I stare blankly ahead of me as her voice registers in my head, and I'm able to gather my thoughts enough to speak.
"Mom?"
I can hear the smile in her voice as she begins talking, and Nepeta is talking behind her, obviously trying to say something to me, and being diverted by Layla.
"Hi Karkat, I know that you're at Sollux's house and that you're being taken care of, so I'm not worrying about you. His dad is letting you stay there until we have things sorted out here, and I am trying to sort them out dear, you know how your dad can get sometimes. Don't worry about us though, alright?" She pauses to take a breath and I can make out the words Nepeta is yelling to me.
"Karkitty! Make sure to pick me up in the morning ok! Sollux can come to!" she shouts. I attempt to hold back laughter at this, hearing my mom doing the same. But I nod into the phone.
"Alright Catnep, I'll do that," I say loud enough for her to hear. She lets out a happy squeal and retreats from the phone, and I can hear my mom chuckle in the background. Silence falls until my mom speaks up again.
"Well, just thought...I'd inform you," My mom says awkwardly, then goes silent. I realize how awkward it is to talk to her at the moment and gain a similar attitude.
"Um...thanks..." I mutter, glancing at Sollux who is staring at me in concern. I smile at him reassuringly, then turn back to the front.
"So, bye?"
"Bye," My mom replies, a smile still evident in her voice.
I hang up and hand the phone to Sollux, then crawl onto his bed, all the way to the corner where two walls meet, and curl my knees up to my chest. Wrapping my arms around them, I ignore the dull pain running through my battered body and bury my head in my knees. I can hear Sollux moving across the room, but I ignore him as well, until he climbs on top of the bed with me.
"Go away dickmunch," I mutter, curling tighter. He doesn't move, or say anything as I feel him place a hand on my shoulder.
"It'th alright, i'th'n't it KK?" he asks,, moving to sit beside me. I nod, still not looking up at him. Everything is fine, no one's hurt, but for some reason I wasn't happy.
"Then you th'ouldn't be worrying," Sollux continues, moving an arm around my shoulders and tugging me closer to him. I fight my blush and move to glare at him.
"But it's still a problem, everything's a problem..." I begin to yell, then trail off into a mumble, returning to my curled up position. I can hear Sollux sigh, but he makes no indication of moving, so the two of us sit there in silence, until Sollux's computer makes a small ping sound. He reluctantly gets up and goes to sit in front of the screen, opening the chat client and beginning to respond to the person chatting with him.
"Hey, it'th GZ and he want'th to know "where the motherfuck" we both are," he relays over to me. I groan and slowly move to look behind him. Gamzee has apparently attempted contacting Sollux many times throughout the day, which I find quite funny. I begin to snicker before I realize that I would probably have even more messages waiting for me if I dare to check.
"Augh, alright, tell him we're fucking here, he won't shut up otherwise," I groan, staring over his shoulder.
TC: WhY aReN't YoU iN sChOoL tHoUgH
TC: dId yOu aLl Up AnD gEt YoUr SkIp On?
Sollux looks up at me questioningly, and I mutter some curses under my breath before shoving him over and replying.
TA: FUCK NO
TA: FAMILY ISSUES ALRIGHT
TA: IM CRASHING AT SOLLUX'S
I smirk at Sollux as I use my typing quirk. He scowls at me in response, but can't protest because Gamzee answers back.
TC: WeLl MoThErfUcK i'M sOrRy KaRbRo :O(
TC: BuT aT lEaSt YoU gOt A pLaCe To StAy :O)
TC: So I'm AsKiNg AbOuT tHe PrOjEcT
TA: WHAT ABOUT IT?
I frown as I look at my wrist, it's mostly just sore, but I don't know how well I'd be able to play with it. While I'm distracted, Sollux reclaims the keyboard and messages back Gamzee.
TC: wHeN aRe We GoInG tO wOrK oN iT tOgEtHeR :O)
TA: well, the two of u2 are ju2t 2iittiing here doiing nothiing 2o ii dont know
TA: ii'll bee back at 2chool twomorrow probably 2o we can talk more then
TA: ii don't know about kk
TC: wElL mE aNd TaVbRo ArE gEtTiNg OuR tAlK oN aBoUt iT
TC: bUt We WeRe WoNdErInG wHeRe ThE tWo Of YoU wErE
TA: well we're here 2o yoU DON'T NEED TO FUCKING WORRY
I intercept Sollux's response with a mocking grin and hit reply, laughing at his shouts of protest.
TC: aLrIgHt BrO
TC: TaLk To YoU lAtEr ThEn :O)
[terminallyCapricious has left the chat]
I turn to Sollux with a sigh and move away from the computer.
"Damn, I haven't even though about it that much," I mutter, stretching my arms above my head with a sigh. Sollux moves away from the computer as well, leaving the client running.
"Do you even think you can play with your writht like that?" he inquires, gesturing at said wrapped wrist. I shrug and turn to look at his guitar, which has been sitting in the corner of his room. I grab it and move over to the bed, sitting cross-legged with it resting on my knees. With a frown I try to position my wrist in a way that doesn't hurt like hell, and halfway succeed.
"...kinda," I murmur, sliding my hand to a chord with a slight flinch. It isn't terrible painful, so I attempt to play a set of chords. "Ok, yeah, it's pretty ok, " I say, playing the first set of chords to Don't Forget. I'm thankkful for my relatively fast healing, and my ability to block out pain.
"Ok, well then go ahead and teach me the chord'th oh great and powerful ma'th'ter," he says mockingly, bowing slightly. That same smirk is on his face, until I throw his own pillow at him. He quickly grabs it though, and throws it toward me. With my mediocre hand-eye coordination, I'm barely able to bat it out of the air before it hits me. Instead I toss him the guitar and stomp over to the computer, finding the site that I used for the chords.
I move out of the way and point at the screen. "Play that," I command.
He snickers and closely examines the screen, mouthing words as he places his fingers on the strings. Then he looks up at me as he plays them, a victorious smile aimed at me. I grumble under my breath before nodding.
"Congratul-fucking-ations, you can now fucking play a majority of the song, I'm applauding you for it," I reply, sneering at him.
"KK, th'ing for me," he laughs jokingly in response to my sneer. I blush and quickly shake my head in denial, but he begins to counter my embarrassment about the matter with logic. After awhile of blatantly refusing, I see that neither of us are going to give in anytime soon, so I huff in anger and move to sit on the bed beside him.
"I fucking hate you," I mutter, listening to him randomly strum some chords before beginning. I quietly start to sing along with his playing, until he fumbles a bit. I sing louder to hide his mistake, and the two of us continue. We're so into the song, that we don't notice that Gamzee has attempted to message Sollux, or that Sollux's dad has come home from work.
"-Can I think of something, gotta think of something," I whisper, letting my words hang in the air before they're interrupted by quiet applause. The two of us turn quickly to see Deithelm leaning against the doorway with an impressed expression. I blush and move behind Sollux, although the taller teen is just as embarrassed as I am.
"Dad! how long have you been li'thtening to uth?!" He asks, flustered.
"Long enough," His dad chuckles, "You've got a nice voice kid," he comments to me, causing me to further conceal myself. He seems amused by my shyness as he further walks into the room.
"So is that for something?" He asks, standing in front of the two of us.
"Yeah, a th'cool project," Sollux answers, completely normal now. I snort at his normalcy, continuing to hide my face from view.
"Nice, beginning of the year projects are always fun aren't they, but you'll do fine, especially if this is the song you're doing."
"Well, thankth I gueth, but you can leave now," Sollux replies quickly. His dad shrugs and leaves, not before flicking a smile at me though. He quietly shuts the door behind him as he leaves; the two of us let out a relieved sigh.
"Damn I hate it when people sneak up on me," I mutter, finally detaching myself from Sollux's side to move to the computer. I see that Gamzee and Tavros have attempted to message Sollux, so I decide to answer the two of them while Sollux distracts himself with practicing the chords.
[adiosToreador and terminallyCapricious have formed a group chat]
AT: i FIGURED OUT THE FIRST PART OF THE SONG WITH GAMZEE
AT: hE GOT SOME OF THE, uH, bASS PART AS WELL
TC: YeAh We MoThErFuCkINg GoT tHiS sHIt :O)
TA: HOW NICE FOR THE TWO OF YOU
TA: THE LISPY ASSHOLE I'M CURRENTLY WITH HAS JUST FIGURED OUT THE MAJORITY OF THE GUITAR PART
TA: SO WE'VE BASICALLY GOT THIS WHOLE SHEBANG FIGURED OUT DON'T WE
I turn away form the computer and prepare to stand before I realize that Sollux has been standing behind me. I run into him and start to fall backwards before he catches my wrist. I let out a small yelp as he does so, trying to regain my balance.
"WHAT THE FUCK! WARN ME YOU ASSHOLE!" I shout, shoving him back and jerking my hand out of his grip. He stares at me for a few seconds before laughing slightly.
"Dude, you're th'o clum'thy, thith ith like the third time I've caught you today," he smirks, releasing me. I glare at him before moving back to the bed. I don't feel like chatting with the two of them anymore, I'll let Sollux deal with them. I look at the clock. It's already around seven, meaning we've fucked around for about four hours. Well that's completely decent.
I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, beginning to feel tired again. Today was emotionally exhausting if nothing else. I lay down on the mattress and stare up at the ceiling blankly, memorizing the way it had been painted. Before long I feel my eyelids become heavier, and I drift off into sleep.
:Sollux POV:
After Karkat goes over to my bed, I sit down and continue the chat with Gamzee and Tavros, although we don't really talk about much, they mostly try to get to know me better, which I don't really mind.
It's about an hour later, when my dad knocks on my door to tell me that dinner's ready, that I look back at Karkat. I stare for a few seconds until I realize that he's asleep, with his arms wrapped around the pillow he had thrown at me. An unexpected pang shoots through my chest at this, and I shake it off, standing to walk over to him. He barely stirs, even when I gently shake his shoulder. With a slight smile and a sigh, I leave him there, quietly exiting my room to go to the kitchen. My dad gives me a questioning glance when I leave my room alone.
"He'th athleep," I say as I spoon out some rice onto my plate, along with some stir fried vegetables. I can see him nod, but he doesn't say anything. I retreat to the living room and begin watching some random cooking show as I eat my food, since I don't really want to disturb Karkat. Although, he seems to be sleeping pretty soundly. I flick away those thoughts and quickly finish eating.
"Thanks dad," I tell him, then retreat to my room once more . As predicted, Karkat is still asleep, so I go over to my computer and open up the code I've been working on for the past week or so. I'm able to immerse myself in coding for another few hours or so, and by the time I look up from the screen, my back is stiff and it's dark outside. I rub my eyes, since I don't have my glasses on and retreat to the floor beside my bed.
Since I can actually think, I grab some old blankets from my closet and lay them on the floor to make a sort of pallet, then I grab an extra pillow as well. I sigh happily and soon drift into unconsciousness.
I 'm not sure what time it is when I wake up, but I know I've only been sleeping for a few hours. At first I'm disoriented and confused to why I've even woken up in the first place, the I hear a scared whimper from above me. Lifting myself up on my forearms, I see that Karkat is virtually in the same position as when I'd fallen asleep, but now he's clutching at the pillow in fear. I frown and sit all the way up, moving so that I can see him more clearly.
He's still asleep, so that means he's having a nightmare. I stand fully, wincing as my back pops, and sit on the edge of the bed. I shake his shoulder gently, trying to stay awake while doing so.
"KK," I murmur, trying not to fall on top of him. He's fallen silent, but I can tell he's still dreaming due to the way he keeps trying to twitch out of my hold. I give up on waking him, he seems to be a really deep sleeper. Similarly to last night, I simply lay down next to him, keeping my hand on his shoulder. It isn't long before I fall asleep again.
An: Did I mention that if you're too lazy to check my tumblr you can ask me questions about the au on here if you're confused or something? Yeah go ahead and do that.
Also, I'm planning to have this done before the end of the school year (June) so BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUPS THERE'S A LOT OF UPDATES COMIN'
Plus I mean I can finish fixing five chapters a day if I apply myself, I'm up to chapter probably twenty by the time this one'll be posted.
*coughs* RvB SEASON 12 OMFG
Alright lovelies, THERE'RE SO MANY NEW READERS HOW EVEN?