A/N: Alright, going to get straight to the point to avoid rambling. One of the LOHAT readers inquired about whether or not intimate depictions between characters other than Gamzee and Karkat (like, say for example Terezi/Dave) would be present in the story. I've no personal opinions one way or the other, I'd just never really thought of it, so I pose the question to you all:

***Would you like to see intimate interactions between side characters depicted as well those between Gamzee and Karkat?***

If you have an opinion on the matter, let me know in any way you'd like; review, tumblr, pm, rock through my bedroom window with a note taped to it, however you'd like.

Enjoy chapter 25!

SERIOUSLY JUST… WHAT THE FUCK?

A scream echoed through the night; swallowed up by the city's activity. The darkness gave unwitting cover to just another routine culling in a string of several others in the past week. This time it was a yellow blooded troll; one with an unfortunate lack of psychic prowess as fate would have it. His lifeless body was now riddled with deep, sharp dips throughout, making him look unnaturally lumpy. Pooling into the damp, grassy ground, his mustard yellow blood could scarcely be seen in the shadows as little more than a dark puddle beneath his body. He had died fairly easily after a shortly lived abscond, and his murderer had been the only troll present in the park he'd been corralled into. It all made little difference in the end, and now the lowblood was just another head to add to the collection.

Or it would be.

In one motherfucking second.

Gamzee wiped one of his juggling clubs off on the dead troll's shirt, and his wicked smile almost seemed to glow in the dark. Keeping one foot on his victim's chest, the Capricorn dug his claws tight into the troll's hair before pulling back with a hard, fast yank. There was the sickening sound of flesh tearing and bone cracking, but overall the head popped off quite easily.

He was getting better at this.

It was only natural, though; after all, this had been his fifteenth kill this week. The first head had been the sloppiest removal, and had arguably taken him the longest. He hadn't thought to take some sharp object to simply cut the head off, so he'd been at a bit of a loss. The highblood had tried to crush the troll's neck with one of his juggling clubs, but that had merely flattened the neck, it hadn't aided in the head's removal. He'd then tried shaking the troll around by his horns, to no avail, and had eventually thought to wedge the body between two tree branches. Gamzee had then simply torn the head off, similar to how he'd done with his latest victim.

The tall troll looked into the listless eyes of the severed head, his smile widening at how far he'd come in just a week. When he thought back on it now, he could almost all up and motherfucking remember how he'd felt earlier with that first kill. It had been Monday, and all motherfucking day his think pan kept switching between two mirthful urges.

Murder.

And Karkat.

It was all up and giving him a motherfucking serious case of harshed chill, and on his way home from the schoolhive he'd almost motherfucking lost it.

"What?" Karkat asked. "Quit being a fuckass and let's go."

TAKE HIM MOTHERFUCKER.

He all up and belongs to you.

He'd known he had to get away from Karkat; get away before he'd all up and motherfucking hurt his moirail. That was something that he just couldn't motherfucking stand for; he wasn't going to hurt that bitchtits motherfucker.

"I'll meet you back at our bitchtits pad later," Gamzee said with a shrug. "I got some shit I all up and need to motherfucking do."

The mutant is yours.

HE'S MOTHERFUCKING OURS MOTHERFUCKER.

The voice had been getting louder with each passing day; his urges growing stronger. It was all up and happening just like it had last time; his think pan and the voice were becoming one in the same motherfucking thing. That time in between was the hardest; it kind of felt like he was all up and losing his motherfucking self.

"And what the fuck are you going to do?" Karkat asked, a hint of skepticism in his voice. "As far as I can remember, you never fucking do anything."

Both of those urges together were just too motherfucking strong for one motherfucker.

"Honk! Just some fun motherfucking shit."

Something had to motherfucking give.

"Maybe at the motherfucking park, shit brother, I just got to all up and do what's right in my vascular pump."

KILL ALL WORTHLESS LOWBLOODED MOTHERFUCKERS.

Paint the wicked pictures with their blood.

MAKE THEM KNOW THEIR MOTHERFUCKING PLACE.

And protect Karkat.

"Fine, whatever, don't fucking hurt yourself I guess," the Cancer said, turning to walk off.

FROM OUR OWN MOTHERFUCKING SELF.

Gamzee casually tossed the head up, and then caught it as it came back down. He'd only killed one troll that first day but… It hadn't feel as okay as it did now. Monday had definitely been a hard motherfucking day that he didn't really want to all up and remember right now. Tuesday had been much easier; he'd gotten two trolls that day, and then doubled it on Wednesday with four.

Thursday was five.

And here he was on his third kill already tonight, and he was feeling pretty motherfucking chill about all of this.

Fifteen trolls were dead, but none of them mattered a single motherfucking bit. All that mattered was that as long as he killed these worthless lowbloods, he could keep his urges for Karkat under control. The more he killed, though, the more he needed to motherfucking kill to feel that same level of chill all up in his think pan.

Shit, there was that motherfucking itch again.

Gamzee wandered into the thicket of woods next to the park, maneuvering through the darkness until he came across a strange series of hilly sections in the dirt. Digging up a shallow, half-assed hole just large enough to partially bury the head, Gamzee then dropped his trophy in. He then filled in the empty spaces, covering up the remaining sections of exposed troll until a smooth, rounded new mound was added to the collection. As a final touch to hide his wicked acts, the indigo blooded troll scooped up two handfuls of dirt. He rubbed it into the yellow blood all up and motherfucking staining him with its motherfucking filth, creating a weird, muddy mixture that all up and got its cling on to him.

Now for the motherfucking body.

Dragging the headless corpse by its foot, Gamzee brought the body to the underside of a bridge that allowed cars to pass over a small creak that ran through the park. Needing to accommodate for the fairly heavy traffic of the human-troll city, the overpass created a broad stretch of tunnel that the Capricorn had decided was just too motherfucking perfect as a blank canvas for his mirthful paintings. There had been a lot of the same color blooded motherfuckers serving as his paint to the wall, and so he was going to make sure that he used every drop of this new, yellow blooded motherfucker to paint the wicked pictures. He'd paint until he was satisfied with the latest addition, and then he'd head back out again.

After all, the night was still young.

And there was culling to do.

Karkat sat on the couch, candy red eyes glaring down at the crotch of his pants. He'd concluded in the beginning of the week that he was going to… Well… Do stuff to thoughts about his moirail, but he still hadn't done it. Finding an excuse had always been easy before now; there were classes and homework and the ever looming presence of said moirail. However, four days later here he was on a Friday night.

Alone in his room.

His homework was done.

And he didn't have class the next day.

It had been about an hour ago that he'd first sat down and realized this, and since then he'd been having a silent stare down with his pants. Often times, Karkat found it too embarrassing and awkward to do this sort of thing anyway; he was always worried he'd get caught and have to try and explain himself. Having to do so now with so much riding on how he reacted to it was just completely nerve wracking. His whole dynamic with Gamzee could change based on his physical reaction to those thoughts.

So yeah, he was kind of fucking nervous about it.

Karkat rolled his eyes, letting out an irritable sigh; this was so fucking stupid. He was getting worked up over nothing; he'd try to think about Gamzee 'in that way', nothing would happen, and then he could move on with his fucking pathetic life. At this point, all he was doing was stalling and wasting time. He was just going to fucking do it, right now, no second thoughts.

Okay…

Here goes.

The nubby horned troll's hand tentatively moved to the hem of his pants, and he unconsciously began to hold his breath. This didn't last long, though, as a sudden growl emitted from his nutrition sack.

Karkat blushed, immediately standing up and placing his hands on his hips defensively. Of course! He was hungry as fuck! In fact, he couldn't remember a single fucking time he'd ever been this ridiculously hungry. How in pus spewing blood gutted hell was he supposed to fucking concentrate when he was this hungry? No no, this wouldn't work. He couldn't 'do that' on an empty nutrition sack! That was absurd; he'd get something to eat and then he'd do… That.

The Cancer stormed out of the room, almost instantly running into Terezi as he did so. Unnecessary embarrassment was replaced with fury as he glared up at the blind troll. She was snickering at him, and he really didn't want to deal with her bullshit right now.

"Wow Karkles," she said placing a coy finger on her chin. "You seem to be heading somewhere awfully fast."

"Fuck off! Where I do or don't head and how fast I do it is none of your fucking business," Karkat growled in response. "What the fuck are you doing here anyway? Is your human matesprit douchebag not entertaining enough for you? You have to go find someone else to annoy the living fuck out of?"

"There's no need to be jealous," she teased, sharp, toothy grin in place. "Especially when I'm just extending a friendly invitation."

"Invitation?" Karkat tried his best to keep a straight face, but the subtle upturn of his eyebrows betrayed his attempt to look uninterested. "To what?"

"It's Friday night," she cackled matter-of-factly, leaning back against the wall opposite from him. "Dave and I are heading to the club, and this time we're inviting all of you to come with us."

"Because that doesn't sound like the biggest fucking waste of time."

"Quit being so crabby! Everyone's going and it's going to be the greatest time ever. If you're going to be an angry nubby horned grub about it, the least you can do is tell Gamzee for me."

"Gamzee's not even fucking here!" Karkat snapped. "And even if he was, why the fuck would I invite him to something you're doing that I want no fucking part of? That doesn't even make sense!"

"He's not here? Where is he?"

"Fuck if I know. He keeps going out and doing shit, who even gives a flaming lump of snot."

"Ugh, you're always so grouchy," Terezi grumbled, turning to walk off. "If you change your mind later, that's where we'll be. I guess I'll just text Gamzee to see if he'd want to meet us there. Try not to be too jealous when we all have an awesome time without you."

"Jegus fuck, I don't care. Go away," Karkat answered, crossing his arms defiantly as he watched her leave.

The Libra was seriously fucking fried in her think pan if she thought for one second he'd be caught dead at some 'club'. What the fuck would he even do there? Dance around in the dark with a bunch of shitty, multicolored lights to music that was way too loud in a clusterfuck of trolls and humans who were way too close to each other?

No fucking thanks.

He had more important things to do; like getting this ridiculous hunger he had under control.

Karkat went to the kitchenette, digging through the thermal hull until he found the bagged up slices of pizza leftover from several nights ago. He threw two of them, both cheese, unceremoniously onto a plate and popped it in the microwave for two minutes. While he was waiting on that to finish heating up, he poured himself an ice cold glass of water to go with it. Twenty seconds before the microwave was done, he saw Dave and John leaving the apartment-stem, shortly followed by Terezi, Jade and Rose gossiping and chattering excitedly.

Fuckasses.

Rolling his eyes, he waited until he heard the microwave beeped to pull out his food. He picked up the plate and then wedged his glass of water into the crook of his elbow, squeezing lightly to make sure it wouldn't fall. Though it was a little uncomfortable, it would ensure that he had one hand free to open the door of his respiteblock. This plan went off without a single fucking hitch, and after entering he kicked the door closed behind him. It was a little early for one of the good human or troll sitcoms, but maybe he could find something on TV that wasn't complete and utter horsebeast shit to watch while he ate.

But after this, no more shenanigans.

As soon as he was done, he was going to get right on uh…

That thing.

- - T3R3Z1 sent - -

K4RK4T?
H4V3 YOU H34RD FROM G4MZ33 4T 4LL? :[
1T'S 4LMOST 2:00 4ND H3 ST1LL H4SN'T R3SPOND3D TO MY L4ST T3XT.

- - Today 1:47 am - -

- - T3R3Z1 sent - -

J3GUS, YOU TOO K4RK4T?
WH4T'S 4 TROLL H4V3 TO DO TO G3T SOM3 4NSW3RS 4ROUND H3R3? :[

- - Today 2:35 am - -

- - T3R3Z1 sent - -

WH4T 4R3 YOU DO1NG TH4T H4S YOU SO BUSY 4NYW4Y? ;]
YOU'R3 PROB4BLY CURL3D UP 1N YOUR R3CUP3R4COON L1K3 4 W33 L1TTL3 W1GGL3R 4FT3R 4 LONG D4Y OF Y3LL1NG 4ND B31NG CR4BBY.
H3H3H3H!
DON'T L3T TH3 B3D B34STS B1T3 K4RKL3S. ;]

- - Today 2:58 am - -

The train lurched to a stop in the station, gently rocking the cars just enough to jolt Kanaya awake. Jade eyes blinked open groggily, and it took the rainbow drinker a few moments to figure out where she was. She wasn't quite sure when she'd fallen asleep, and now she was feeling a bit confused.

That's right; she was on a train heading back to a station near the human-troll city.

Peering out of the window, it didn't take Kanaya long to conclude that, based on her surroundings, she had in fact arrived at said station. The Virgo stretched some in her seat before picking up her cell phone and the novel she'd been reading and placing them back into her sylladex.

It had taken a lot of traveling, but she was almost there.

Kanaya stepped off of the train, peering into the darkness in search of the cab she'd called earlier. The train had taken her the majority of the way, but there was still one last stretch of travel to go through. Being quite a distance away from the actual human-troll city, it would still take her several hours by taxi to arrive at the apartment-stem her friends were living in.

Her friends and of course, her flush crush.

The rainbow drinker sighed, rubbing her temples to try and ease her think pan. Perhaps she'd been overly hasty in her assumption that things wouldn't work between herself and the human girl? No, she'd only done what needed to be done; she was happy in the brooding caverns, and she knew that Rose was likely enjoying her college dreams.

Despite telling herself this, though, the Virgo didn't feel much better about the whole situation. She couldn't deny that she still very much missed the blonde human's company. In her weaker moments, she even found that she was prone to some… Well, less than appropriate thoughts involving Rose. This mattered very little, though, in the grand scheme of things; she couldn't have the human girl as a matesprit, and she just needed to deal with this and move on.

Still… It would be nice to see her again.

The sudden honk of a car horn disrupted Kanaya's thoughts, and she gave a soft smile to the headlights of a cab trying to get her attention nearby. Her focus was now renewed; the subjects of romance and star crossed lovers would just have to wait a little while. There were bigger aquatic beasts to fry and lives at stake here.

Or specifically, one life more immediately than others.

Karkat laid in the warm, thick slime of his recuperacoon; fidgeting this way and that as he tried to get comfortable. It was dark and quiet; circumstances that on any other night would have allowed for a welcomed, restful slumber. However, sleep didn't come easy to the Cancer.

He now had far too much on his mind.

The nubby horned troll had eventually held true to his self-made promise, and after eating dinner, finishing the sitcom he was watching, cleaning up, feeding Miracle and then cleaning out her litter box, he'd finally been able to postpone the deed no longer.

That was hours ago, and yet Karkat still couldn't seem to tear his thinkpan away from the matter. Outside of his recuperacoon, he could vaguely hear the light buzzing of his cell phone going off in the dark, but he couldn't really bring himself to get out of the slime to answer it. He didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now, and sleep was tactfully evading him as usual. Strangely enough, this didn't really fucking bother him as much as he would have thought it would. It was just as well, he had concluded, because he had a lot of fucking thinking to do anyway.

He'd finally gotten his answer.

But now he had to figure out what to do next.

Questions plagued his think pan, scenario after scenario, worry after worry; it was really as if nothing had been taken off his plate in the first place. It also didn't help to know that, if nothing else, whatever course of action he chose he was going to have to be as careful as fucking possible.

Jegus fuck.

No matter what, there was no way any of this was going to end well.