I own Nada. Review if you like it. Eridan lovers I apologize deeply. Don't kill me please.
Change is the only constant in this world. To deny change is to fight the inevitable. Eventually you will lose, sometimes at great cost. Sometimes you're not the one that pays that cost. And in the end, the change happens anyway, whether you like it or not. Over the course of three weeks, Kankri and Cronus continued to practice for the play, meeting at Kankri's house almost every day. While Cronus still acted like a complete asshole sometimes, he wasn't all the time anymore. One would even go so far as to say he was nice sometimes. At least he never took embarrassing pictures of people while they were sleeping and used them as blackmail, like Karkat had done.
"I can't believe you still have that damn picture!" Kankri growled, doing his brother's dishes while the irritating little runt sat at the table, texting away to his friends. Karkat only grinned. "Maybe you should have considered that when you decided to sleep like that with Cronus~." The taunt in his voice was clear, and Kankri wanted to smack that smug little smirk off his face.
"Karkat, I swear one of these days I will get my hands on that phone of yours and erase everything!" Kankri snapped at the shorter version of himself anger rolling off him in waves. Karkat frowned, looking up at his brother. "You know, you've been really pissy ever since I got home. What's got your panties in a twist?" He asked, flipping his phone shut and standing up. Kankri tossed a glare over his shoulder at the blackmailer. "Did you catch Cronus screwing a girl or something?" There was a loud slam as the older male in the room dropped a mug into the sink at Karkat's question.
"Where the hell would you get that kind of idea!?" The yell was accompanied by a scarlet flush to Kankri's cheeks and Karkat burst into laughter. He'd gotten it right of course. Kankri had been looking for Cronus after their drama class was over, and found him in the back with Aranea Serket in the middle of sex. The look on their faces when he'd walked in on them was nothing compared to the embarrassment on his before he'd fled, skipping out on his music class to escape the campus. Since then he'd had an extreme rage, twisting his gut. But why should he get mad about it anyway? He knew Cronus slept around with girls all the time. Why did catching them piss him off so much?
"Karkat, will you shut the fuck up already!" He hissed, patience worn entirely thin. Who cared what Cronus thought about all his brother's friends seeing the picture of him curled up with Kankri in bed? Who cared if the bastard took it out on him? "I'm done being your little bitch, and I'm done taking your attitude! I don't fucking care about that picture!" Kankri was shaking with rage as he rounded on his brother, slowly approaching the skinny runt around the kitchen island.
Karkat froze for a moment, looking at his brother warily. Kankri never lost his temper like this, never got so upset about anything, no matter how bad it was. Neither of them spoke for a moment, waiting for the other to move first, and Karkat was the first to move. "You're jealous…" He muttered, eyes narrowed on the older of them.
Kankri was the one to freeze this time, Karkat's words pointing out the obvious. It was such a strange concept to him though. Kankri had chosen to be celibate when he was still a kid, not wanting to deal with all the drama of relationships going too far then breaking up. He'd intended to never sleep with anyone until he was absolutely certain he'd never be with anyone else. But for him to be jealous of Aranea, because Cronus would have sex with her? "That's… not possible…" He muttered aloud, confusion creasing his brow.
Karkat took the opportunity to slowly back towards the doorway of the kitchen. "By the way, I deleted the picture two weeks ago…" He said casually, wanting to distract his brother from whatever he was thinking that was making him act weird. It worked, the look of surprise then pure fury Kankri directed his way Karkat's only warning before his brother lunged at him with a snarl. "YOU WHAT!?"
Karkat yelped then spun around, running as fast as he could to get away before his furious brother caught him. He didn't get very far, Kankri catching him in the middle of the foyer, where he put him in a headlock, proceeding to grind his fist into the top of the younger Vantas' head. "You've been making me do all of your chores for nothing!?" Kankri yelled, earning satisfactory yelps from his brother until the front door opened. The Vantas brothers looked at the open doorway, Karkat's head tucked under Kankri's arm as they saw Kanya and John standing there.
"Oh my…" Kanaya said, an eyebrow raised. John was holding Karkat's math book, a surprised but slightly amused expression on his face. Karkat quickly shoved at his brother, getting him off of him so as to save at least some face in front of his crush. "What do you want, Egderp?" Karkat asked, pretending indifference. John smiled at him, stepping inside to offer the math book. "I just wanted to return this. Thanks for letting me use it until I found mine."
Karkat's face flushed a little at the dorky grin and he snatched the book out of John's hands. "Yeah, whatever fuckass." He grumbled, earning him a giggle from John. Kankri, seeing an opportunity for payback, smiled evilly as Kanaya walked around the three boys, heading upstairs to her room. "Hey, John. Karkat has something he wants to tell you, about a crush he's had for a while now~." Pure horror spread across Karkat's face as he turned to his brother. John just smiled. "Oh? Well, you know you can tell me anything Karkat!"
Karkat stuttered, trying to come up with a way to escape this predicament, while John stood there being is usual adorably oblivious self, an encouraging smile on his face, blue eyes cheerful. Karkat let out a very shaky sigh and looked down at his feet, mumbling incoherently. "Um, you'll have to speak a bit louder Karkat, I can't hear you." John said, smile slipping a little. Karkat tensed up, then in a rush, nearly shouted what he had to say. "I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU JOHN EGBERT!"
The words were followed by a thick silence, John a little wide eyed. Then he chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah, wow… I didn't realize you felt that way… um…" Karkat stayed silent, eyes fixed firmly on the floor and his face red as a candy apple. Kankri watched the two with the satisfaction of the cat that had eaten a canary. Finally he'd been able to give his little brother the payback he deserved, the awkward moment between Karkat and John absolutely perfect. Until John went and ruined it all.
"Well, I'm not a homosexual, Karkat." He said slowly, his own eyes focusing on the ground, not seeing Karkat's expression at those words. He looked as if he were about to cry, from embarrassment and rejection. Then John continued. "But, I guess I can make, one exception…" Karkat looked up then, confused. "Huh?" He was answered by John's lips pressing against his in a quick, shy kiss before the blue eyed boy jumped away, chuckling nervously with a face as red as Karkat's. Karkat, for his part, stood there like a dumbstruck loon until his phone rang and he jumped, reaching for it with an angry growl.
"This better be really fucking important." He hissed when he answered it, then frowned. "Why would you want to-"he was interrupted by shouting on the other end and he winced. "Ok ok, I'll give him the phone." Karkat grumbled before he held the electronic device out to Kankri. "It's Sollux. He wants to talk to you." Kankri took the phone curiously, his brother grabbing John's arm and dragging him off in the direction of an empty room in the house while he pressed it to his ear. "Yes?"
"Kankri! You have to come to Cronuth'th houthe fatht! He and Eridan are in trouble!" Kankri didn't even bother asking what was wrong, dropping the phone and rushing to the garage, grabbing his keys and jumping in his car. He'd wonder later why he'd reacted that way, but for now, all he cared about was what could be happening that had Sollux so panicked. He found his answer when he reached the open door of the Ampora's apartment, Cronus sitting on the floor beside his brother, crying and calling to him with blood trickling down the side of his face. It took Kankri only seconds to figure out why.
Eridan wasn't breathing.