It's rather late by the time Sollux wakes up; I only realize because he falls out of bed. Seeing him out of the corner of my eye, I jerk my head around, resulting in the headphones being yanked out of my ears. I watch as he sits up and rubs at his very mussed up hair, slowly looking around before his gaze falls on me.
"KK? What time ith it?" He slurs, looking really confused.
"Almost 11 a.m., I thought you were going to sleep forever," I reply, laughing lightly at his expression. Plus his hair is completely ridiculous, it sticks up in all different directions while still a bit of it was lying down.
"Oh...whereth my phone?" He asks, looking a bit more awake as he stumbles over to his bedside table. I watch him look around in confusion for a few minutes, for my own amusement, before tossing it at him. He barely catches it and looks even more confused before realizing what it is.
"Is your head ok now?" I question, watching him scroll through a few his phone for a few minutes before he replies.
"Yeah, I'm ok now, did I do anything weird?" he looks up at me, and I shrug.
"Other than try to suffocate me, nope, nothing out of the ordinary," I reply, then watch his expression sadden into guilt.
"Are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" He says anxiously, quickly walking over to me and stooping down to my level, grabbing my shoulders and looking closely at me. I stare wide eyed at him until he moves away.
"I'm fine, you didn't hurt me at all, do you not remember?" I tilt my head curiously as he removes his hands from my shoulders and rubs his hands over his face.
"I can never remember much after my headacheth, the latht thing I can clearly recollect ith coming home from thcool, then I blank out..." he looks nervous as he moves back to sit on the edge of his bed, not meeting gazes with me.
I sigh, "Don't be so mopey about it, I'm fine."
"But I'm thtill thorry," He says sadly, glancing up at me with eyes that seemed to convey innocence even though I knew they had known more pain than should be possible. They reminded me of Nepeta's eyes in that sense.
Nepeta.
Mom.
"Oh my fucking god how did I did I forget!" I do a brilliant double face-palm combo before turning back to Sollux, "My mom told me last night that my dad is going away on a trip, so I can go back home!" A wide smile is spread across my face as I gauge his reaction.
It takes a moment before a slow smile spreads across his face, "Really!? Tho...you don't need to crash here anymore? That'th awethome!"
"You really hate me that much?" I joke , bumping against his shoulder before standing. I turn toward the door and begin to walk out, hearing him follow me.
"I could never hate you KK," Sollux protests, his socked feet silent but his voice alerting me to his presence. Once we leave the room Thelm appearifies in front of us, he takes a long look at Sollux before leaning down a bit to look at his eyes closely.
"You're ok now right?" Is all he asks, straightening before taking a step back.
"Yeah, gueth it wath one of thothe headacheth," Sollux answers calmly, barely even blinking. I was staring at the two of them, probably with a weird look on my face.
"Alright then, I'm leaving in a few minutes, Mituna's still crashed on the couch," Thelm grins at us, winking, then grabs his keys and jacket before leaving. I send a glance at Sollux but he doesn't notice and moves into the kitchen, not even bothering to look in the living room.
"When do you want to head home, I'll drive you whenever," Sollux says after making himself some toast and moving to sit on the counter. I'm shocked from the mutual silence and I only stare at him before I think up a reply.
"Oh, I don't care, I guess I should call my mom though, phone," I finally reply, holding out my hand until he hands me the electronic device. I walk out of the kitchen and begin to head toward the living room before changing my mind and walking outside, it's slightly cloudy with a breeze, but the air is rather humid. I huff out a breath as I listen to the phone ring before it's picked up.
"Hi Karkat," My mom's cheerful voice greets me and I smile softly before greeting her.
"Morning mom, sorry about last night, Sollux was asleep and I couldn't talk without him waking up."
"It's alright Karkrab, I understand perfectly, I assume you are calling about your dad correct?"
My breath hitches for a moment before I respond, "Uh yeah, so I can come home right? For how long?"
"Don't sound so nervous, he's supposed to be away from anywhere from two weeks to a month, but I've talked to him ok? You should be fine," Her voice is calming and my nerves are instantly soothed.
"Alright mom, Sollux can drive me over later, oh, does Nepeta need picked up?" The last question is an afterthought, I've almost forgotten she had gone to a friends house.
"No, her friend, Terezi? Is supposed to be dropping her off, no need to worry about her either,"
I must look like an idiot smiling at the grass in front of me, but I don't care as I answer, "Alright mom, I'll be back later, love you,"
"Love you too Karcrab,"
I end the call and slide the phone back into my pocket, staring at the ground in front of me for a few more minutes before chuckling to myself and heading back inside. Sollux is sitting in the living room talking to Mituna, and not wanting to interrupt, I don't announce my presence.
"-it was that again, with you, and then it changed, it wath...kk...and I couldn't thtop it I could only watch ath...ath..." He seems reluctant to continue, ad Mituna seems intrigued as his little brother stares down at his hands. I wonder what this is about, but I do my best to look like I had just walked in and haven't been eavesdropping once Mituna speaks.
"Thollux, tell me about it later," the elder Captor says, causing Sollux's gaze to jerk up, then it lands on me. His face seems to flush lightly before flicking back down to stare at his hands.
"Hi KK, tho when do you want me to drive you?" he asks quickly, standing but not meeting my gaze. Mituna stands with a goofy grin and walks out, patting Sollux's shoulder on the way. I hear him retreat and don't answer until I know he's gone.
"I don't care, my mom doesn't expect me until later," I give him a dubious look, "Why are you so flustered?"
He scowls at me but remains silent; we have a silent staredown, where I notice he had put in his contacts before I end up sighing. I'm not used to being the one breaking so I just stand there silently before coughing once.
"Fine, don't tell me, but you can go ahead and drive me if you want, I should probably...talk to my mom and stuff," I finish lamely, running a hand through my hair.
"...ok, go get your stuff, I'll grab the keys."
While grabbing my belongings (the few things I have, since I'm wearing my clothes, so basically my homework), I ponder why Sollux had avoided the question, especially since he said my name. It seemed like he was talking about his dream, or something that happened in his migraine induced stupor.
I'll get it out of him eventually.
Walking back out, I see that he has remained in his sleep-rumpled clothes, but he's wearing two not matching shoes, one black Converse, and one white Vans. I cover my mouth to try and conceal my laughter, but he notices and glares at me, sticking out his tongue and walking out the door, leaving me to follow.
The two of us are silent the entirety of the ride, and he only says an awkward bye when I get out in front of our apartment. In response I do an awkward half wave, then swiftly run into the lobby, sending a glance at the sleeping receptionist before taking the stairs to the fifth floor.
I'm still apprehensive and on edge, but my mom is standing outside the door, wearing her old baby blue, light green, and Easter yellow striped dress. A wide pink headband is atop her head, and a soft smile that doesn't appear often was on her face. Brushing a strand of light blonde hair off her forehead, she takes a few steps forward and hugs me.
I smile and softly return the hug before pulling away. She smells of paint, that makes me even happier, she must've gotten enough out of her funk to begin painting again. Most likely because she got frustrated enough to take her annoyance out on the canvas.
"I'm sorry, I really am Karkat, you know how Silas can get, and sometimes he just...I'm just so sorry-," She begins to say softly, but I cut her off.
"I know, it's dad, not saying I forgive him, but I understand," I respond, ranting in my head how much Silas is a terrible father and I still don't understand why my mom doesn't ditch him.
"Yes...oh, Nepeta brought her friends over here, just as a warning," she says, smiling. I now notice the squeals and laughter from the open door. I sigh but smile fondly and nod.
"Thanks, I'm just going to shower and stuff," I say, striding inside to throw my stuff into my bedroom and immediately heading into the bathroom before Nepeta can realize I was back home.
By the time I get my hair dried and clean clothes on it's around noon and Nepeta has noticed my presence. With her catty skills, that I'd gotten used to but it still surprises me, she knows exactly when I'm decent enough to throw open the door and tackle-pounce me with a happy squeal.
"Hi Karkitty!"
"Ugh, hi Nep, I kinda need to put a shirt on," I groan, picking her up under her arms and setting her upright before moving over to the dresser and grabbing a shirt. From the corner of my eye I spot a familiar head of red hair.
"You just left your friends outside Nep? That's cruel," I chuckle, pulling the grey t-shirt over my head then turning to the door to watch Nepeta skip over and usher them in. I don't care, not like my room has much in it anyway. All it has is old pictures, that if I don't keep Silas will get rid of, peeling wallpaper and a few stray CD cases. All my clothes are kept tucked away, my guitar is on top of my bed, where I had left it, laptop...under my bed for some reason. Brushing that off I watch Terezi stride over to my bed and sit down on it, a shit-eating grin on her young face.
"Smells so bland in here Karkles, is this place even decorated?" She says with a mocking smile.
"Obvviously not Ter, this place mildly horrifies me," the mini prick, oops, I mean Eridan, sneers, waving a...purple cape around with his hand. Feferi giggles and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.
"It's not that bad Eridan, it could just use some work, Nepeta's is colorful though, I like her room better!"
I feel myself sighing as I shake my head, "I'm a guy, I'm not obligated to decorate my room much, especially since I don't really care," I stick out my tongue at Eridan and laugh at his childish glare. It's difficult to take him seriously when he was wearing a purple cape and vertical striped pants and a sweater that was way to big for him.
"God you landwwellers annoy me," he mutters, tossing his head a bit.
"Eri, you don't need to continue with you character," Feferi giggles, making Eridan blush angrily, "and be nice."
"Oh! Wait we should continue playing! I just wanted to say hi Karkitty," Nepeta says with a large grin, hugging around my neck.
"Well hi, now go play," I chuckled, patting the top of her head, between the ears of her cat-hat.
"Nice to see you again Karkat," Feferi chimes as she walks out, smiling back at me, I nod and watch them file out, waiting until I hear them go into Nepeta's room before slowly moving to shut my door.
Flopping back on my bed, I stare at the ceiling, mapping out the patterns while listening to the outside sounds. My mind wanders to everything and nothing and I feel it's going to be a rather long weekend.
I must've fallen asleep, ( I mean, I didn't get any sleep last night and I was lying on my bed-which was a bad idea anyway) because when I'm jolted awake my heart starts to pound in fear before I realize where I am. I always wake up confused after naps. Stabilizing my heart rate, I hear my phone buzzing, which I assume is what woke me up.
"yo," I sigh, hand-combing my hair back from my face and looking at the clock, squinting until I'm able to make out the time. It's around six or so.
"Sup Karbro, Solbro told us you'd all up and be back home, by the way, Tavbro and I are all up an' chillin' at his place, thought we'd invite you along," Gamzee drawls, his voice sending a jolt of awakeness into my brain.
"Oh, uh I don't know, let me see if my mom's home," I respond tiredly, heaving myself to my feet to stumble to the door. Hand hovering over the doorknob, I pause, fingers twitching slightly. Wincing, I bring my phone up to my ear.
"I'd rather not guys, I'm tired as dicks, maybe tomorrow, bye," I say quickly, hanging up and putting the device on silent. I move back to my bed and collapse onto it, falling once more into the arms of sleep.
AN:
In response to guest reviewer Wisteria:
No it's correct! (you had me worried for a second because I thought I'd made a mistake) Layla (KK's mom) is using Karkat's cell to text Sollux ('s phone) to keep in touch with Karkat, because Karkat had left his phone at home and Sollux called and all that, sorry that that confused you!