"Dude snap out of it!"
I jump and turn to the side, seeing Sollux glaring at me, but his voice sounds scared, he hadn't even lisped, which sort of surprised me, I mean, isn't he the lisp lord? I turn to Nepeta, seeing her also looking worriedly at me. I'm still standing outside the door, staring at the handle as if it was a cursed object. Well, in my mind it is.
"Are you ok?" Nepeta asks softly, gripping my hand a bit tighter. I let out the breath I don't realize I've been holding.
"Uh, yeah, sorry," I say breathlessly, rubbing a hand through my hair. I'm sure the motion made my hair even more unruly, but I don't care as thoughts are whizzing through my mind. What was that? I sure as God hope it isn't a premonition or-
"Karkat!"
"What?" I snap. Wait, he used my actual name...
"Quit zoning out ok? I want to at lea'th't learn a few chord'th before I leave," Sollux says with a lopsided grin. I freeze and nod, hopefully not as stiffly as I feel, and grip the doorknob. The vision of Sollux slamming into the wall flashes across my mind, but I take a deep breath and open the door.
All of the tension floods out of me as I see that the whole living room is brightly lit, and I can faintly hear the radio playing in the kitchen. All the air rushes out of me in relief and I smile, confusing both Nepeta and Sollux. I don't answer their questioning glances as I tug Nepeta's hand to bring her inside, and motion Sollux to follow. I close the door sort of loudly to alert my mom to us being home.
"Alright, CatNep, go ahead to your room," I say, releasing her hand and ushering her in the direction of her room.
"Ok Karkitty!" She agrees happily and skips down the hallway. I turn back to Sollux, seeing him curiously looking around. I snort and grab his arm again, beginning to drag him down the hall. He yelps in surprise; I grin in victory. I don't pay attention to my mom, who's moving around in the kitchen, saying a quick 'I'm working on a project with a friend' as I hurry past the bedroom, where my dad is definitely sleeping.
I show him to my room and shut the door behind me. I'm even more relieved when I see that my lamp is still turned off and my closet is as chaotically organized as usual. He stands there awkwardly for a few seconds, looking around my room with quick head movements. I just point at the bed as I walk over to my closet.
"Just sit there alright, here's my guitar," I toss him said object, seeing him expertly catch it. I see his nod of approval as he brushes his hand over the polished wood, settling it on his lap.
I'm easily able to locate my laptop in my mess of a closet, and I unplug it from the charger, tossing it onto my bed as well. My phone is then placed on its charger, which is connected to the laptop charger for some odd reason. I quickly disregard random thoughts and turn to see Sollux inspecting my laptop.
"Thi'th i'th your computer?" He asks, rotating it around while balancing the guitar under his elbows. He seems like he's trying not laugh, which pisses me off to no end. All my concerns fly out the window as I stomp over to him.
"Yeah, why are you fucking asking?" I snarl, trying to snatch it out of his hands. He just laughs and keeps it out of reach, holding it by his fingertips.
"It'th th'o old KK!" He guffaws, continuing to keep it just out of reach. I growl at him and lean over my guitar, hitting my shoulder against his slightly.
"Give it!" I protest, almost reaching it.
"Alright alright, chill out KK, Here," He says with a final laugh and shoves it into my face. I snatch it from the air and flip it open, closing out of the romcom and opening the guitar tab.
"Ok, so I've been learning it from here, I've got the first part down along with the chorus, but here," I take the guitar and hand him the laptop. He stares at it for a few seconds before beginning to pick apart the chords with his eyes. I watch his fingers arrange themselves into the chords for a few seconds before shaking my head and looking at my own fingers.
"Ok, so begin with Am, for the first line, then switch to F," I say, strumming them.
"You're a mess, tangled in your confidence,"
"Then you have to repeat it," I finish, strumming them a few more times. He stares at me for a few seconds before taking the guitar from me, replacing it with the laptop.
"Th'o, like this?" He places his fingers where mine were and strums the few chords, glancing up at me for confirmation.
"No...your middle finger needs to be positioned like this," I move his middle finger, "Then you ring finger needs to be in correspondence with your pinkie," I continue, moving his fingers. I then strum the chord for him, watching his face as it glows with realization.
"Oh, I get it, then for the choru'th it th'witche'th..." He trails off as he replaces his fingers. He looks at me for approval and I simply nod.
"So, how long have you been playing?" I ask, a little awkwardly. The room is a little too quiet for my liking.
"Th'in'th'e I was in fourth grade probably, you were required to play an in'th'trument at my old th'chool, and I didn't want to play violin, becauthe my dad had taught me already, or th'ome th'tupid th'chool in'th'trument, Th'o I taught my'th'elf guitar a'th well a'th piano. Then I th'tarted programming and th'tuff and left tho'th'e thing'th alone," He trails off as his gaze travels to the ceiling, eyes following the latticework of fissures formed by slammings of doors.
"Well, you're good, but I will say you could probably do better," He looks at me weird and I frown, " You're good at Guitar fuckass, if you had actual instruction you could be better than what you are now."
"Did you ever have le'th'on'th?" He asks, stopping his aimless strumming and staring at me intently.
"Well, for a week, then...I had to quit." Yeah, I had to quit because my dad hated it and they had started to notice the new and old bruises on my arms. When I was younger, he tended to avoid my face simply because it drew less attention.
"Why did you quit?"
"Why don't you shut up!" I snap, avoiding looking at him. Out of the corner of my eye I can see his eyebrows raise, but I'm glad, albeit shocked, when he doesn't press any further.
"So...your kid cou'th'in lives with you?" He asks.
"Yeah, her mom died...so my mom took her in," A very foolish decision on her part.
Sollux frowns, "Doe'th th'he have any 'th'iblings?"
I pause, thinking for a few seconds before hesitantly continuing, "...She has an older brother, but we haven't been able to contact him since the funeral. He had moved out a year before, and only came back to see the procession," I say through gritted teeth. That's more like the half truth, Nepeta's brother, Equius, had to choose between his job or his sister. I was last the last person he ever talked to, he actually begged me to take care of her. Of course I agreed, and I am taking care of her, and I also know that he needed the job, but he practically ditched her.
"Whoa...that'th...not ni'the," He says, for lack of better vocabulary.
"Heh, yeah, not nice is a good term for it," I chuckle. "So why did you move to this crap town?"
"Well, my older brother didn't like the la'th't pla'th'e, and my dad move'th alot for his work. He th'aid thi'th pla'th'e will mo'th't likely be th'hort term, but I'll be able to move out in a few month'th, I'll probably th'tay here to fini'th'h th'chool," he says, laying back on my bed. He places the guitar beside him, making sure that it won't fall off the edge.
I stiffen, looking over at him. "Whoa, what? How old are you?"
"18 and 1/4," He says slowly.
"AND YOU'RE ONLY A SOPHOMORE?!" I yelp.
He chuckles and nods, putting his hands behind his head. "Like I th'aid, we move around alot, I haven't been able to get a good th'chooling, we alway'th moved before I could graduate. My brother is already done with th'chool, but I'm not." He has a small smile on hi face, but through his glasses I can tell his eyes are sad.
"My dad will only let me move out when I'm 19, th'ome th'hit about age appropriate/maturity, I don't really care," He continues.
"Dude, I'm only 16, what the hell?!"
"You're 16? I thought you'd be like 15, you look young," He says, surprise evident in his voice.
"SHUT UP YOU PICKLEDICK!"
"Eheheh! Chill out KK, you seriously do look young," he breathes, trying to speak through his laughter.
"Ugh, you're a prick," I growl, grabbing a pillow from behind my back and slapping him over the head with it. He yelps and ducks, his glasses flying off his face. He shuts his eyes and feels around for a pillow of his own, using it to hit me.
"Wait wait! Truce!" he calls after I smack him a few times. He blindly reaches for his glasses, but I dart forward and grab them.
"Ya lookin' for these," I laugh, holding them by my finger tips. I see him barely open his eyes, and lean forward.
"Yeah, give 'em!" he says quickly. I keep them out of reach.
"Let me see your eyes, then I'll hand them over," I say slyly, practically doing a back bend to keep them away from him.
He opens one eye, keeping the other shut tight. I'm shocked by how brilliant a blue it is, it's one of those rare navy colors. It almost reminds me of the ocean at night.
"Come on, the other eye too, seriously, my eyes are basically fucking red, how much weirder can you get," I coax, mockingly twirling the glasses around my fingers a few times. He growls some curses at me, before slowly opening his other eye. I stop moving and stare in awe. The shade was actually similar to my eye color, a sort of dark blood red.
"Dude..." I trail off as he snatches the glasses from me. I bend out of my awkward position and look at him.
"They're so-"
"Shut it!" He snaps, positioning them on his face. He hadn't lisped then either, I think.
"Chill the fuck out dude, I was going to say "cool", don't get all stingy," I snarl, batting away his hand, that was on my arm.
"Wait...you think they're cool?"
"Yeah...I mean they're two colors, that's badass, why don't you like them?"
"Just...reasons," He says slowly.
"Pshh, whatever, ok well, back to..." I turn to look at the clock, it was almost 8:00 pm. We'd been talking for that long? "OH SHIT! Dude, you need to head home," I say quickly, grabbing his arm and pulling him up from the bed.
"Whoa what? Why it's only...SHIT!" He curses along with me and stands quickly, almost knocking me to the floor. I grab his wrist and drag him out the door, quickly passing the kitchen.
"I'll be back mom!" I shout, before exiting. I can hear her yell something, but I can't quite make out what she said. I close the door and begin running down the hall, Sollux keeping up easily with me. We traverse the halls and end up in the lobby in record time.
"I'll text you later," I say, pretty much breathlessly. He grins and turns.
"Yeah, later!" He agrees.
I watch him walk out the door, a voice at the back of my mind is yelling at me, but it quiets once I try to focus. I wait until Sollux is out of sight before sighing and beginning to turn.
A large palm lands on my shoulder and I pale, stiffening in fear.
"Who was that?"
AN:
I'm a violinist not a guitarist I merely looked up chords and wrote down stuff please don't yell at me if I got it wrong
Also, I remember from the first posting of the story that people were confused as to why it was so important that it was eight o' clock, so I'l go ahead and clarify, 1) Sollux has curfew, 2) it was getting dark out, if not dark already and Sollux would most likely have to walk home, 3) Karkat's dad wakes up near eight
Re-writing this is getting me all emotional as I remember writing it the first time *wipes away tear dramatically*. Enjoy this my lovelies!