I'm sorry, again...for being kind of late and this chapter may not be that great...O:
I've been feeling a little down lately, and also I'm working on cosplay so I've been sort of burned out, but I'll try to update a little more often! I think this story will be ending in the next five or so chapters, even though I really don't want it to!
John stared blankly at the strange yellow and red doll Tavros had left him for entertainment. He wasn't a girl for goodness sake! But it was pretty nice of the troll to think of him enough to want to ease his boredom. He tilted his head as he stared at the doll's adorable button eyes and couldn't help but smile a bit. He sort of missed Karkat's angry shenanigans.
He also wanted to ask Karkat about the whole kissemisin...or whatever the heck it was called. He tried to ask Tavros and Gamzee, but only received vague answers.
"You mean uh, a Kismesis?" Tavros chuckled as he watched John happily drink his cold bottle of water. John nodded for him to go on. "Who asked you to be their Kismesis?" the chipper troll asked curiously, leaning in close so he wouldn't miss anything John said.
"Well. He kind of just said it more than asked it," John shrugged. "But Karkat said 'I think we're going to have a good Kismesis' I'm paraphrasing of course."
Tavros and Gamzee looked at each other, both grinning like madmen (Well, Gamzee more than usual, at least). "I, uh, I didn't know you felt like that for Karkat!" Tavros said happily, perking a bit in his four-wheeled device, or, er, wheelchair.
"Feel like what?" John asked, blinking.
Gamzee put his arm around Tavros and sighed airily. "Our lil motherfucker's growin' up Tavbro."
"Finally," Tavros laughed, clapping.
John rubbed his temples, sensing he'd get nowhere with the two most oblivious trolls of the bunch and decided to wait until Karkat came back.
Even now, John was wondering what they could have been talking about. He didn't like Karkat if that's what they were insinuating. But at the same time he didn't exactly hate him. They also couldn't really be friends though, but then again they weren't not friends.
"Argh!" John mussed his hair, groaning in frustration. He couldn't even really put it into words. Maybe if Karkat wasn't his abductor and wasn't an alien they actually could be friends. He was amusing enough at least. Maybe that was all he needed to not be so angry all the time. He just needed a good friend.
John smiled to himself. Yes, this plan was perfection. He had all the good plans. All of them. As soon as Karkat got back he would declare their newfound friendship!
"John?"
John looked up from his victorious pose. He must not have heard Karkat enter through his incredible awesomeness; Dave would be proud. "What's a Kismenis...es?" he asked almost too fast.
Karkat quirked and eyebrow. "Kismesis?"
"Yeah that thing you said!" John said, pressing his face against the bars.
Karkat blushed. "I..." he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck, blushing. "I-I mean...I was kind of...you know, in the moment. And I may have jumped to conclusions too quickly."
"I don't even know!" John sighed exasperatedly, throwing his arms up. "What does it even mean?"
Karkat set his bags down, rubbing his eyelids as he thought of a good way to explain it. "I just sort of thought...I mean you always looked at me with those hateful curious eyes, and-"
"Do you like me?" John gasped, clapping his hands on his cheeks in feigned shock; his completely and totally awesome analytical mind already deducted the answer before! He was almost as cool as Dave probably, but most likely not.
Karkat eyed him. "You are such a fuckass. Don't you have Kismesissitude on your planet?"
"No," John murmured. "I don't think so."
Karkat twitched a little bit, strangling the air angrily. "Well fucking damn I can't explain every little fucking thing to you!" he snapped. "So maybe I did feel a little black! Maybe I was completely fucking flushed! Who cares, you're just a test fucking dummy!"
John sank back a little bit. "That really hurts, Karkat. I wanted us to be friends," he murmured, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face.
Karkat froze for a moment before he turned around. "You want to...enter the diamond quadrant with me? Just like that?" he asked. "I mean even after I presented Kismesissitude to you?"
"Well I did! But you're mean," John pouted, turning around. Of course he still wanted to, but now Karkat would have to work for it.
John didn't hear Karkat so much as breathe for several moments. But the shuffling of bags caught his attention and he looked over his shoulder curiously. He noticed Karkat enter a disc into one of the bigger computers and then adjust a wall-screen so it was facing John's cage.
John turned back around, pouting comically so Karkat wouldn't catch his curiosity. He heard more shuffling of bags and then felt something soft against his back. He turned and looked down.
"Liv Taylor!" John squealed, taking the bunny and holding it tight. "Oh my god, you got her for me?" he asked, staring at Karkat with admiration.
"Just to fucking get you to shut up about your shitty human stuff," Karkat murmured, looking away.
John wiggled his arms through the bars and pulled Karkat into a hug, closing his eyes tightly. "Thank you so much."
Karkat thought to push the human away, but decided against it and simply didn't return the hug. "Whatever fuckass." Once John's arms loosened, Karkat slipped away from them. He couldn't help but feel a bit reluctant because John's embrace was warm and inviting. He couldn't remember ever being held like that by anyone, really. Not even his Lusus when he was alive.
Karkat pushed a button on the computer and the menu for Con Air immediately popped up. He sneered a bit when John perked up and tried to move as close to the screen as he possibly could in the cage. "Happy Perigee's Eve...er...Eve," the troll murmured. The real Perigee's Eve would be tomorrow, but Karkat must have had plans, John thought.
Karkat grabbed the remaining bags and some more books and files and began to leave.
"Wait, Karkat," John said, holding Liv Taylor and Nic Cage (the doll he'd received from Tavros) close, drawing courage from their fluffiness. "Maybe I can come and keep you company? I don't want you to be alone on a holiday. And we can watch movies and stuff together! It'll be a lot of fun, don't you think?"
Karkat snorted. "I'm not fucking stupid. You'll just try to escape as soon as I take you out of the lab.
"Where will I go?" John asked.
Karkat thought for a moment. "I can't trust you."
"Take me on a leash like when I go to use the restroom," John suggested.
"That's stupid. I'll get fucking stared at like some kind of freak if I go walking around with a pet alien," Karkat replied with a scoff.
"You can show me your Troll Romcom's and prove they're better than my human 80's action flicks," John said, nodding vigorously.
Karkat's fingers inched towards John's black collar. "Well I guess a few days couldn't fucking hurt," he said, though grimaced a bit at his inevitably bad decision.
He went back to John's cage, letting him out. John stretched and let out a happy sigh. It felt good to stretch his tense muscles. He felt like he'd been put into a trash compactor or something equally as compressing.
The collar was fastened onto John's neck and after shutting everything down and replacing Con Air in its case, Karkat led John out of the lab.
John was beyond excited. He'd never had so much of a glance outside the lab, so everything in this planet would be entirely new to him. He wondered how different and exciting it was.
John's first instinct when he got outside was to run and explore, but the first lunge that he expected to turn into a sprint left him laying on his back and choking.
Karkat rolled his eyes. "Are you fucking stupid or something?" he asked, loosening John's collar a bit. "You're like a fucking wild animal."
John rubbed his neck, frowning. "Sorry, I got a little over excited."
"What the fuck ever," Karkat sighed, pulling him along as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I have some errands to run so be quiet and don't even look at anyone. We don't need any unnecessary attention."
John nodded obediently, grinning widely as Karkat led him onwards.
