'll like them", John answered cheerfully, almost humming from happiness. Karkat observed him with a scowl plastered on his face, but decided not to question it.
It wasn't long after they arrived to a tall and new-looking building. They were pretty close from his work, now that he thought about it. He was really thankful with Porrim for not killing him after missing a whole week of work, and for giving him another free week so he could catch up with university. He was convinced they'd fire him this time.
John took a set of keys out of his right pocket, and entered the building. "Oh, so this is where you live?", Karkat asked, after reaching a perfectly plausible conclusion.
"Hm? Oh, no, no", John shook his head, gigggling, "this is my best bro's place. I come here so often, they gave me a key so they don't have to open the door for me every time", he explained, as they walked inside an elevator, and went up to the last floor.
"Yo", a low and slightly accented voice greeted them from behind the couch that rested a few feet from the door. The windows were closed, giving the place a claustrophibic feeling; it wasn't the cleanest appartment Karkat had seen in his life either, although someone with the kind of messiness he had in his room had no right to complain about it. There were pizza boxes here and there, and old apple juice boxes resting on tables, long forgotten. The big-ass flat TV showed an assassin running over rooftops and looking for a target, controlled by the ball of platinum-blond hair, which was the only part on their host that was visible at the moment. It was evident that the apartment was big, as the living room was probably more spacious that Karkat's own house.
"Hey Dave!", John greeted cheerfully. Oh, so he didn't have that cheerie and happy tone only when greeting Karkat. The blond nodded slightly to the side, "'sup", and he somehow managed to rub Karkat the wrong way. Although, to be fair, most people rubbed Karkat the wrong way.
He hadn't turned to even look at them, and yet, "who's the new dude?".
Karkat jolted a little, and John threw him a look that the shorter read as 'cool as heck, huh?'. In turn, his face denoted disgust as annoyance. John giggled, and closed the door behind him, urging the brunet to walk in. They walked around the couch, and 'Dave' paused the game, and turned his head to look at them.
The first thing Karkat noticed were, of course, his aviator shades. Why wear those inside, in such a dark eviroment? He then studied his slightly tanned skin, the freckles adorning his nose and what was visible of his cheeks. Then, his skillfully stylized hair; that color was probably the reason the words "platinum" and "blonde" were ever put together. It was the perfect definition for it. Then his mouth caught his eye; did he always maintain such a plain expression? His shoulders were broad and he was muscular, but not so much; over all, he was easy on the eye. He was wearing a white t-shirt, with red collar and sleeves that ended right after his elbows, and a with a broken record stamped on his chest.
He had probably spent a little too long studying him, because after a few seconds the blond smirked, the more annoying, stupid, nerve-wrecking smirk on the face of earth, "what? Fell for me already?".
He could already tell he hated this guy's guts.
A/N: Well... That took longer than I expected. I'm so sorry about the wait!
I no longer know where this is going, but I'm continuing because there are still some things I want there to happen. And writing these characters is a lot of fun. I think Karkat's voice wasn't very good this chapter. Hopefully it'll get better.
I started this not wanting to make any couples with the main characters, but... I'm tempted !
THANK YOU for all the reviews and follows and favs and everything! It's amazing to have such supporting people.
I don't know Homestuck nor its characters.
