Sollux comes home a day later as they said, and he honestly seems like he'd never been hurt.

"Thank Christ, it's nice to be home," He sighs as he collapses onto his bed, arms and legs splayed out completely.

"Agreement," I say with a small snort, dropping the small bag with our homework and his laptop beside the bed before I nudge him into a less splayed position so I can lay down beside him.

"I told you that you didn't have to th'tay with me at the hospital," Sollux tells me again as he adjusts his arm to rest underneath my head.

"And I told you that I wouldn't leave you there because you'd bother me every ten seconds about how bored you would be," I reply almost instantaneously.

"Shut up KK," He nudges my shoulder, but I just nudge him back.

We fall into amiable silence for awhile, the both of us just gazing up at the ceiling. It's comforting to just lay here beside him, and I think that this is the first time I've accepted that I really truly love Sollux Captor.

I watch a patch of light on the wall that's formed from the reflection of the setting sun, a few colours blending together on the walls. A buzz from my pocket interrupts me from the peacefulness of the situation and I groan in annoyance.

"Can you not do that phone?"

As if in response it buzzes again, and a third time.

"You should probably an'ther that KK," Sollux murmurs beside me, and I look over to see that he's almost half asleep. Probably because of the painkillers he has to take.

"Yeah I know," I sigh, arching my back in order to work my phone out of my pocket. I unlock it to see that it's my mom that texted me. I scroll through each of the texts, eyebrows creasing slightly as I reach the last one.

"My mom's bought a new apartment, a better one that's a bit further away from the school but basically in the same area," I say, beginning to type a reply.

"Mm, guessing you have to go then?" Sollux asks, looking like it takes a great effort to open his eyes.

"Yeah, I've got to help her get her art supplies and stuff moved." I sit up and lean over to give Sollux a soft kiss, which I feel him smile against. "I text you later ok," I say, brushing his bangs back from his head as he looks up at me, his bi-coloured iris's seeming more vibrant in the late evening light.

"See you KK."

I say a quick goodbye to Thelm before I begin making my way to our old apartment. It feels weird to say that now, 'old apartment'.

Layla is outside waiting for me by the time I get there, and I wave in greeting.

"Sollux all home and good?" She asks first thing. I nod reassuringly,

"Yep, we were just chilling in his room," I tell her.

She nods, "Ok, so we don't have much stuff obviously so there's no point in hiring a truck, basically just pack everything you want to keep and I'll give away anything else," She informs.

"Alright," simple enough.

It's late by the time we finish sorting out our few belongings, and most of the things we'll be transporting is Layla's artwork, which she tells me that there's been a few people interested in buying some of her pieces.

"That's awesome!" I exclaim as we load the last canvas carefully into the back of the car (a car that none of us has touched for years because we've just walked wherever we needed to go).

"Precisely," She agrees with a grin, "And I went ahead and took Nepeta to the apartment, Terezi's mom is watching her for me."

Good, I've been wondering where Nepeta has gone. I smile as I think of how much happier she'll be now.

The car stops and I look at the new apartment building, then look over at my mom in shock, "This looks nicer than hell, how the hell are we going to afford this?" I question. I've been expecting an only slightly nicer place but this is a few levels above my expectations.

My mom smiles sheepishly, "I did say that people were interested in my art, and I decided to accept one of the offers I'd gotten awhile ago, I'm starting work again next week but I've already paid off this months rent."

"Holy shit mom, that's- I don't even have words," I exclaim, giving her a hug.

"Thanks Karkat," She whispers happily.

Nepeta greets me at the door with a hug as Layla leads me to the room before leaving me saying that she's going to get someone to help move our stuff up.

"Karkitty I haven't seen you in furever!" She squeals, arms like vices around my waist.

"I know Nepeta, it's been like a week right?" I reply, loosening her grip enough so that I can walk into the apartment. I recognize Terezi's mom watching from what I assume is the living room. She nods and smiles at me as I return the actions.

"My mom's downstairs if you want to go talk to her, thanks for watching Nepeta for us," I thank her.

"You're welcome, it's no trouble really, and I will go talk to her, nice seeing you Nepeta," Terezi's mom says briskly, but still in a friendly way. I get the feeling that she's a lawyer or something.

Once Terezi's mom leaves, Nepeta begins tugging on my hand, "Karkitty let me show you my room!" She leads me to on of the first doors in a hallway and I see that she's definitely claimed the room as hers, she's pinned up almost all of her drawings and pictures. I see that all of her other stuff had already been moved in as well.

"This can be your room!" She says next, urging me to follow her into the next door which I see is a room a bit bigger than hers and with darker blue walls instead of light sky-blue ones.

"And then there's the rest of the place! It's so nice!" She exclaims, throwing her arms out wide and grinning.

"It really is Nep," I smile, ruffling her hair, "I bet it's going to be nice here."

Nepeta grins at me and runs off to her new room, saying something about finishing a project. I walk into my new room, gazing at the walls and touching the spot where the doorknob meets the wall behind it, feeling no dents or scratches. It hits me then, I don't have to be scared of Silas anymore, he's not going to come in and beat me for playing my music too loudly, or for playing with Nepeta. I don't have to worry about how I'm going to survive the week and what sort of new jobs I'll have to find.

I smile behind my hand, but I'm not yet crying, something I'm sort of proud of.

I'm going to talk to Sollux.

AN: Nope not over yet, just wait