After a long moment, you finally pull your head away from his. You really shouldn't be so close to him, you're a bit damp from being out in the motherfucking snow, after all. You shrug off your coat and throw it into a corner, and kick your shoes off after it. As you turn back to him, gently running your finger along his cheek again, hoping that somehow, that'll be enough for him to know you're still there, you're aware of a new sound. Two new sounds, actually. One of them started a little earlier, around the same time John crept out of the room, and has been steadily growing louder. It's a moaning, howling, whistling noise, coming from outside. The other noise just began now - it's John, who's rather loudly saying something you can't quite make out.
You glance up toward the sound of John yelling for a moment, and then back to Karkat. With a heavy sigh, you gently clasp one of his hands in your own for a moment, loathe to let him slip out of reach as you rise to tilt up the curtains and look outside.
"What do you mean, you can't get an ambulance out here?! He could be dying, wh - too dangerous!?"
You curse lightly under your breath, as John keeps swearing. Your worst fears are confirmed, looking outside - the snowstorm that started up while you were on your way back has picked up, grown into a motherfucking blizzard. It's raging, bending huge trees almost in half, making everything in its path quiver and bow before its wrath.
You really should have thought to get Karkat to a motherfucking hospital before now, but moving him seemed like a bad idea, and, well...now it's just too late, isn't it? You don't blame the hospitals for refusing to send out any ambulances in this weather. Anyone driving in this would run a risk of crashing. At this point, Karkat'd be in more danger in an ambulance than here. Still, though...You look back at him. He looks so small and fragile right now...
God, you're such a motherfucking idiot.
You go back over to him, taking his hand up in yours again, hoping against hope that he's stronger than he looks right now, when there's this distant CRACK, and a sort of static-y sound, and suddenly everything is dark.
"Mother FUCKER, are you KIDDING me?!"
No. No no no no no. Of ALL times for the snow to knock out a motherfucking power line, it happens now? Now, when cold is literally the absolute WORST thing for Karkat?! Outside the room, it sounds like John lost his signal - he's yelling things like "Hello" and "Hey, this isn't funny, answer me" and other cliche phrases of dropped call related distress, but that's in the back of your mind right now. You're a little busy trying to stifle your panic. This old house is drafty as fuck, and it's only a matter of time before the cold starts creeping in, you're sure. But you force yourself to think reasonably.
There's an old heater in the closet. You took to keeping it there some time ago for days and nights like this, when it just gets ridiculously cold. Granted, it's no good without a motherfucking power source, and with one it's still not all that powerful, but it's about all the chance you have right now. You're pretty motherfucking sure there's a portable generator in the house somewhere, since this isn't exactly the first blackout that's happened in the dead of winter in this old house, but you sure as hell ain't leaving Karkat alone now to go looking for it.
Good thing you and Karkat aren't the only ones here, huh? Even though you don't think he can hear you, you whisper gently to Karkat, "I'll be right back, brother," and hurry into the hall, feeling along the walls toward the small square of light of John's cellphone. He's pacing, from the looks of it, and still screaming at the little device.
"Fucking hell, I can't believe this - " You reach him just as he's raising his arm to hurl the phone away, and grab his arm.
"Hold up, motherfucker," you caution him, "hold on to that. It might not be much use to signal out for assistance right this moment, but it's a good motherfucking light source, and you're gonna need one of those for what I need you to do. We all up and got an understanding, brother?" By the light of the cellphone, you can see John nod his head, and you let go of his wrist, pulling back. "Alright, I'll make this quick. I've got locations on a heater in my room, small but it'll get the fucking job done if it's got a power source. I don't all up and remember where, but there's a small generator somewhere in this house. I'd look for it, but I think we've both seen that I shouldn't leave Karkat alone for too long right the fuck now, so I need you to search it out and bring it to my room. We clear?"
"Small generator somewhere in the house. Got it," he responds quickly, before slipping past you into the hall. Well, that's out of the way, and there's not much else that can be done until the power comes back on, or the storm at least lets up enough for an ambulance to get through. You take a deep breath and head back to your room, fingers lightly skimming along the wall as you rush back.
As you reenter your room, you think. Alright, gotta optimize the situation, keep Karkat as warm as possible. God, it's already getting cold in here. You glance down at yourself. You know body heat is supposed to work, but you're still a little damp from being outside earlier. You're torn between really needing to keep him warm and really needing to keep him dry. You walk over to him and gently lay a hand on his forehead to check on how he's doing and motherFUCKER he's shivering shit shit shit not good not good...
Decision made. He needs warmth now.
You move fast and change out of anything clothing that's damp, but as quick as you are, he's still shaking even harder when you get back to him. The temperature's dropping fast, damn this drafty as fuck old house to hell. You gently scoot in, lifting him up and holding him tight, making sure to pull the blankets up around him as much as possible. You think he might be pressing in against you a little, but between him shivering and just being so motherfucking weak, you can't be sure. You squeeze him a little tighter, and try to warm him up as best you can. The whole time, you never stop moving, alternating between rocking back and forth to keep yourself warm, and rubbing at his arms and back in the same way someone who's cold rubs their own arms, trying to get enough friction to keep his blood moving.
At some point, he twists his fingers into your shirt, so you figure something you're doing might be working, but you don't all up and let yourself relax. This is a crucial time and you can't afford the slightest slip up. Dammit, where is John with the motherfucking generator?! The house isn't even that big, what's taking so long!?
"Hang on, Karkat, we'll get it warm in here soon enough," you promise, curling up around him a little tighter.
You don't notice at first that his shivering's actually let up a lot just from you being there, you're a little busy being pissed off about the storm and the power being out and John taking so damned long and of course at yourself for being a fucking idiot and not doing the right thing in the first place. But it is getting better, or it did, at least, you finally realize. He's still trembling, but not visibly so anymore. That's a step up and it means what you're doing is having some effect. You take it as a good sign, and step up your efforts a bit. If you can keep him breathing until John finds the generator, everything should be okay, right?
And speak of the motherfucking devil, he finally comes into the room lugging the little generator. You waste no time and point next to the bed, then at your closet. "Put it there and turn it on. There's a heater in the closet, plug it in and turn it up as high as it motherfucking goes."
"Is he doing okay - "
"John, we don't have time for this shit, every second counts here! Just do it and ask questions after it's running!" John yelps, and you feel kind of bad for a second, but not really, because this is urgent. Karkat makes a little noise when you yell, like that one from before, that kid-lost-at-a-carnival noise, and you refocus back on him. Gotta keep him warm, nothing else motherfucking matters but keeping him warm.
John gets the heater running, but just like it always does, it takes its time in heating up. Fucking figures. Just for once, can't things go right? John stays over on the floor by the heater and generator.
"You can go get your coat if you motherfucking want to, bro. Ain't no need for you to all up and freeze, too." He blinks, like he was zoned out and just remembered you were here, and nods, before scurrying out of the room, making sure to shut the door on his way out.
Karkat shifts in your arms. He definitely curled up a little tighter against you that time. Your eyes have adjusted to the darkness by now, and when you look down at him now, you notice something interesting - his expression's changed. Well, not a lot, he still looks like he's in a lot of pain, but instead of scared, he looks...determined. Maybe even a little angry, but angry in the way he gets pissed off at people who tell him he can't do shit, not angry like you got sometimes when the withdrawals got really bad.
It gives you a tiny flicker of hope. He's fighting. As the room gradually warms up, degree by painstaking degree, you think that for once, you're really glad Karkat's stubborn as hell.