"Are you th-sure he can't talk to me, GZ?"
"Sorry, bro, he's sleeping. I'd wake him, but John said that sleep's motherfucking important for him right now..." You decide not to say that you somehow doubt you could wake him up if you tried. "I'll let him know you called if he wakes up."
Silence looms on the other end of the phone for a moment. "...If?" You wince, berating yourself for that slip.
"When, when, I meant when. Haha, sorry Sollux, guess my tongue all up and...motherfuckin slipped." And by slipped you really mean that for a moment you told the truth, only you sure as hell aren't telling Sollux that. You feel sort of bad for half-lying to him, and everyone else who's called since John left and apparently spread the word that Karkat's sick, but for some reason you don't want everyone to know just how bad it is.
You glance down at Karkat, phone still held up to your ear. He's pale as hell, and he's barely woken up at all since John left. You've been following John's advice as best you can, but it seems like he's only getting worse. He just keeps getting weaker...
You blink, suddenly aware that Sollux has been talking to you, and you shift the phone around a bit. "N-no, don't you motherfucking worry, Sollux, I got it under control. It's probably for the best if the number of people who come see him is down at a motherfucking minimum, you get my meaning? Don't want his rest all up and disturbed or anyone else getting sick, and shit."
"Well...alright, if you're poth-positive," he answers after a few seconds. "Just keep me poth-urg, posted, alright?"
"No problem, bro," you lie, and then hang up after a polite goodbye. With a sigh, you set the phone down and rub at your temples. That's not the first worried call you've gotten today, not by a long shot. Not the only close call, either; Nepeta almost saw right through you, even though it was just a phone call, and Kanaya sounded right about ready to march right over. But you don't want any of them to come over, don't want the whole world to see how bad you fucked up. And as selfish as that is, you also know that Karkat wouldn't want his friends to worry. Even though you're pretty sure they're doing that anyway.
You feel kinda bad for Sollux, though - his old lisp is coming back, which is a sure motherfucking sign he's really, really worried, maybe even a little stressed out over this. His lisp stopped being prominent way back when you were all kids.
You sit down in the chair that's still beside the bed, and, keeping your gaze fixed on Karkat as your mind starts to wander. Now that you think about it, you would never have met any of the friends you have today if it weren't for him...
You were friendly enough when someone approached, and hell, you still are. But back when you were that little ten year old kid whose parents never came with him to the park, well, for whatever reason, no one ever did.
You don't mind too much. After all, with dad always working and mom living somewhere on her own, alone was all you really knew. But you can't help but wonder what it's like to have someone else around. So you sometimes come down to the park near your house and sit on the bench, and watch the other kids. Most of them go to the same school as you, but you really don't know any of their names, and they give you your space.
You wish they'd talk to you, though. There's a part of you that longs to be like those other kids, with the friendships they seem to take for granted. They seem like such interesting people, too. There's the little, giggly girl and that friend of hers who's always wearing big, dark shades and seems so much bigger than her - from what you can tell, they're either the best of friends, or really close siblings. They don't look much alike, but the way they act, you wonder. And there's the blind girl with her really cute little seeing-eye-dog, and that one kid who lisps and always yammers on about technology and video games, and the kids with glasses who have to be related, they look so much alike, and...the list just goes on.
They all interact with each other, having fun, sometimes fighting but never seriously because they all really care about each other, because that's what it means to be friends. You think that's what it means to be friends. You really wouldn't know, seeing as you don't have any, but that's what they always say in stories.
You're just following this train of thought, zoning out, when suddenly there's this THUD on the other end of the bench you're sitting on that makes you jolt. When you turn yourself to see what that could've been, you see another kid about your age, looking really grumpy, between his folded arms and the pout scribbled all over his face. Another kid, that one who lisps a lot, yells at him from a ways away, but he just sticks his fingers in his mouth, pulls a face, and makes a rude noise. He recrosses his arms as the other little boy gives up and turns away.
After a few moments, he notices you gaping with your mouth hanging wide open. You really...have no idea what to make of all this. "What?" he half spits at you, and you blink, still not quite grasping that this kid is actually talking to you. "What, are you trying to catch a fly or something? Close your mouth, stupid."
You do so, hurting your jaw a little. You fumble mentally for words, but can't find any.
"Why are you sitting here alone anyway? Don't you have anyone to play with or something?" This kid looks kinda like he's glaring at everyone, but his voice sounds like he's genuinely curious.
You, on the other hand, genuinely don't want to answer. You don't want to tell him that you don't have any friends, because somehow that seems to chase people away... "Uh, well, why'd you all up and...come over here? Something wrong with the other kids?"
You think you kinda recognize this boy; he's a new kid at school, you think, which would explain why he doesn't already know that no one really pays attention to you.
"Because they're all stupid jerks and you seem slightly less annoying than everyone else here. And you didn't answer my question, why are you sitting here alone?" He's really staring hard at you now, so hard that you feel almost like he can see right through you. You swallow, and look at the ground.
"Well, I, uh...don't really...have anyone to hang around with," you say with a shrug. "Everyone is always busy and stuff, I don't really mind." There, that's not a lie. That's the truth of the matter, and you didn't have to say the words that you really don't want to.
"What, don't you have any friends to hang out with?"
...So much for that plan. You sigh, look back at him, and shake your head. "No..."
He blinks, and the glare vanishes. "Oh," he says, softly, sitting back. He closes his eyes and heaves a small sigh. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I do or don't. I mean, some of the kids are trying to be nice to me or something, but really they're kind of annoying, and..." He sighs again, and looks up at you. "And I dunno, I had one really good friend before we moved, but I can't seem to find anything that felt natural like with her."
"Natural?" you ask, barely noticing that you're scooting a little closer to listen to him, barely noticing how you're actually starting to relax. Something about him makes him easy to talk to.
"Yeah, you know...I guess you wouldn't, actually, since you don't have any friends. But real friendship, there's a trust there, and it isn't forced or anything, you don't really try to become friends, it just happens," he says, looking back up at you.
"...Kinda like this?" you ask, because sitting here talking to this kid seems a lot like what he just described.
And he looks up at you, and the hint of a smile pulls at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah, I guess kinda like this."
And...that was that. You started hanging out a lot after that first conversation, just sitting on that motherfucking park bench and talking about things until the two of you practically knew everything about each other. And over time, the other kids Karkat knew got used to you being around (especially after that one time in sixth grade, when one kid at a party tried to tell Karkat to make you leave and Karkat shoved him into a swimming pool), and suddenly you had lots of friends. But he was always the first, always the best, always the one who was there for you...
...And there's something you know you should've done some time ago. Because you fucking owe it to him. He trusted you, and you should've never betrayed that trust. You cast one last look at him, letting the sound of his ragged breathing harden your resolve, and pick up the phone.
You head out to the kitchen and pick up the number off the counter. A moment later, you're tapping your fingers on the counter impatiently, waiting for him to pick up -
"Egbert residence, this is John speaking."
"John, it's Gamzee. Hey, can you come over here and keep a motherfucking eye on Karkat? There's something I really gotta take care of, and I need to leave the house for a little while..."
Gamzee what are you doing now you crazy clown
the ten year old shenanigans were fun to write