AN: I feel horrible as I type this. I stood up till four to finish this. It has been more than a month for me to get this done . . . I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for disappointing all of you. I started school and had been caught up with that and just haven't been motivated. It's no excuse, and I'm very sorry. Hopefully this is a good chapter, it is indeed the longest one yet, and I honestly feel a bit happy with it. I can understand your impatience and concern over the long wait, but here it is. Have a good day, and enjoy. -Porcy

A month had passed. And thus a quarter of August was now gone. The heat's seether was calming down its rage and now it was just a subtle flow of the wind. The apartment complex remained the same and Karkat's peace was settled. Nothing came to bother or disturb him, and that was what he most liked.

Karkat kept his head down facing his animating feet and sidewalk. He had decided over his passed college courses he would take a walk down central town. It'd been a while since he stepped into the fresh air and sunshine of the outside, and mostly he didn't pleasure it. The sun wasn't his cup of tea for an enjoying or ideal day for him, as he was pale and a night owl to his grey heart. His light grey jacket he still wore during the summer was under a black shirt, and his black hair and bangs shaggy.

Karkat almost forgot how the other parts of town looked as he was leaving the area of the complex. He could actually see more thick trees blooming in the grass surrounded with cement and all cars alike driving down the lanes and roads. Few teenagers walking down the sidewalk with music blasting in their headphones and some people just saying hello to their town. Despite his hatred of being around people, he got over it for today. It seemed he had needed a quick dive with the sun for his complexion and perhaps his overall mood. Sheer happiness did need its light after all.

It was a pretty town with nice stores and a nice scenery. That was all Karkat wanted to please his need than a cheap apartment and fishing for rare finances every day of his life. His apartment complex was farther away from the central part of town, where the town became more scarce and quiet the closer you were to the land's exit. He never thought of moving anywhere else as money was tight already. Except as he's witnessed the town wasn't necessarily the safest place around. As he witnessed from Gamzee, an ostracized druggie with face paint to cover up his problems within. That was what Gamzee was as he realized on that night; Gamzee's eyes weren't bloodshot like how they were most of the time. The bags under his eyes even worse than Karkat. He could remember it like he was staring at a clear pane of glass, his face glued upon the surface and feeling like there was no chance for the glue to dissipate. Gamzee was sober. He knew this by the sudden depression Gamzee had carved upon his riddled face. He would twitch at any given time in conversation and most of all, Karkat could see inside of Gamzee that he was completely losing it.

Yet Karkat did nothing. There were times where he would loathe himself over his carelessness of their situation. Maybe it was all his fault. He felt it was. Gamzee didn't recover from the drugs soon enough, no help therapeutically or a trip to a rehabilitation clinic. After Karkat left Gamzee's life for good he had no clue how he succeeded in sobriety's rocky mountains, or if he even completely did.

It was all a mystery of what was behind the face paint.

The blinding sun's rays splashed into Karkat's eyes after he took a step from the engulf of a large canopy. He covered his eyes as he squinted. God I hate the sun. He thought as he looked left and right to walk down the street. To his right he saw a park with a few kids swinging on swings and a couple running around in the playground, and at the opposite side there were more buildings. He looked back down on the ground and he could already feel the sensation of the sun sneak up to his head and back.

I hate the sun so much.

"Karbro? Is that you bro?" Karkat heard a painfully reminiscent voice, and he knew who it was by a blink of an eye. Gamzee's voice was deep and sluggish. His words stretched out and he always sounded like he was never paying attention. Which is quite fitting for him. Karkat's head turned to his left to see Gamzee at the other side of the sidewalk, walking out of his job and waving like he was a child.

Karkat scoffed, and sighed. It had been two months, maybe he could've kept that record if he just stayed inside.

Gamzee was wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of black baggy pants with grey dots. His strands of black wavy hair that reached to his neck curling up, the sunlight reflecting a true smile at almost every strand. The make-up is gone. Karkat thought. It had been a while since he saw Gamzee's face without all that crud, his face could almost seem normal now. Karkat kicked himself in the head, or, he wish he could do that when their faces met.

Gamzee looked both ways, before he paced and jaywalked across the novice street. His smile could've lasted for eons staring at Karkat as they finally met face to face.

He was like a tower to Karkat. His eyes peering over his smoky eyes. He was about a head and a half taller than him despite his poor slouch, while Karkat was about an amateur height based on others. In his teens he hated being short while everyone else was nearing the six-foot mark. He despised people looking down at him as they talked, feeling as if he was a chastised child. He loathed being not what he wanted to be. Before he was eighteen he had gotten a growth spurt, making him at least ranging in the average height of a female. But alas, he was still not happy.

"Karbro," Gamzee's deep voice had a bit of a rasp to it. "have you been all up and fuckin' distracted for a month?"

Karkat wanted to step back from him. "Yes fuckass. I've been going to college courses."

"College?" Gamzee's eyebrows rose up, as if he was flabbergasted of even the thought of college. "That's motherfuckin' interestin', brotha."

"Yeah, sure." He muttered.

Gamzee smiled down at Karkat, and attempted to wrap his arms around for a "glad to see you again in the flesh" hug. He slouched, his brain instantly declining his embrace. "I'm not in the mood."

"Come on," Gamzee pouted. "Do you still not like me?"

Karkat again, was conflicted. Instead of giving an answer, he hugged him. A bitter and grimacing taste tarnishing in his mouth.

"Th-There you go bro." Gamzee chuckled. "Glad to have this miraculous reunion of ours."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Gamzee laughed and hugged back.

He looked around the vastness and the riches of Gamzee's mansion. Holy shit, this is amazing.

Gamzee gazed upon his living room, seeing it all clean and neat. The glass table sitting in front of the plush velvet couch wiped from any rings or spills and the couch not having several shirts and pants resting on the cushions. He turned and stared back at Karkat with a composed grin, seeing Karkat's face shrivel in marvel and surprise.

"How the hell is this place so clean?" Karkat's lips never closed and he kept looking around.

"I did a lil' spring cleanin' . . . except it ain't spring, just fall." Gamzee looked down and pondered. "I guess it's a fall cleanin' for ya bro."

"Did you hire a maid or something? No way in fucking hell you did something responsible."

"But I did, brother!" He chuckled and walked into the kitchen. Karkat followed, expecting he only did a single room with a house as big as his.

He saw on the marble counter there were no baggies of 'his hit-ons' or food sitting since yesterday, in fact it was spotless. The stove and the fridge and the sink was practically perfect. And Karkat's eyes caved in more.

"You want anything?" Gamzee opened the fridge to unravel foods that Karkat could never afford.

"A drink would be okay, I guess."

Gamzee pulled out bottles of Faygo and tossed one to Karkat. He sat down on the counter's very own booth and relaxed without any tension.

"Things have changed. It's all different."

"Don't all up and think of it as that."

"It's like I'm not even in the same goddamn house."

"Things do change. Bro, it's nice to see you again."

Karkat tensed as he looked at Gamzee opening his soda bottle. Immediately upon the snap and the subtle fizz, he drank down the artificial wonder, enlightened by the vibrant cherry flavor.

"If you don't like cherry miracles, there's a few grape and strawberry bottles waitin' for a wicked drink-on. They'd be happy for a good ole buddy to be their good motherfuckin' friend." Gamzee laughed a bit and took another sip.

"You still say this shit is the best thing ever, when it isn't."

Gamzee smiled and his eyes drooped. "It's one of them."

Karkat took a few sips as Gamzee was done with his first bottle. He tossed it into the garbage bin and walked to the fridge again to pull out a grape flavored soda.

Karkat pushed aside of his drink. "What have you been doing after we last fucking met?"

Gamzee's mind outstretched a smile and he turned back to face him. Yet he didn't know how to exactly reply. "Just been workin' and shit. Gotten my life its shine on back. Had a bit of counselin' and now everything's peachy motherfuckin' keen."

"I guess that's good for your smug-ass." Karkat swished around his cherry soda in bitterness.

Gamzee shrugged and glanced at him. "And I see in my mind's good ole eye that you're still explosive Karkat."

"You don't say, do you fuckass?"

"Nah, I can still see the blasphemous stars blazing in them eyes."

Karkat was too confused and annoyed to reply. He took a small sip of his soda.

It was a moment of silence for the two after that. Gamzee was now done with his second soda and turned the plastic bottle to its side. Karkat looked up at Gamzee with a bitter rain cloud's tears blurring his face.

"Wanna play a lil' game to break the ice?"

"I guess?"

"Sure thing. I'll start."

He pinched the top and spun it counter-clockwise. The speed forming it into an illusionary circle. It eventually stopped to point at Karkat again.

"Now ask me a question, bro."

"What the fuck happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Gamzee frowned.

"Nothing, I guess. Did you just do all this to impress me?"

"Nahh . . . I'm as serious as a rock."

"You're probably stoned as a fucking rock right now. I mean the last fucking time you were that, so why should I go blind now?"

Gamzee tried to hold back a bigger frown and instead smiled. "I suppose I don't need to all up and show you the scars of my past. Let this be a composed meet-up and let it all flow through the day. Let this day be for us, you know?"

Karkat sighed. "Fine. I'll stop asking you about it for the rest of the day."

The argument stopped and the bottle kept spinning. Their tongues kept giving out their present lives and stories. It was good enough for Karkat to be distracted.

Gamzee looked worn out after the babbling and talking, he was staring down at the counter with a neutral expression. He didn't pick up another Faygo, and he wasn't proceeding with the game anymore. His arm lied dead on the surface and his eyes were dull as graphite.

"Hey, Karbro," He said without giving him a smile. "I think that maybe we could go up to see the stars, since yours are so motherfuckin' grim still."

"Getting fucking deep all of a sudden?" Karkat recollected the last moment he kept track of the time before they started talking. He remembered it was about four, so it shouldn't even be close enough to nighttime yet. Or at least that's what he thought. Maybe they'd been talking for hours and Karkat couldn't care to notice. Perhaps this accidental meeting was refreshing and worth it. He didn't know. Seeing his best friend transform into someone new, seeing everything he had seen before revised and painted into a better light, and the new lips upon Gamzee's face speaking out about how everything was working out, it felt like he was meeting Gamzee for the first time.

He had always been peculiar about Gamzee. Whether he hated him or not. But at this moment for the first time, he liked Gamzee with pure and true genuine. Perhaps this was a new start.

"C'mon, it's getting late. Let's do this before the big motherfuckin' hand of the Master of Time gets tired."

Without giving a rebuttal, Karkat sighed and walked out with him.

Immediately into nature's sleeping hollow, the wind slapped both of them in the face. Gamzee's wild wavy hair flowed in the wind and Karkat was only blinded by the strands of dark brown shielding his eyes. The sky was a salmon pink. The stars and the moon was close to shining. In both directions the evergreen oaks's branches and thick leaves cooed and swayed. There were no sounds of car alarms or people speaking, and not even the sound of walking. Gamzee, despite his unexcited tiredness, was mesmerized of the evening.

"Motherfucking beautiful. We'll lie down on the Messiah's green sheets and stare deep into the ole black's eyes."

Karkat was always annoyed of how Gamzee personified everything he saw. As if the world was an entire show. He wondered of how he got along with other people behind his back with a speech of a poor riddler. Must be embarrassing. But Gamzee probably wouldn't have cared, as he was just himself. That was all that was worth in his part of society. If he even had one.

The two lied down and stared. Stared at how much the space could show them, and feeling grateful over such a generous limit.

"How do you feel about your miraculous-given life, bro?" Gamzee asked, his hands behind his head.

"I think . . . great, really."

"That's always great to hear. How do you feel about startin' life?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean being what's all up and best for your miracles to get to work." He turned to face Karkat with a lazy smile. "To finally achieve what you wanted, Karbro."

Karkat continued gazing at the sky. "You mean the college courses? A matter of fact, I've felt amazing after I got done with everything. Debt will stop kicking me in the ass and I don't have to see fucking obscene groups of needy people anymore. I'll get a decent job, get paid with decent cash, and life will flow like the fucking water is not even there." He folded his arms behind his head to relieve the knot forming onto his skull of the uncomfortable ground. "Everything now is fucking great."

"I understand." Gamzee kept smiling as best as he could. Mediocrity forming onto his lips.

The sky started to shade into a light gray. "I didn't expect it to be this late. Jesus Christ."

"What, you wanna go now? That's alright if you want to, bro."

"Probably going to go job hunting tomorrow. I might as well."

Gamzee chuckled. "Good ole Karbro, bein' responsible and shit."

Karkat got up and brushed the grass and twigs out of his hair and off his back. "I don't get how you're so fucking rich. Do you just fucking regurgitate the money all out? Heh, people will be a fucking greater race if all the money came from literally themselves . . . well, even that can lead to some corrupted shit." Karkat looked at his feet and sighed. "I'm leaving. I guess I'll see you later, fuckass."

"You serious bro?" Gamzee's eyes lit up, and they in immediate thought calmed down. "Yeah, glad to talk to you!"

Karkat looked at Gamzee with suspicious eyebrows, then stopped and put his hands in his pockets. "See you."

Gamzee then realized that Karkat's walk would last until the moon would start to gleam like a shiny dime. "Wait!"

"Yeah, I know. I didn't bring my car." He scoffed. "Can you drive me to the complex?"

"Sure thing. Hold on."

The nice black camaro Gamzee owned was a luxury in its own to be in. Once the engine was turned on and the gasoline pumping, they were off to the complex.

"Hey-thanks for the ride," Karkat said before closing the car door. He didn't smile, nor did he give a warm goodbye. That was all he said before he turned his back and walked inside his apartment.

Gamzee sighed a long-awaited exhale. His mind had been frozen ever since that afternoon, and now it was beginning its long thaw process. He felt exhausted, when he really wasn't all that tired. He drove back to his mansion with an anticipation for everything to relieve itself.

Once he entered the home, and made sure everything was clear, he took a blunt and lit it, preparing for his lips to be quenched of the 'hit-on'.

I need this. It's all motherfuckin' good. He thought, and he chuckled, waiting for time to serve its miracles.

Everything's all good.

He took another drag, and he could remember when they were both sixteen. Karkat had gotten his new driver's license after a few frustrated failings in driver's ed. They were driving down once dusk had hit; seeing orange streetlights and shadows of walking people. It was evident that Karkat was getting scared of driving once the sun went down, but Gamzee persisted for his bro to go on with a chuckle or two.

Karkat took a sharp turn by the end of the lane and hit the curb. He jumped from his seat while Gamzee laughed.

"It's not fucking funny fuckass!" He yelled as he thrashed his seat belt off. He opened the door in a hurry and examined his mistake.

"Goddammit . . . " He pressed his fingers to his temple as if he was trying to channel the frustration within.

"Bro, come on!" Gamzee pointed to the wheel. "Just keep driving! You didn't damage the car or anythin'. Keep driving and then the stresses are all motherfuckin' gone."

"Fine. Just fucking fine." He got back in the car and fastened his seat belt again. He turned the engine back on and drove off the edge of the sidewalk.

"You got irritated over nothing, brother."

"Well, fuck me then! Sorry for getting fucking worried over killing us both in a stupid car crash that I'd fucking cause!" He gave a sad glare and stared back at the road. "Maybe I care, fuckass."

"That's all good that you care. But maybe you need to relieve your thinkpan with more love instead of worries."

Karkat rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Good for your 'hakuna matata' bullshit."

"How about you stop the car to a safe spot. I got something that'll chill everything out for ya."

He listened and after a few minutes of driving, they found a small abandoned parking lot for a dentist office that never took business. The streetlights gleamed a darker orange.

"Alright, bro," Gamzee said and he pulled out of his pocket a baggie. "this can calm your jumpily nerves since you're so worried of gettin' the car and us crumbled." The baggie was illuminated by the streetlights to reveal joints. "I got you and I covered, bro."

Karkat stared at the baggie. "You want me to smoke it with you?"

"Isn't it the motherfuckin' obvious?" He laughed, and took out a lighter from his front pocket. He lit it twice to get an adequate flame and set the tip on fire.

"I'm just trying to help a friend out."

Karkat looked down at the steering wheel. He sighed stressfully. "Fine. As long as if I won't be a nervous wreck like I always am when I take the wheel."

Gamzee smiled at Karkat and threw him a joint. Once he was done taking the first smoke, he handed the lighter to him.

They both started smoking, and once Karkat was halfway done, he had a smile more wide than Gamzee's. "Gam . . . " He said; his eyes closing at a rapid pace and his smile turning into a grin. "this is fucking magical."

The smoke trailed to the sky from the window. Their mumbles of slurring euphoria getting quieter by each drag. Gamzee would occasionally tell Karkat to "go without the law or anyone's back", He declined, at least the first few times. Gamzee kept laughing and commenting of the night's beauty and stars.

"Karbro-Karbro," Gamzee persisted, his chuckles sounding more happier. "Let's do something fun, you and I. C'mon; listen to your best bro."

Karkat glanced at him. "I've already said no, fuckass."

"Fine. Then we'll ride along the highway till it hits midnight. Fuck, I don't even know what motherfucking time it is now."

"Idiot." Karkat laughed. "Okay, sure. Let's go."

Before Karkat could turn the engine on to drive down the lane, Gamzee saw in his mirror a cop car pulling behind them.

In the present, Gamzee could remember the trip to the police station. They were both high with the evidence found and prosecuted. He remembered, that this wasn't his first time being caught after curfew and having marijuana, but it was now Karkat's first. As he kept reminiscing, he took another drag.

It was all my motherfuckin' fault. He thought quietly. They were both sentenced with days of community service; and Karkat was enraged at Gamzee for the longest time.

Karkat had it rough after that night. They would rarely hang out over Karkat's parents finding out and keeping their son away from him as much as possible, making Gamzee feel horrible over himself. He had no one to go to anymore. It was all his fault.

The sad clown sat down on his couch. He tried curling into a ball, not wanting anything else to enter his mind. He did feel bad through the years, the neurotic guilt and sinking feelings overlapping his quiet but content days or his bursting and happy days. There was no escape. He had been alone for so long, and Karkat was his only friend through the years. The only person that cared about him forgave him.

He was on the couch feeling horrible and melancholy. And this was supposed to be the happiest day he had in a long time.