The car ride back to campus was quiet and awkward. Kanaya had elected to ride in Sollux's car, and he had nodded at Karkat to let Kanaya have the front seat. Karkat slumped in the backseat without arguing, too wrapped up in his racing thoughts to put up any fight. Kanaya spent the ride staring blankly out the window. Karkat was just…confused. Lost. Kanaya had put to rest the suspicion he had about her involvement in Aradia's 'accident', but he still had the feeling that he could trust no one. Someone had known Aradia was becoming involved…someone who was talking to Vriska- or maybe it was Vriska herself. His eyes landed on the back of Sollux's head with that stupid haircut that looked like he was trying to crop it, then lost interest towards the front and just pushed all his hair forward. The stare turned into a glare. Stupid fuckhead, making me want to touch your hands for stupid reasons like a fucking girl. He kicked Sollux's seat, and was promptly ignored- except that might be lips quirking into a tiny smirk. Karkat threw his head back in frustration. The campus lights moved into view, and Karkat never felt so much dread.
It was only an hour later that Karkat waited by a lamppost for the Benz that swung into the parking lot.
"You called?" Eridan asked, almost cheerful.
"Yeah. I don't wanna sleep here right now," Karkat said, hanging onto the doorframe and leaning into the car. Actually, I do. I really fucking do want to sleep here right now, considering someone I would very much like to beat up and then kiss is here, but whatever.
"Well then get in, pal. Did you bring your jammies?"
"Shut the fuck up, Eridan." Karkat swung into the car, throwing his backpack on the floor. "Let's get out of here."
They ended up at the beach again, this time empty of any late night beachgoers- considering it was only about two hours until sunrise, not too unusual. Eridan once again displayed his ability to pick up his phone awake and ready any hour of any day, as well as the additional talent of always managing to have Starbucks in his hand when he showed up. Karkat crossed his arms against the early morning chill, staring out at the murky gray expanse. Eridan was poking his straw around in his drink when Karkat decided to just get to the point and see if Eridan had any information.
"Do you know anything about what happened to Aradia?" Eridan's hand stilled, before resuming the stirring with renewed vigor. The early morning light creeping into the sky made his rings glitter with purple. He tilted his head back and side-eyed Karkat, who was watching him closely.
"What do you mean?" Eridan asked, a weird lilt to his voice that wasn't there before. Karkat snorted.
"Yeah, okay, that's believable, shithole. Since you totally have no fucking clue what I'm talking about…Aradia's in the hospital with a piece of fucking beef jerky for an arm. Apparently some conveniently located dog with a taste for freaky goth chicks decided that 3 AM was a great time to act on its insatiable urges and try to fucking eat her. Coincidentally, that dog happened to belong to Tavros Nitram. The current boyfriend of one Vriska Sekret." He leaned back and glared at Eridan. This is fucking suspicious as hell. "You usually seem pretty well-updated on stuff, but I guess it can't be helped, it did just happen a few hours ago, right?"
Eridan flexed his hand and took a long sip of his drink.
"Yeah. I didn't know that. That she would go after Aradia. It's not like she was a big deal or anything," he said, shaking his head.
"It must be how close we are. I mean, we're always hanging out, it's pretty obvious." Karkat's eyes were narrow. Eridan's eyebrows furrowed.
"I thought it was just that day in the cemetery-" he began, then stopped short. His eyes were nervous. "Not that I wouldknoworanything-"
…you fucking son of a bitch. Karkat lunged forward, fists rolling in Eridan's collar as he shoved the other up against the driver's side window. The drink fell to the floor of the car, oozing out onto the carpet by Karkat's feet.
"IT WAS YOU, YOU TOLD HER, YOU FUCKING FOLLOWED US DIDN'T YOU YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT," Karkat punctuated each word with a harsh shake. "NOW SOMEONE'S IN THE GODDAMN HOSPITAL! You realize this makes you just as much of a psychopathic tool as Vriska, you fucking idiot?" Eridan put his hands up defensively before curling his fingers around Karkat's wrists.
"Kar, please, I'm sorry, let me explain, calm down and let me explain!" Eridan's voice was quick and frantic, whether from the unappealing position or true desperation. "It was stupid, Kar. I was stupid."
Karkat stopped and waited for a moment, breath still seething and short, then finally released his grip. He immediately turned towards the passenger side window.
"Take me back. Right now, you fucking douche," he hissed. Eridan ran a hand through his hair, then fisted both hands in it as he leaned over the steering wheel.
"Kar, I…I'm really fucking sorry. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, I just wanted-"
"You just wanted what? Congratulations, you just made the biggest bitch ass move I've had the pleasure of experiencing in years. Never mind, I'm going to walk home." Karkat sneered as he went to open his door, but was stopped by Eridan's hand on his arm.
"Wait, man, please. Just let me take you back, and we can just forget this happened."
"It's not that fucking easy, you moron. I'm not just going to smile and make up with you then put up with the mess your stupid ass decisions about the veracity and integrity of your fucking sociopathic former crushes create, I'm going to return the gesture with a nail bat to your face. Damn straight I'm going to hold a grudge here. You have no idea what a great fucking job I'm doing in dealing with this thing that you did, and you better hope to God you never do. Now take me the fuck back and maybe I'll consider ever speaking to you again." Eridan seemed speechless from the amount of syllables that just left Karkat's mouth. Good. Pathetic shit.
It might have been because everyone seemed to be laying low, but the few remaining days before the week of the party went quickly. Nothing notable happened, and his interactions with his friends were infrequent and unremarkable. Kanaya was nowhere to be found, and Terezi seemed just as amused with events as always. Things seemed disappointingly normal with Sollux, who had reverted to his pre-kiss behavior. They grabbed lunch together a few times, but things were rather non-intimate. Karkat wasn't sure if this was relieving or infuriating. He didn't really have time to think about it too hard when classes started picking up, but he still found himself sleepless, staring at the other's back across the dark dorm room, glaring like Sollux's old t-shirt could tell him what its owner couldn't. He also felt a weird urge to be where he was resting his eyes. Sollux's posture was just as bad as Karkat's own, but his back was longer. Probably bonier, too. Would curling up against it be anything like curling up against Terezi, whose deceptively thin frame hid a solid wall of a physique? Or would it be more robotic and artificial- unnatural? It was on Sunday night, five days until the party, that Karkat stood up and walked over to Sollux's bed. He stood by the bed for a second, wavering in his indecision. One knee found its way to the mattress, then the other followed. He kneeled over Sollux, tiredness seeping in past his eyes and settling behind him. Karkat fell asleep that night against the curve of Sollux's spine, and five minutes later, pulled up against his chest.
In the dark hours of Monday morning, Karkat woke up in a haze of disorientation. He felt warm and…happy? Content? Karkat couldn't remember the last time he woke up without a complaint or annoyed thought about something. He rolled over- or tried to. What the fuck? Something was wrapped around his waist.
Lanky arms against his t-shirt-
A shot of panic shot up Karkat's body, and he shoved the arms away from him, breaking the hold. Sollux's confused groan snapped him back to actuality. There's no psychotic roommate here, there's no fucking personality swaps- well, apart from the regular ones at least. Sollux was sitting up now, looking at Karkat as he rubbed at his eyes.
"KK?" Sollux mumbled as his hand drifted up to reach out to Karkat lazily. His other hand fumbled for his glasses on his desk next to the bed, and finally put them on when he found them. Once he could see Karkat after blinking and squinting a few times, he frowned. "Oh. Uh, so, hey, what's up? Everything okay? Did I, uh, say something in my sleep or …" Karkat realized he must look pretty stupidly upset, so he worked his features back into his usual scowl.
"Shut the fuck up," he started, then realized that probably wasn't the best choice of response and tried to think of what to say. His eyes fell to their knees, centimeters apart from each other. Sollux seemed at a loss for words as well, but his eyes were locked on Karkat from behind an oddly calm expression. Or maybe he was just tired. Either way, Karkat didn't know what to think about it, or more importantly what to do about it. So he bared his teeth at Sollux and slapped him on the arm. "Go back to sleep, fuckass."
Karkat woke up ten minutes before his morning class, way too hot from two blankets (human and otherwise). He shoved both off of him (one of them groaned), and hurriedly pulled on some jeans over his boxers.
"Get the fuck up! Class is in ten minutes! Goddamnit, why are you so fucking lazy all the time, it's because you stay up too fucking late then-" Sollux cut off the beginning of Karkat's tirade with a hand over his mouth.
"Hey, it's your fault, jerkass. My professor doesn't care as long when we show up as long as we do the work. So if I were you, I'd get running," Sollux said blandly, finally removing his hand. Karkat just glared and grabbed a tshirt off the floor, pulling it over his head and checking the mirror.
"God fucking dammit, I smell like ass and have terrible bedhead. I hate you."
"Love you too," Sollux said, rolling his eyes. Karkat grabbed his backpack and ran out of the dorm, slamming the door. Sollux didn't move, examining a piece of thread springing up from the blanket. The door flew open a few seconds later, and Karkat poked his head in.
"Okay, what the fuck, I don't hate you. I just didn't want you to think that maybe I did all day and get all fucking emotional and weepy, you fucking- fuck, bye, fuck this shit," Karkat blurted out. Sollux just made a 'go, you overwhelmingly cute little fuckhead' gesture with his hands, and Karkat made sure to slam the door again on his way out.
Equius' class was strange the moment Karkat stepped in the door. For one thing, Equius wasn't even there, another student teacher in his place. Nepeta was absent too, which was odd. Tavros was sitting in the same seat as last time, sitting up ramrod straight and facing the front of the room. Aradia was gone, of course, and next to her empty desk, Vriska was lounging. She smiled at Karkat, getting a middle finger in response. Karkat went to go sit down. He wondered if Kanaya would show up, or keep up her low profile until the party. Generally, she had perfect attendance, but with all the crazy shit happening, he couldn't blame her if she fucking transferred schools. Maybe she had been kicked out any class Tavros was in? The student teacher called for everyone's attention, and barely got it. Some other students filled the replacement in on what they had learned so far (not much), and the lesson got underway. Karkat spent the class staring at the back of Tavros' head, trying to decide if all of this qualified as the guy's fault or not. Should I beat him up, or apologize? He was a direct link to both Vriska and Gamzee. Not like that's any different than half the people I hang out with. Karkat found himself directionless again, looking out the tiny window that showed a slice of sky and thinking about Kanaya and Eridan- devoted friends, and also totally unpredictable elements. Fuck. No one could be trusted.
Yay. Sorry for the wait, guys. Summer job is tough. It made writing this chapter awkward and kind of hard.
On the plus side, I got this totally adorable fanart- go to my profile for the link.
Thank you SO MUCH!