(Karkat POV)

I wake up to the warmth of sunlight on my face, and it takes me a moment to even remember where I am before I felt Sollux shift beside me, then I realize we're laying in the truckbed, still at the park, and it has to be around ten o'clock at the earliest. Sitting up and glancing around, I notice that only a few others are awake, but they don't seem to be in any hurry. I sit up and glance down at the arm slung across my waist, a small smile alighting my face as he shifts to slowly blink up at me. His brilliant eyes make me feel strangely happy as he pulls away, rubbing at his face to wake himself up.

"Morning KK," He mumbles lightly, smiling at me as he also looks around.

"Morning, seems like we're skipping out on school, such a tragedy," I smirk while glancing at the time on my phone, seeing that my assumption is correct.

"Hm, I think that Dirk thaid that thcool wath canthelled though, tho it doethn't matter." Sollux slides to the end of the truck to step down onto the ground. I watch his retreating back and find myself smiling at the way his rumpled shirt is sliding off one of his shoulders and hair is sticking up in crazy spikes.

I watch him walk over to Porrim, who is leaning against a tree and eating an apple. They begin to have a conversation and I take a moment to glance at my phone, seeing I had gotten a text from my mom.

to: Karkat
From: mom

Nepeta went to a friends house and I'm assuming you did too, be back by tonight though, you have school tomorrow.

I slam the palm of my hand against my forehead then hiss at my idiocy, I can't believe I forgot Nepeta! I reply quickly before sliding my phone into my pocket, beginning to walk over to where Sollux is now talking to Rufioh, who's standing next to Porrim with the others beginning to wake up as well.

"Mornin Karkat, I'm hoping you and Sollux slept well since you took off without warning," I turn away from his smirk, successfully keeping my face emotionless. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Sollux smirking in response, not a single fuck being given from him.

"Yeah, we're good, but I bet we didn't mith much," He replies, a slight bit of sass to his tone.

"Oh kid, you callin us boring?" Meenah shouts at Sollux, running up behind him to wrap her arms around his shoulders and force him to fall. At least, that would've happened if her plan hadn't malfunctioned, and if Sollux didn't know self defense. He sighs as he looks down at the shocked Meenah sitting on the ground it the middle of the mini circle. She slowly turns to look at him, blank faced until a shit eating grin appears.

"Damn Sollux, nice moves!" She exclaims, jumping up.

"It'th not like I haven't flipped Mituna a few timeth in front of you, did you forget or thomething?" He says nonchalantly, almost bored, like he didn't just flip Meenah over his shoulder with just one arm. I look at the others and see a few of them are as equally shocked as I am, but just stare wide eyed as Sollux shrugs.

"Well don't go around flipping everyone or anything, I'm sure most of us wouldn't appreciate it," Porrim says offhandedly, but with a small smile on her face.

Sollux snorts in response, "It's not like I'd want to do that anyway, that would be tho much work," He groans in exaggeration, mock falling backwards as if standing was too much.

"Oh stop being such a smartass," Aranea cuts into the conversation, smiling as she punches Sollux's shoulder and walking over to stand by Meenah. I notice that everyone is up and moving around now, grabbing food from where it had been packed away the night before, and a few of them texting on their phones while talking to someone else. Seems like a pretty normal morning.

I notice Gamzee and Tavros talking and I walk over to join them, seeing them grin cheekily at me.

"Sup Karbro, we missed you and Solbro last night," Gamzee greets, waggling his eyebrows at me. Tavros elbows Gamzee's ribs, but joins him in shooting me looks.

"But uh besides that, this is the last day we can work on the song you know, since Friday we're preforming and everything."

"Shit, I actually forgot for a bit, but I think what we need to do is not worry about it, I mean, it is just a school project that the class will watch..." I begin to trail off, thinking about how it was and wasn't a big deal in two different ways, then shake my head, "But we should be fine...I think."

They seem to agree and we stand and talk until Kankri calls me over.

"I'm assuming that you guys will need to head home since you will resume school tomorrow," he states simply, but looking at me in a knowing way that for some reason makes me unnecessarily uncomfortable.

"Uh, yeah, and I'm guessing you guys are going to stay here for awhile?"

"Of course," He tilts his head at me, "Do you wish for me to drive you and your friends home since we aren't going to do anything for a bit?"

I shrug, "Sure, if it's convenient for you."

I watch as he walks over to Cronus, able to tell that he was telling him where he was going. Sollux walks over to me, giving me a sideways look but not saying anything.

Before either of us could start a conversation Kankri walks over, brandishing his keys before walking back to our mass parking spot. Gamzee and Tavros are following close behind us we quickly get into his car.

He decides to just drop us all off at Rufiohs, since Gamzee was mostly staying there anyway and it wasn't a terribly far walk to Sollux and my houses. Sollux and I decide not to stay, and since about halfway to my house he can just split off in a different direction to get to his, we partially walk home together.

When we reach the spot where he usually goes down the other sidewalk to get to his house, I barely notice when he stops walking until I glance back, seeing he's staring white-faced at the street-sign.

:Sollux POV:

We're just walking to the place where we usually split off when I feel a rush of fear run through me, stopping me in my tracks. No...It couldn't be fear, it had to be doom. I can see him stop walking but all I can focus on is the street sign in front of me. Scratch Avenue, such a strange name for an avenue. I can hear Karkat asking me if I'm alright, and I find that I can't respond. I jerkily nod my head, but then I'm taking a few steps away.

He shouts at me more, eyes wide with worry, and I shake my head. After a few more moments of me keeping a few steps away from him, the feeling vanishes, as if someone had decided to flip a switch.

"Sollux?"

I look at Karkat, trying to put on a facade.

"I'm fine, sorry, I just...thought about something." fucking deceiving speech patterns goddamnit

He doesn't look like he believes me, and that makes me feel bad but it isn't like I can really explain it. "Are you sure? Do you want to come over to my place?-"

"No!" The panic flares and I accidentally shout at him, I have to take a deep breath, "No, It's fine, Sorry, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure-?"

"Yes, it's fine, I'm going home," I reply. He looks slightly hurt, but covers it up with a scowl.

"Fine asshole, see you tomorrow at school."

I watch him walk away, with each step my guilt grows, but the panic that made my stomach sink is vanishing, and the conflicting emotions make me want to just sit down and scream.

Unfortunately, I know I can't do that.

So I begin my walk home, then find myself sprinting through the neighborhood to stop in front of the door, quickly grabbing the hidden key and letting myself in and running to my room.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK" I hiss, trying to think of anything that would've possibly caused burst of panic and overwhelming feeling of doom. I punch the wall, not feeling any better now that my knuckles are bruised and a dent has been formed. I sit down on my bed, threading my fingers through my hair and tugging slightly, trying to grasp anything.

MY thoughts are racing through my head, and I'm so unfocused I only catch snippets of what I'm thinking as I retreat back into my mind.

Scratch Avenue must have some significance-

Karkat was walking away from me-

I couldn't move or speak...-

Why did I panic like that?!

I muffle my scream with my pillow. Why the hell can't I focus?!

Fucking fuck I fell asleep, why did I do that, why do I succumb myself to this torture?

I can't see, and yet I can still tell that this is a lucid dream. My vision seems to be shrouded by some sort of dark fabric, but I can't move my arms. I feel as if they're weighed down with lead, unable to even twitch my fingers. I'm able to twist my neck though, but when I do a shooting pain runs down my side, and I scream as-

"Thollux!"

I look up at my dad from my sprawled position on the floor, then groan as I curl up and press a hand against my ribs. I've somehow managed to fall on top of one of the many computer monitors sitting around my room.

"Ugh, what dad," I hiss, squinting in pain as I hear him take a few steps closer to me.

"You were th'creaming in your th'leep, it's three am and thome of uth need to retht," he huffs in response. I can tell he's just woke up because his lisp keeps butchering his sentences. I attempt sitting up and wince as I move to sit on top of my bed.

"Th'orry dad, I didn't mean to, I just had a bad dream," I explain with the least amount of details as possible. He nods in an understanding way.

"Try to thleep tonight, I'm not dragging your ath out of bed in the morning, if you're late you're late," he mutters, closing the door as he leaves.

I contemplate for a few moments before sitting up straight and lifting up the shirt I fell asleep in. I press a hand against the few ribs I fell on and wince, I'm such a clumsy fuck that I hurt myself in my sleep, Jesus.

"Damn." I murmur, then fall back onto my mattress, not caring much anymore. Before I fall into the dreamless arms of sleep, I feel a thought probing at the back of my mind.

That wasn't a dream.