Sorry for the wait. As always, alert me of any mistakes, and I do not own Homestuck!

-shadowyLearner~


Terezi and John visited Vriska several times after that. Sometimes they dragged Karkat up with them, but not always. When they weren't at the hospital, they were usually discussing how to break it to Vriska that Aradia visited her house. Sometimes they talked at Vriska's, other times at Karkat's. Terezi didn't know if John had a preference between the two, but she did – Vriska's.

At her house, which John continued to live in, there was no one to bother them – not even Aradia, whose location remained unknown. It was quiet, much quieter than at Karkat's, since the boy was obviously annoyed with John's visits; it wouldn't make as much of a difference if he tried to contribute, which he didn't.

About a month later, they still hadn't come up with anyone constructive, and both of them were getting frustrated. They had to tell her soon. If Vriska found out they had kept Aradia's presence a secret from her for a month, there would be hell to pay, and waiting even longer would only make their punishments worse.

Terezi was sitting in one of the chairs in Karkat's living room. By now she had memorized most of the house's layout, although she still had some difficulty getting up the stairs on her own. She always thought there was an extra step and stumbled at the top, which rightfully resulted in her not being allowed to ascend or descend the stairs without someone there to assist her.

She spent most of her time debating ideas, although she sometimes listened to music. On these days, Terezi might turn on an old radio of Karkat's that still worked or, after fumbling around trying to hit the right buttons, manage to tune into the music stations on the television.

Terezi had woken with a headache, and she had chosen to use the television; Karkat was out, so she didn't have to worry about the volume, as long as it didn't get too loud. Karkat, as she had found out, was by no means a lover of music. He wasn't even a liker of music, and he listened to it as rarely as he could, which was almost never.

In the chair, she laid her head back and relaxed, even curling up a little. She liked this song, although she wasn't sure what the name of it was, or who it was by. The girl hoped John didn't come by and cut the ending off; she really wanted to listen to it.

It started off with a somber introduction, originally deterring her from the song, and it only went down from there – for a while, anyway, until a couple of minutes in, when it gained volume (she had to turn it down) and the words' message changed from despair to joy. As silly as it seemed, she felt her own spirits rise.

Judging from the lyrics, it was most likely a Christian song, but she didn't care – it was too positive for her to. She felt a smile find its way onto her face, and a feeling of light drowsiness accompanied it. It wouldn't hurt to fall asleep for a while, would it?

However, just as she was falling asleep, another song came on, and its introduction startled her. What came on after it was pretty quiet, and she ended up dozing off.

"Terezi! Tereziiii! Time to wake up!"

Terezi blinked open her eyes, although this made no difference in her sight.

"Huh?" she asked, confused and trying to get the person to talk more.

"You were asleep, so I thought I'd wake you up."

John. Wasn't Karkat back yet?

"Oh, right." A yawn cut off her last word, and she attempted to hide it with her hand. It was too late. "What time did you get here?"

"Just a couple of minutes ago."

"Why did you wake me up?" Terezi felt like she had left her own body and was coming back after a long stay away.

John opened his mouth to answer, but a loud creak signaled that the front door was opening.

"What a surprise," said Karkat's sarcastic voice.

"Oh, hey, Karkat!" John greeted.

"What took you so long?" Terezi asked. She guessed she had been asleep for a while, and she noticed that the television was no longer on. She assumed John had turned it off before waking her up.

"I had errands to run," Karkat defended. "I can't afford to stay at home doing nothing."

Terezi bit her lip, trying to keep herself from yelling. She was blind! What was she supposed to do? Go out and get herself killed?

"Oh, and some" – Karkat paused before continuing – "friends of mine are coming over on Thursday. Terezi, you can stay or you go with someone else, I just don't want you here." Assumedly, he meant John when he said "you."

"Okay, okay!" John's voice rose a bit, but it quickly went back to its normal pitch. "Well, what do you want to do?"

Terezi assumed John was asking her. "Well, Karkat, what are these friends like?" There was no reply, and she asked again, louder, "What are these friends like?"

"What?" Karkat was most definitely no longer in the room. Funny, Terezi thought, that such a loud-mouthed boy couldn't hear her from the next room over. She opened her mouth to repeat herself again, but John said it for her.

"She said 'what are these friends like'! Can't you hear?"

Surprisingly, Karkat didn't retort with anything, and instead he answered Terezi's question. "Well, they're all a bunch of shitheads-"

"Just like you are," she retorted quietly.

"– But I can – what was that?" Maybe Karkat had better hearing than she thought.

"Nothing. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that they're all a bunch of little shits, but I tolerate them." Karkat's voice was getting nearer, and Terezi assumed he was coming back into the room.

"Aren't you friendly?" John said sarcastically.

"You don't even have any friends," Karkat retorted.

"I have friends!"

"Like who?"

"Well, um, like Terezi, and-"

"We're not really friends," she interrupted.

"Oh, um..."

"See? You're a fucking loser."

"Karkat," Terezi scolded.

"What? I'm just saying the truth!" Karkat defended.

"Maybe, but you're making an ass out of yourself...like you always do," she added.

"I think I'll come back later," John said, his voice flat. "What time are these friends coming over?"

"They said they'll be over most of the day," Karkat replied. "You might as well not come at all."

"I guess I'll talk to you later, then..." A door closed and John was gone.

"Nice job chasing him out," Terezi remarked. "It's a wonder you still have any friends."

"I didn't try to make them, believe me. It just happened."

"I bet. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be."

"Well, aren't I lucky?"


Dinner was a silent event. Terezi didn't feel much like talking, and anything she did say was bound to come out as an accusation or insult. Instead, she ate slowly, thinking to herself.

"You never did tell me if you were going to stay, you know," Karkat said. "I have a feeling you might like them. More than John or myself, anyway."

"If they stick around you, I wouldn't be so sure," Terezi retorted.

"They're not like me, Terezi. I mean – fuck, that came out wrong – I mean, they're assholes, but they're-" Karkat paused "-fun. They're good friends if you hang around them long enough. The three of us have known each other since grade school."

"They must've been down on their luck if the best they could have is you," Terezi said under her breath.

"I don't know why they decided to stay with me. They could've easily done better. Sometimes I think they just liked to make tease the shit out of me, but when it comes down to what really matters...they're good friends."

Terezi considered her choices: spend a day with John (the thought made her shudder) or get to know Karkat's friends. She sat back in her seat. She didn't know how long she was going to be living here; she might as well get to know Karkat and his friends. She barely knew anything about him other than he could swear worse than a sailor if he wanted to, and he had terrible social skills.

"Okay, I'll stay," the girl said.


When Terezi felt the softness of the bed on her back that night, she found sleep hard to come by. Her mind was plagued with thoughts and theories, questions of who Karkat was and who his friends were, and why he had moved in the first place. Eventually, she fell into a vivid, dream-filled sleep, although she didn't remember these adventures the next morning.

She would find out everything she needed to know soon enough.