Karkat grasped Kanaya's hand tightly as they wove their way through a crowd of hurried shoppers, looking for anything that caught their eye. After he fell asleep at the hospital, Sollux had described in clear, painful detail to Kanaya everything that happened while she was gone, and the anger she felt towards Dave had been made.. very clear at the time.

Currently though, her anger was well hidden, and they were on a shopping trip to Walmart, stocking up on the grocery's missing from his apartment. Sollux had practically moved in with him at this point, and with Kanaya and Kankri's frequent visits, Karkat knew he needed enough food to feed himself and the idiots who bothered to care of him. The hand around his tightened momentarily, and Karkat looked up at the taller girl, blinking dazedly. "Are you alright Karkat? You were starting to zone out." Kanaya asked with a frown.

Karkat pursed his lips and shrugged. "I'm just thinking," he glanced down at himself and frowned as his thoughts shifted to a new realization, "Jesus, I've lost some fucking weight, haven't I? Damn, who knew hardly eating for two weeks could do that to a person." He meant the last part to come out as a joke, but he winced as his memories gave him a very obvious reminder as to why he hadn't been eating in the first place.

Kanaya abruptly came to a stop by a rack of sweaters, and Karkat glanced up at her with furrowed brows, puzzled. The taller girl looked almost.. sick, and she seemed to hesitate before speaking quietly, "I forgot you haven't been eating.."

Realizing his mistake, Karkat coughed slightly and looked away, focusing on a random lady trying to load five bags of cat food into one cart while he tried to not immediately flush red. "Yeah, well, I'm eating shit now aren't I?" he pointed out weakly, trying not to sound too embarrassed. Just great. He'd already survived his moronic suicide attempt, but people were worrying and fussing over him, something he still wasn't quite sure how to deal with.

Kanaya snapped out of her daze and abruptly, a determined look replaced the sadness. "Stay here. I am buying all your favorites for dinner tonight. Understand?" she demanded, daring him to question her.

Karkat flushed again and nodded quickly, shooing her off. "Go go, I'll wait." he said, laughing slightly.

Kanaya huffed and and strode off to the food section, leaving Karkat to his own devices. The small adolescent meandered through the sweaters, not really seeing them, instead internally marveling at the fact that this was the first time alone he'd had in a few days. There was a sort of hollow ache in his gut, reminding him of what he'd lost and he flinched, digging his nails into his palms. It was way easier to ignore it when he was around everyone else, but.. soon Karkat would be alone once everyone decided he was healed enough to be on his own. All alone in his too-quiet apartment with no one to talk with or stop him from feeling so alone or… Karkat shook his head sharply. He shouldn't be dwelling on that just yet. He still had time with all of them, and he would deal with those annoying feelings when they came later.

Karkat peered around him, taking in the rows of colorful sweaters and hoodies for the first time. Speaking of, he hadn't seen Sollux wearing his favorite hoodie ever since he woke up in the hospital. He frowned, thinking back to when he last saw him in it. It had been before he.. well, before shit hit the fucking fan for everyone. Karkat let his mind drift carefully over the bloody memories, and a snippet of one came to him. Something warm and large had been wrapped around one of his wrists and he vaguely recalled it being a soft yellow...

"Well," he murmured to himself, "fuck."

He'd ruined Sollux's favorite sweater. With blood. Fucking great. Karkat heaved a large sigh and began flicking through several of the clothes near him, searching for a good replacement. Sollux would probably be surprised, he mused with a small smile, and then happy because god knew he fucking loved his hoodies. He'd probably smile and hug him and maybe even kiss him as a thank you and… Karkat slapped his forehead with his palm and growled at himself. Focus on the ugly sweaters. Focus.

Karkat flipped past another oversized hoodie with an aggravated huff, a scowl forming. Jesus, who wore this shit? He snorted as he slid a bright pink one with purple ruffles at the ends of the sleeves down the rack. Honestly, it couldn't get any more disgusting than that. Maybe he should buy it for Eridan, just to fuck with him. Just as he was about to give up hope that there was anything salvageable in this section, someone walking behind him brushed past a clearance rack, and a flash of yellow caught the small troll's eye.

Karkat glanced over his shoulder and relief flooded him when he saw the yellow hoodie hanging innocently among the other atrocities. A rare, genuine smile flitted across his face briefly before he took the hoodie's hanger off the rack. Soft yellow with black sleeve cuffs and a black hood. For a millisecond, an image of Sollux smiling brightly and holding him close derailed Karkat's thoughts, but he quickly shook his head with a scowl, searching for the size of the garment. The small inside tag told him it was the right overly-large size, exactly how Sollux liked it.

Karkat let out a relieved breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in and slung the sweater over his left arm. It wasn't enough to make up for all the shit he had put his best friend through, hell, it wasn't enough to even properly thank him, but it was somewhat of a start. With renewed hope, Karkat hurried out of the clothing section, searching for Kanaya.

The black-haired troll eventually found her in a mostly empty frozen food aisle, glowering into one of the doors. Karkat quietly walked up behind her and stood on his tippy toes to peek over her shoulder, carefully laying the sweater in the partially full cart. There, lying innocently, were several different bags of Pizza Rolls. He rolled his eyes. "Kanaya, get whatever bag you want, that shit's all the same price." He urged with an amused shake of his head.

The tall woman jumped, whirling around with wide eyes that narrowed upon seeing Karkat. Her hands settled on her hips, and he had the decency to look mildly ashamed. Kanaya huffed and turned on her heel to face the aisle again. "I cannot remember which one of these is your favorite for the life of me," she admitted, gesturing frustratedly to the bright bags, "and I wanted to.. Because you.." She trailed off and Karkat shifted uncomfortably as she glanced back at him with sorrowful eyes.

"Pepperoni," he muttered quickly, forcing himself to look away from his sad friend.

Kanaya turned away from him and loaded two bags of said flavor into the already packed cart. Karkat chewed his bottom lip nervously as he watched her, pain obviously visible in her movements, and his heart clenched tightly. Before he even fully comprehended what he was doing, he threw his arms around her, squeezing her as hard as he could.

Kanaya stumbled back a step and glanced down at the smaller troll in surprise. Her eyes quickly softened, however, and she hugged him just as fiercely, resting her chin on his unruly hair. Karkat had been very quiet the last few days, and it had set her and everyone else, on edge as they internally panicked over whether he would try to.. kill himself again. But this, while slightly out of the norm for the young troll, was better than the somber silence they'd been receiving and it set her frayed nerves partially at ease.

Karkat swallowed thickly as his bottled emotions abruptly threatened to erupt to the surface. Kanaya had obviously been hurting because of him, and hell if that thought didn't hurt almost as much as leaving Dave had. This was supposed to be one of his best friends, but clearly he hadn't been doing a very good job at being a best friend lately. "I'm so sorry Kanaya.." he choked out around the emotions clogging his throat, tightening his hold around her even further.

She hummed quietly and kissed the top of his head. "It's alright Karkat," she said simply, stroking the smaller troll's hair, "You know I love you, yes?"

"Yeah.." he whispered in response, "I love you too Kanaya.."

Karkat just hoped she couldn't hear the tremor in his voice, or feel the shaking of his hands as he reminded himself that soon she would be gone again.