Equius gave an exasperated sigh, extending his arm to carefully set his reinforced cell phone on the edge of Gamzee's TV stand. This whole situation had been rather unexpected. It had been Nepeta who had noticed his phone's light flashing, signaling that he had received a text message, as they left the cafeteria together. Honestly, he had been quite surprised to find that it was Karkat that had sent it. The blueblood had been about to ignore it, and go help after his planned outing with his moirail, but she had insisted he went before-hand. Help their old friends, rebuild bonds, or some nonsense like that. Equius had tried to tell her no, explaining he would go after they had returned. But she had been persistent, and in the end, he had caved in to her demands. Which was how he came to be here, now. Standing in the Grand Highblood's room, staring between a giant hole that led to Vantas' dorm, and the bathroom that said mutant-blood currently occupied. He was starting to doubt the accuracy of the quadrant the Cancer and Capricorn shared.
Silently at first, he approached the door to Gamzee's bathroom, and cleared his throat. Well, the indigo blood was on his way, so he supposed he would try again. It would not do for the higher highblood to arrive and be under the assumption he had not attempted to be of assistance. He didn't knock, for fear of breaking the door, or even test the handle for the same reason. "Vantas, the amount of time spent in that room has surpassed normal acceptable limits. You will exit." A pause, "Vantas?"
Karkat didn't answer, just reached his hand back, ignoring the pain of the burns on his back from the heat of the water, eyes utterly dead to the world, and turned the water on higher, blocking out the blue blood's voice, and returning to the position he had been in before, legs pulled up to his chest, back hunched.
At least now he had a towel draped over his shoulders and head, like he was trying to hide himself from the world. He didn't want to talk, didn't want to move, if he stayed here, nothing would be able to get him. It was a nice little delusion, and probably the only thing helping him keep hold on his sanity.
He moved, just the smallest bit, a part of his mind becoming aware of the pain of the scalding hot water, and instantly he regretted it. He pitched forward, vomiting all over his legs and feet, several times, and then dry heaved for a while. He almost collapsed, but managed to stop himself, eyes squeezing shut as he wriggled in discomfort. He felt disgusting and sore, but he couldn't move enough to clean it off, not if he wanted to do it all over again. He almost laughed, staring at the bile covering his legs, but managed to stop himself, closing his eyes and refusing to think about it.
No answer.
Of course.
Equius felt irritation creep under his skin, a fresh sheen of sweat appearing as brows furrowed together behind his cracked shades. He was quite tempted to, as Gamzee had said, give the door some tough love and drag the lowblood out of the accursed tile room. But again, he was hesitant to do damage to the indigo-bloods property. So he simply stood there, arms crossed and silent as he waited, passing time by looking over the paint covered walls and floor, taking small confusion in particular, to the white covering one particular part of the room. For the mere fact that it was white, and didn't match the otherwise colorful decor that one could nearly say the Capricorn was known for.
"Man, why are my scent glands detecting fresh paint?"
Equius glanced up as the room's owner appeared, brows rising at the male's lack of upper body clothing, but otherwise saying nothing. Though he did tense a bit as he bit back a comment. "Hello Makara."
"Sup bro. Still in keep with hefty muscular systems?"
"Inevitably."
"Wicked. My moi brother still in the porcelain kingdom?"
"Yes, he has refused to speak or acknowledge my presence. It is a bit... maddening. Also, why is there a hole between your room and Vantas'?"
"Man, that's kind of a long motherfucking story. I'll play out the tale for you later. For now, I'll take the proverbial wheel from here. In the mean time, feel free to go ahead and be using your mad lifting abilities to relocate my cooling unit back into my nutrition block."
"Very well... wait. Would that suggestion be classified under a variety of command?"
Gamzee raised a brow, blinking at Equius for a moment before, "...sure? Whatever makes you happy motherfucker."
"Oh. Okay. I will go move your refrigerator immediately then." and with that the muscular troll was off to do as he was told, leaving a somewhat confused Gamzee behind. Though once the other was distracted going about the reason he had been called over to begin with, the Capricorn lazy smile fell just slightly, half-lowered eyes directing towards his bathroom door. Something had happened. He wasn't sure what precisely that was, but something was wrong. The indigo stepped up to the door and gave three firm knocks, to be sure they could be heard over the water.
"Best friend... Karkat. You all up and in there bro?"
Karkat's red eyes gaze flickered towards the door, staring at it blankly as he started to come out of his self induced 'trance' of sorts. He still didn't move that much, just a tiny bit to pull the soaking wet towel further down over his face, as if he were hiding under it.
"...I'm just a little sick"
Well, that wasn't necessarily unusual. Karkat had been known for getting sick frequently before. Man, he hoped the magical pancakes hadn't upset the male's stomach. Though, Gamzee's brows knotted together a little bit, mostly because the Cancer's voice sounded... off. Fuck though, maybe that was the whole sickness messing with his tone?
"Anything I can do for you brother?" A loud thump, caused Gamzee to glance over his shoulder away from the door, as Equius had picked up his refrigerator and swung it around a little to fast, knocking down another small portion of the wall hole's edges, a heavy sweat coming off his brow.
"M-my deepest apologies highblood."
"S'all good brother, shit's already in the break anyway. Just keep in the careful when going through the nutrition block entrance. Be all soft touch like a freshly made red heart motherfucker."
"That is a rather vulgar comparison."
Though Gamzee apparently hadn't heard him, as he turned back towards the bathroom door, tilting his auditory ducts against the wooden surface as if that would help him hear through the barricade better.
Karkat turned a deaf ear to the world once more, his stomach heaving even though it was completely empty, and he tried to stay completely still. He didn't want to throw up all over himself again, but he did want to cool the water down. The bathroom was starting to fill up with vapor that was making it a little hard to breathe. But he still felt cold to the bone, like someone had rammed their hand through his stomach and scooped out all the warmth in his body, even the hot water wasn't doing anything to make that feeling go away.
Oh fuck, thinking about it brought back what had happened only minutes before, and he felt his stomach reel angrily again, forcing him to dry heave and cough, trying to get control over himself. He was shaking again.
The Capricorn's brows came more tightly together, the muscle across his shoulders and back tensing as he kept quiet. Listening, waiting. But there was no response. He could hear a sound, a strange garbled spouts of what sounded like air through the muffled door, but couldn't make out if they had come from Karkat or his imagination. Worry started to pull at Gamzee's gut, as that uncomfortable feeling was there again, the one whispering that something was wrong. He was missing something, something important. Thoughts churned over his think pan, going over what little Equius had told him... hold on. Equius had said that Karkat hadn't said anything to him. That wasn't right. Gamzee knew for a fact that the Cancer could barely stand the blue blood, so if the Sagittarius had been his usual, sweaty, semi-bossy self, then surely Karkat would have told him off in his typical angry manner.
Shit, now he knew something was wrong.
Another knock, "Karkat?... Come on brother, send some speak noises my way."
You won't tell anyone or try to run away, or disobey me, because one little mistake, and I wonder which of your friends it is I'll have to take and make an example out of.
Oh gog he wanted someone to know so badly, someone to keep her away from him, make her go away.
But he couldn't, her words kept echoing in his mind. He hugged himself, sharp fingers digging into his arms, the pain a distraction from the dangers of his own thoughts, He swallowed, and then spit out a wad of mucous and bile that had gathered in his mouth from the heaving.
"I'm fine, just a little... sick" he called out again, trying to be a little louder this time as he curled up around himself a bit tighter.
Gamzee's lips pressed into a thin, uncertain line, leaning back when he tilted his head a little to far, causing his horns to clack against the wood. Man, he didn't like this door getting in the way on visually seeing his bro to see if he was really sick, or just saying shit and trying to be a leader/self-supporting or something. His speak hole parted to release words again, when a loud thump came from his kitchen, and Equius reappeared.
"Your cooling unit has been returned to it's proper place."
"Thanks motherfucker. Sorry I can't indulge in chat times, maybe we can get some bro time later?"
"That is acceptable. I must go for a pre-scheduled meeting with Nepeta. So there is no 'bro time' that could have currently happened to begin with."
"Miraculous. Shit really works itself out. See ya around bro."
Equius gave a nod, and just like that, left the Capricorn to do his duty. If that was what one could call it. Perhaps Nepeta could explain it better? After all, she was quite fond of investigating and fantasizing over multiple quadrants. There was a chance she could see something he could not. She absolutely could, actually. When it came to Nepeta, she was simply the best moirail one could have. To this, Equius was certain.
When the Sagittarius could no longer be seen, Gamzee turned back to the door, somewhat relieved now that he could actually concentrated on his ill diamond brother. Not precisely knowing what else he could do, besides taking out the pins on the door's hinges to get into the bathroom so he could be face to face with Karkat, he repeated his previous question, seeing as it had yet to be answered. "All right, I feel ya there. Anything I can up and do?"
"I'm fine"
He really, really wasn't. He had to stop a laugh from bubbling out of his throat at the lie, clamping one hand over his fucking noise hole to keep himself quiet, only a few, muffled giggles managing to escape. He slowly pulled his hand from his mouth, panting a little in the hot, humid air in the bathroom, but still refusing to move enough to turn the water off.
Hoofbeast shit.
Gamzee was a little surprised, by that thought that floated through his own mind. But he was pretty sure that that voice was right. Because damn if his diamond bro senses weren't flaring up with little red warning lights. Gamzee backed away a little bit, eyes narrowing, not out of anger, but in a way as if he was attempting to focus. Examining the door for weak points or something similar. He was about to go and try to find some tools to get the pins out of the door's hinges, when on an unknown whim he glanced down at the door knob.
Oh wait. His bathroom door didn't have a lock on it.
The Capricorn would have laughed at himself, if his focus wasn't placed elsewhere, hand gripping around the doors handle, hesitating for a moment before, "I'm entering the porcelain kingdom brother," and without further warning than that, he twisted the knob and pushed the door open slow and cautious. As if he were expecting Karkat to be standing there ready to scold him for being a sopor-fucked moron, or something.
He really hadn't been expecting a face full of steam and the choking, humid heat that was invading his bathroom. Like opening up a bottle of shaken up faygo, the shit flowed out and felt as though it was damn near consuming him. Oh yeah, shit was seriously, motherfucking seriously wrong about this. He took a single, careful step forward, leaving the door cracked so the heated fog could have a source of escape. An unbidden cough came from his through at the heavy moisture in the air, a thin layer of perspiration lying on everything in the porcelain and tile room.
"Karkat?"
"Gogdammit I said I was" He paused here, gagging a little and shivering as some of the fog left the area around him, like the water beating on his back wasn't burning fucking hot. "Fine" he finished, again moving his hand up in front of his mouth, closing his eyes as he tried, once more, not to throw up all over the area, but it was hard, it was fucking hard, every time he closed his eyes he kept seeing his blood in the darkness, and when he opened them, some new horrible vision was flashing in front of his eyes, the tub, filled with blood, hands and organs floating on the surface, faces sewn into the walls, and then, just like that, it was clear again, nothing but the white surface of the shower around him.
A silence came from the Capricorn then. Partially because it was obvious, even to him, that the male was lying and the other half was because, as some of the steam cleared, a scent hit Gamzee's senses. The smell didn't confuse him because Karkat had said he was sick, but it still pulled something uncomfortably inside the Capricorn. Then he was moving, soft foots steps against the moist floor, hand reaching and gripping the shower curtain, and he pulled it back. Not slow, not fast, just a light tug, tilting his head as he looked down at the Cancer, expression soft, eyes that had been under a somewhat forced hazed, clear. There were only a few split seconds wasted taking in the male's state, the fact he still wore clothes, the putrid chunks of stomach content still clinging to his legs. The scalding hot water that made the Cancer's flesh well up, the blood rushing there and turning it nearly the same shade of vibrant red.
Then Gamzee was kneeling, arms crossing on the lip of the abulation trap, coming to eye level with Karkat, light smile in place, "Somehow brother, I'm in serious doubts about that."
Karkat closed his eyes, swallowing painfully as he seemed to refuse to meet Gamzee's gaze. "I'm...covered in fucking vomit. I didn't want to be fucking seen like this, it's... disgusting" he stated in as neutral a tone as he could manage, trying to fight down the screaming horror, having to pause a few times to keep himself from throwing up again.
Indigo eyes vanished once as the Capricorn blinked, reappearing in the millisecond it took to do such an action, small smile still there, before he gave a thoughtful hum. Then he was moving, leaning forward, arms extending, slipping around the Cancer's shoulders and pulling him close, chin resting on top of Karkat's head, cushioned by the wet hair. He didn't flinch as the scalding, burning water pattered against his skin, didn't seem to mind the male's sickened state. All that was going through his mind was that something was wrong with Karkat, and he looked as though he was planning on going through it by himself. "Then I'll keep my see holes closed, no worries then."
