A/N: It's that time of the year again~ And now I feel right updating this story. Please excuse any of OOC-ness that may or may not appear in this chapter or fic. They'll all smooth out eventually especially KK.

Voices seem to slowly echo in his mind, they were faint and muddled but he could hear them nonetheless. Karkat felt himself slowly return to consciousness. He let a groan escape his lips as he sluggishly opened his eyes. Two shadows he'd seen earlier were there, this time much more clearer. Two males resided above him, one leaning over and fixing him with a concerned glance. He ran a hand through his snow white hair and the other person who had been quiet the whole time spoke up.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"Strange way to spend Christmas Eve dear." The old man remarked as well.

"What happened?" Karkat moaned out as he tried to quell the spinning that still remained in his mind.

The girl from earlier had reappeared as well, ice blue eyes containing nothing but boredom. She felt no worry for the fact that she had caused him to be in this position in the first place. "I spritzed you with the perfume and then you passed out." The old man smiled, putting out his hand as a means of help.

"Does this usually happen to you?"

Karkat huffed and took his hand, grunting as he was tugged up and dusted off his pants, looking around confusedly. What happened to him? He could have sworn he was on his way to the exit of the mall when that woman assaulted him with some damn cheap perfume, spraying it right in his face. He must've passed out along the way.

"Uh no...I had an office party and didn't eat anything. Guess I'm suffering from low blood sugar or something." With a sigh, he looked over at the three and nodded a lazy thank you before taking the bag from the old man's outstretched hand and striding off.

The snow was falling freely over New York with a cozy wind to accompany it. Karkat nuzzled into his scarf before setting out, dodging the crowds and slipping through a shortcut to get home faster. This way was open and more full of couples on benches and performers. He raised a brow however when he passed a blond guy with a purple highlight in his hair. He was struggling with a large ball of Christmas lights. Karkat put it off though with a shrug and continued on. When he made it into his apartment, eager to plop onto the couch, he was distressed to see that the elevator was broken. He mumbled a curse and trudged over to the staircase. After wrestling with that turmoil, he made up upstairs and heaved a relieved sigh. Just as he reached his door, the door next to him opened. An old woman with a warm smile peered through the door and greeted Karkat with a cheery 'hello~'.

"Oh hello Ms. Crocker. Nice to be seeing you today.." He feigned a smile to hide the amount of stress he had just suffered. If the other had noticed, she spoke nothing of it. She pat his shoulder and eyed the bags on his arm.

"Shopping for Christmas eh? That's quite a lot of trinkets and clothes you have."

"Heh yeah. I guess it is."

"Well then, I see you went through the stairs. That darn elevator has been out of order for a long time and the landlord hasn't done a thing about it. I keep telling them to fix it but they don't listen." She huffed as she glared at the 'out of order' sign set on the doors on the elevator.

Karkat nodded, glancing at his door and reaching for the knob. "Well I get how you feel. It's pretty fucking irritating that the landlord can't make time out of his obviously meaningless schedule to fix up the thing. But anyways, I'm kind of busy and I have to uh.."

"Oh yes! I made you a treat as well." She handed off a tasty looking cake to him. "It's a chocolate peppermint poke cake~ An old family treat. Better than fruitcake if I do say so myself hoo hoo!"

Karkat raised a brow but nodded, taking the cake with a half-hearted thank you. He turned away from her and rushed inside, closing the door but he still heard her yell, 'Merry Christmas!' through the door. He dropped all of his bags on the ground, his legs nearly giving in to relaxation as he entered his apartment and plopped onto his couch. He noticed the answering machine light glowing and smiled, leaning over to push the button.

"Maybe it's that lisping fuckass come to actually talk and not cower in some pungent corner again."

It wasn't. Instead of the usual bored yet cocky tone with a lisp, it was a chipper voice. He sounded nervous as well.

"Hey! This is John. Your uh, blind date for tonight that Meulin set up for you. No wait, that sounds kinda weird, doesn't it? Heh, well I got your message and I think the Midnight Crew Bar at seven o' clock sounds pretty sweet. So uh yeah, see you then!"

Karkat rolled his eyes, clicking the message off and lying down on the couch. He debated on whether or not he should go along with the date. Like he had told Tavros, it would be rather rude to just skip it and leave the poor sap alone at the bar. Instead, he ignored the denial in him and eventually arose from his comfy position on the couch. Might as well get this over with.

It was 7:10 when he walked into the Midnight Crew Bar. He fixed his gloves nonchalantly, looking around the hustling groups of people for anyone who sat alone at a table. Of course he saw a few but he set his sights on the particular man at the table in front of him. He wore hues of indigo and black, a beanie resting comfortably on the wild dark curls on his head. He was staring absentmindedly at the ice cubes floating in his drink with a serene smile. Oh great. This guy must be an imbecile judging by how he looks. Karkat stepped closer, leaning to get a good look at his face.

"Uh, John?"

The stranger glanced up, eyes registering the person in front of him. He blinked at the name, seeming a tad confused as he looked Karkat over.

"Roxy?"

Karkat blinked as well at the name, shaking his head quickly as he stood straight back up. Nope, that definitely was not him. He felt sort of thankful for not having to deal with this guy.

"Oh no. Sorry about that, wrong blind date."

The other seemed to nod, still staring at him curiously when someone else stood. They surveyed Karkat for a moment and slowly smiled.

"Karkat?"

Found him.

A/N: Yay, I got this chapter done and over with. Yes, I like Gamzee and Roxy as a couple. No, she will not be appearing in this story. Stay tuned for another chapter~