The chapter you have long awaited is unfortunately, a transition chapter yet again. Again, I'm trying to make this as painless as possible and my time management skills are yet to become adept in any way, shape, or form. I apologize for the long wait. (I feel like this chapter is not as good as it could have been, but I didn't want to spend more time on it or make you wait longer. It's a crappy chapter meant to show you I'm still alive.)

"We're here."

"Hn?" Karkat looked at Sollux questioningly. "What?"

Sollux flicked his chin towards the windshield, suggesting that he should take a look and let his tired mind relax as he cut off his control of the wheels. Karkat saw his gesture and complied, furrowing his brows at what he saw.

"What the fuck?"

Sollux laughed. "Yeah, the buildings are pretty tall, I guess. Come on, let's get out of the car so you can get a better look."

Karkat nodded, though the teacher noticed how he unbuckled himself and even opened the door before letting go of his hand. Sollux blamed his absent-mindedness. He simply followed his suit, pulling the key out of the ignition before he exited and locked his car.

Outside, he found Karkat looking skyward, trying to take in the immensity of the skyscraping structures reaching up, seemingly endlessly, with their hexagonal configuration dotted with the traditional window frames.

"Surprised?" he asked.

"They're green."

"What?"

"The buildings of your fucking hive are lime fucking green."

"It's amazing, right?" Sollux said.

"They're like hoofbeast vegetation mutated through radioactive byproduct, eaten and thrown up to be ground into the material specifically for the structure of your jacked up hive stems. I have never in all my sweeps seen anything close to being able to compete with its obnoxious color," Karkat commented.

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it."

"But there are other hives attatched. I thought you said that nobody would know where we were."

"If you recall, my psychically gifted acquaintances are the only ones who know where I live, and they are the few who live here," he explained. "Nobody would dare reveal who lives where and in which hive because that would mean that somebody would be… culled. Fortunately for me, even if that did happen, I have a friend who helps me out in case of those situations, but otherwise, nobody would reveal anything."

"Okay then…" It became quite awkward with the pause in conversation, but Karkat turned the conversation away from such topics with another question. "How are we supposed to get up there now? I mean, the both of us. I know you can get up there obviously, but fuck if you're going to lift me up like an inanimate object."

"Of course not. That would be completely irresponsible on my part," Sollux replied. That actually was what he was intending to do, since the only other option seemed quite personal. However, given the circumstances Karkat presented him with, it looked like it was his only choice. "I'm just going to take you up with me." He extended his arms towards Karkat as if requesting an embrace. Which he was.

"What?" Karkat demanded. "Are you serious?"

Sollux gestured his confirmation by giving a waving motion, requesting he come over, with his hands.

Karkat growled and came over to stand in front of him awkwardly, not knowing what to do while he was watched expectantly. Of course, Sollux was expecting for him to come forward so he could hold him and ascend, but Karkat had only ever embraced Terezi, and whereas she was shorter… Sollux was the opposite. As well as his teacher. He was by no means comfortable with the idea.

"Are you sure that this, by any means what-so fucking ever, is any type of improper conduct?"Karkat asked. "It's not like it's a problem for me, but I wouldn't want you to suffer losing your job. Unfortunately there is no other nookstain that would be able to replace you when it comes to computers."

Sollux laughed appreciatively. "Why thank you. In any case, it's only way for me to take you up there without levitating you. I'm not exactly comfortable with it either if that makes you feel better."

His student grit his teeth , not knowing if being lifted like a lifeless rock without anybody touching him was worse than being up and personal with the troll who schoolfed and showed him up on a daily basis, but Sollux was patient with him while he decided.

"You just need to hang on securely, for your own safety."

"Fine. But it doesn't mean I have to like it," Karkat replied, hesitantly moving forward. He didn't know what else to do, so he very reluctantly, mirrored Terezi's actions when in a similar situation and wound his arms around Sollux's neck, resting his chin on his shoulder. "This is too fucking close for comfort."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Sollux sighed. "He wrapped his own arms around Karkat's waist and squeezed lightly. "I'll try and make it more comfortable. I have to warn you though, don't look down."

"My thinkpan isn't that rusted and I'm not a complete fuckass, thank you very much."

"Maybe. I'll be quick so you don't choke the life out of me."

"Who says I won't?" Karkat retorted.

"I do. Because you're not a complete fuckass, right? But just because I expect you won't choke me doesn't mean you shouldn't hold on tightly, because I won't," Sollux said, letting go of his waist, albeit reluctantly. "I need to focus."

In reply, Karkat just took a deep breath and exhaled, making sure he wouldn't slip by securing his hold. If he were to speak honestly, he would have mentioned that being let go of made him feel significantly more fearful of falling. He was for certain that it would increase as they gained altitude. But he said nothing.

Sollux extended his arms and allowed his body to levitate upward. He could have done so without letting go of Karkat, but his student had to learn to face his own fears and it made it much easier to control their flight path. Of course now he was regretting it slightly because Karkat was indeed hanging on quite tightly and it was becoming difficult to breathe.

"Kar… Karkat…" he coughed, but it seemed he was unheard. "Kar- KK… Tight!"

This time, Karkat heard him and responded by shifting his hold slightly lower, allowing Sollux to breathe easily again.

"My bad. I thought you would die faster than that. I meant to make it a little more painless."

"How considerate of you," Sollux stated, rolling his eyes. Upon seeing the entrance to his hive, he finally eased the two of them inside.

A repulsive squish welcomed them into Sollux's hive, causing him to flinch. He slowly let his power dissipate and lifted Karkat's arms from his shoulders, both of them looking down to survey the damage. Sollux had bright orange grubsauce oozing from beneath one of his mismatched shoes, but he identified it as one of his newer projects and merely shrugged it off.

"Welcome to my hive," Sollux laughed. "Careful not to step on these guys. They make me quite a bit of money."

Karkat's stomach clenched at the thought of a colored body being crushed underfoot and becoming nothing more than gooey substance in the aftermath. "But they're everywhere. They make up your entire fucking carpet! How the hell am I supposed to avoid them?"

"You just have to be careful," Sollux said. "They're not hard to miss that the very least."

Karkat tried to ease his mind with the thought that, yes, not a single one blended in with the actual floor. As long as he kept his eyes trained on his footing, then he'd be fine… no mishaps…

"Whatever. So… Where do I sleep? It's not like you have a spare recupercoon lying around somewhere, do you?" he asked, navigating his way to a less grub-infested area. The only place where there were little to no grubs was among the mess of wires connected to some silicombs, which Karkat hope that Sollux wouldn't mind him stepping on.

Sollux gave a half-shrug, moving some of the grubs out of Karkat's way. "Well, no, I don't have a spare, but my recupercoon has enough room for two people. You can sleep with me."

"No," Karkat said. "Absolutely not."

At first Sollux quirked an eyebrow, but as he gave Karkat's reply more thought, he nodded, understanding. From stress to pushing personal space, both of them had been through a lot that day. Even if he was the one initiating most of the contact, Sollux didn't think that even he would be comfortable sleeping with another troll in his recupercoon just yet. "Alright. You take my recupercoon and I'll sleep on the couch."

"No."

Sollux quirked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I'll just sleep on the fucking couch. I'm used to the nightmares," Karkat said. "I still get them when I sleep in sopor slime in other trolls' recupercoons anyways, so I might as well sleep on the couch."

Sollux gave Karkat a skeptical look. "Karkat, if you're just being modest, I don't mind giving up the slime pod."

"I don't have a change of clothes either and, one, I'm sure as hell not sleeping naked and, two, I am not borrowing your clothes," Karkat explained. "I'm really grateful– yeah, I said it–that you can… take me in, but I'm fucking serious. I'm going to sleep on your couch."

"Fine, fine, if you insist," Sollux sighed. "I'm going to take a shower then. Make yourself comfortable on the couch." He opened a closet and dug through it before finding a blanket and tossing it at Karkat.

Karkat caught it and was surprised to find it slightly warm, very soft and comfortable… it made him feel younger somehow. He stared at it in wonder.

"It's a blanket. Don't blow a fuse there," Sollux laughed.

Karkat summoned up a scowl to counter. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep." He lay down on the couch in a huff and wrapped the blanket around his body, shifting slightly to get comfortable before laying still. He heard a chuckle behind him before a door closed, and a few moments later, water running.

The candy-red blooded troll gazed into the pattern of the couch material, unable to sleep even with the high level of comfort he had been provided. He had always been quite the insomniac.

No… that wasn't right.

He had been since Gamzee happened to him. That's right.

But he might as well try his best to sleep since his instructor had done so much for him… Sollux had even been considerate enough to leave the lights on dimmed so he could rest.

Karkat closed his tired eyes, pulling the blanket up a little higher, hoping to catch some moments of respite, but it was only long after Sollux had finished his shower, dressed, and retired that Karkat's mind finally followed after and let him sleep.

And there you have it. I'm a little lost on how I'm going to write the next chapter. Some suggestions please?