Sollux, you giant motherfucker.
After the brief kiss, Karkat had sat in a daze, furious expression slowly forming on his face. Sollux had taken those few moments of disorientation to affectionately tap Karkat's cheek, then get the hell out of dodge. Thus, he was safely out of Karkat's range when Karkat began to explode. The other occupants of the dormitory were less than pleased with the sudden increase in noise, and shouted annoyed responses back. After screaming himself out of rants, Karkat sat on his bed, hands fisted in his hair. Elsewhere in the building, somebody yelled 'FINALLY'. Karkat sucked in huge breaths as he tried to figure out what just happened.
Sollux is bi. Sollux is bi and he just sucked face with you, you spineless shitstain. The worst part was, he wasn't even sure what he was angry about. This sucks and I hate everyone. Karkat flopped backwards on Sollux' bed, arms crossed over his torso. He rolled to the side, his face disturbingly close to Sollux' pillow. He stared at it angrily for a moment before grabbing it and yelling into it. That was… satisfying. The room was calm for a minute before he flung it at the wall. Then he rolled over and was still. Fuck everything.
Karkat was rudely awakened about four hours later by Sollux hooking a hand on his hip and dragging him to the edge of the bed.
"MMgnh what the FUCK, why are you ALWAYS in my FUCKING bed?" he screeched, flailing. He stopped when he saw Sollux' serious expression.
"Shut the hell up. You're in my bed, retard, so get up. Aradia's in the hospital," Sollux said, grabbing his wallet from his desk and shoving it in his pocket.
"What?" Karkat shot up from the bed, fully awake. "What happened? When?" Sollux shook his head, then grabbed Karkat's arm.
"I'll explain on the way, come on. Equius took her, and I don't think she wants to be alone with him for very long."
Sollux strode quickly out of the room, pulling Karkat along with him. Karkat felt the rapid awakening catching up to him and stumbled over his own feet a few times. Sollux looked back at him over his glasses.
"Sorry, are you okay?" Karkat realized for the first time that his eyes were two different colors. He barely held back a snort. Figures.
"I'm fine. Come on, don't slow down now, fuckass," Karkat said with a look of disdain. Sollux laughed through his nose, and threw him a shaky smile. Yeah, Sollux needed this as much as he did.
"Yeah, well, maybe if I wasn't practically carrying your sorry ass, KK…" Sollux was rolling his eyes as he talked, but it was a halfhearted effort. Karkat fell into step with the other as they neared the parking lot.
"Yeah, yeah, I could run to the hospital faster than your crappy car could get there," he shot back, squeezing the hand that still grasped his own. Sollux scoffed in disbelief.
"Oh screw you and the horse you rode in on- now you're insulting my car? Get the fuck out, idiot." The two got in the car. Karkat felt like he might be doing a good job calming Sollux down.
"Maybe I would, if somebody would let go of my hand…" Karkat said, pointedly looking away from their still entwined hands.
"Shut it, bro. Both of us know you're the one who's clinging to MY hand like a baby." The car revved to life, and Sollux peeled out of the parking lot.
"Okay, wow, I haven't even been able to feel my circulation this entire fucking time. You need to reevaluate your life choices, Captor."
For the rest of the ride to the hospital, Sollux's hand remained on Karkat's over the center console, fingers rubbing idly over the other's knuckles.
Sollux's 'emergency driving' was…an experience, for lack of a better word. As the car weaved and skidded it's way across town, Karkat occupied his time trying to convince his stomach it liked where it was in life. The hospital wasn't much better. Karkat was starting to remember why he hated the doctor's office so much. He gulped, feeling a strange panicky sensation rise in his stomach as they passed a man clutching a wet, red towel to his stomach. In the middle of children with broken arms and adults with blood gushing out of their face, Kanaya was sitting on a bench in the emergency room wait area. A strange expression was sitting awkwardly on her features. Karkat recognized it seconds later as pure fury, although far more subdued than his own.
"Kanaya, what are you doing here? What the fuck happened?" He ran over to her, Sollux not far behind. She turned away from them in the chair, and when she spoke, her voice was horse.
"Sorry, Karkat…I am not really in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment," she warned, cheek resting on her fist.
"Well that's goddamn nice and all, guess what? Neither am I, where the hell is Aradia?" Karkat asked, already on edge. Kanaya looked down at the floor at the mention of Aradia.
"She is behind those doors," she said, gesturing to a set of double doors across the room. "We are not permitted to see her yet."
Karkat was about to 'fuck permission', only to find that Sollux was already doing so with gusto. He had run across the room, and slipped through the doors just as Karkat looked up. Shit. He followed, busting through the doors and immediately feeling disoriented. So many people. It took a few minutes, but he finally found Sollux, leaning over someone on a stretcher parked in the hallway. A few locks of long, dark hair hung over the edge. Suddenly, Karkat felt very, very out of place.
What the fuck am I doing? Aradia's in the hospital, why the hell would she want to see me?
He stood there for a moment, feeling pretty fucking useless, before stepping slowly forward. You numbfuck just do it, say hello to your hospitalized friend. He noticed there was an I.V. next to her, the tube leading presumably to her arm. …well shit. It's okay, you can do it. The stomach churning was slowly being replaced by a fluttery, lightheaded feeling as he tried to forget about the I.V. needle and approached the stretcher. Sollux looked up when he noticed Karkat, frown heavy on his face.
"KK…this is pretty bad." Karkat finally got to the point where he could see Aradia, and-
As he took in her appearance, several thoughts ran rapid fire through Karkat's head, which felt like it was full of fizzling soda.
"Karkat?" Aradia's voice cut through the sudden nausea.
…what the FUCK is wrong with her arm? Did the paramedics even DO anything? It's still basically covered in red, and- …seriously, arms aren't supposed to bend there- There was a sudden sensation of rushing air, and then a crack.
"KK!"
Karkat woke up in an unfamiliar backseat strewn with empty vitamin water bottles and random broken electronics and fitness equipment.
"W…where-" It smells like piss and old socks in here, god. He sat up, groaning. "Shit, it's like I mugged myself."
"I assure you, that's not entirely dissimilar to what happened," an annoyed voice from the front seat commented. Shit.
"Equius?" Karkat pulled himself forward, narrowing his eyes. "What the fuck…where the fuck did you come from? What happened, and why the hell am I in your car?" He asked, leaning on the back of the passenger's seat. They were parked near the E.R. carport. Equius' frown grew.
"I am the one who brought Aradia here after the incident. And the only reason I am out here with you is because I cannot be present during the procedures. Relatives only. After sneaking behind the doors- against the rules- you lost consciousness. I assume it was due to the sight of Aradia's injury. I took pity on you, and carried you out as per her wishes. In addition, I would watch my tone when speaking to a teacher." Equius sounded fairly calm, but his eyes were hidden behind the stupid scratched sunglasses he wore constantly.
Karkat rolled his eyes. "Oh, fuck that noise, Zahhak. You're not a teacher, you're a student, just like the rest of us. So drop the 'high and mighty' shit."
"You will…you will treat me with respect," Equius said shakily. His forehead was becoming shiny. Gross.
"I'll treat you with respect when you stop being such a gigantic tool. Uh… so what happened to Aradia's arm?" Karkat asked, kicking aside some bottles to reposition his knee.
"An unauthorized, illegal dog was brought on campus by a student. For one reason or another, it attacked Aradia as she returned to her dormitory. I happened to…realize what was happening, and was able to find her before she lost too much blood." …Wow. Equius was definitely avoiding some key details there.
"Really, you just 'happened' to 'realize' what was going on? Yeah, because the owner of the dog was over at your dorm, loadstain," Karkat said, leaning forward. Equius turned around in his seat in a flash.
"I would never hurt Aradia! Ever!" Equius' voice shook, and now sweat was dripping down his face. "It was extremely likely that she would have gone unnoticed where she was if I hadn't found her and brought her here!"
Something suddenly didn't sit well with Karkat. He thought of Kanaya, waiting angrily in the E.R.
"Wait…then what is Kanaya doing here? Didn't she come with you guys?"
"Kanaya Maryam? Aradia told me to call her, but even so, she arrived quite a time later, about twenty-five minutes after Aradia went in for treatment." Karkat sat back after a moment, eyes narrowed. Kanaya, knowing Aradia was in the hospital, took her damn sweet time coming here? It wasn't even like she was asleep or anything- she was with Terezi. She was in Vriska and Terezi's dorm. She wouldn't have left in half an hour.
Karkat shoved the door open.
"Where are you going?" Equius asked, drops of sweat hitting the window as his head turned to see Karkat.
"To find out what the fuck's going on," Karkat growled as he slammed the door shut. When he entered the waiting room, Kanaya was sitting in the same place as she was before, with a smoldering look directed at a fake plant. "Kanaya!" She looked up, slightly startled.
"Karkat, are you alright now? What happened back there?"
"Not really a thing right now, Kanaya- what did you do before coming here? Aradia called you half a fucking hour before you came, don't tell me you were changing into some sort of retarded special hospital-visiting dress," Karkat said, desperate to hear- tell me you're not a part of this, tell me you weren't helping Vriska ruin someone's life again. Kanaya looked at the ground, a frown on her lipsticked lips. She licked them to moisten them, then looked up.
"After Aradia called me to tell me she was coming here, I…knew immediately who had done it. Vriska had probably overheard Terezi and I talking. So I went to Vriska's bedroom and…punched him," she finished lamely. Karkat stared.
"Pun…punched 'him'? Who the hell is 'him'?" Kanaya gave him a withering look, clenching and unclenching a well-manicured fist.
"Tavros Nitram, of course. It was his dog." Karkat suddenly felt fucked up.
"And…and Vriska was there?" he asked slowly. Kanaya nodded.
"She didn't seem to mind- as usual, she seemed…curious," Kanaya said, sighing deeply.
"Is he okay?" Karkat's eyes were wide. Kanaya shrugged.
"It was a misunderstanding. He didn't mean to hurt anyone. I helped him clean up some of the blood afterwards." Karkat stared at her, then backed up until his knees hit the seat across from her. He flopped down, and let his forehead drop into his hand.
"You 'helped him clean up ...the blood', oh my god. This is getting too complicated. Fuck. You punched…you punched Vriska's boyfriend, who also happens to be Gamzee's roommate. Fucking shit, Kanaya, I need graphs for the amount of fuckery that is going on right now and how badly I'm going to be-" he stopped, noticing the silence emanating from Kanaya. "Uh…sorry."
There was an awkward few moments, before Karkat spoke up again.
"At least we avenged Aradia," he offered. Kanaya snorted, before chuckling. Karkat watched her as her laughs became louder and more frustrated, and if her hands were wet and smeared with black where they smushed up against her eyes, he wasn't going to say anything.
So heyyy, here's the chapter!
Updates will probably get slow until the end of summer due to a job I have with limited computer access. I'll probably have more time for actual writing though, so who knows if it might actually make updates faster.